Trailblazers & Achievers: Warrington’s 2024 Alumni Success Stories

University of Florida Warrington College of Business alumni have continued to make significant strides in 2024, demonstrating leadership and innovation across various industries, businesses and communities. Read more about just some of the driven alumni who boldly tackled challenges and made a meaningful impact this year.

Alumni Accomplishments

Warrington alumni are always focused on the future, moving the world forward in big and small ways. Here are a few of the things Business Gators did this year. 

• 22 Warrington alumni were named to the Florida 500, the list of the most influential business leaders in the state by Florida Trend.
• Steven DeRose (BA ‘03, BSBA ’03, MSF ’04) was named the Bergstrom Real Estate Center’s Alumnus of the Year for his decades of advocacy and service.
• Warrington alumni make up almost 40% of 2024 Gator100, with Business Gators also representing three of the top 5 Gator100 businesses, including Bharani Rajakumar (BSBA ’04) of Transfr, Jackie Hirsch (BABA ’97) and Lee Ossin (BS ’02, MSM ’03) of Crown Atlantic Business Brokers and Justin Jackrel (BABA ‘05) of Bintelli.
• John Morris (MBA ’22) was named New Mobility’s Person of the Year in recognition of the work he’s done to make travel more accessible and advocate for disabled travelers.
• Six Warrington alumni were named to the 2024 40 Gators Under 40 list, including Daniel Burkhardt (BSBA ’11, MSRE ’12), Dan Drotos (BSBA ’09, MBC ’11, MSRE ’12), Julia Furnari (BSBA ’15, BS ’15), Peter Gylfe (BSBA ’09, MSF ’10), Laura Renstrom (BMUS ’09, MSM ’10, JD ’13) and Lisa Thelwell (BABA ’08, JD ’12).
• The nation’s top public accounting programs share a common thread contributing to their excellence – University of Florida Fisher School of Accounting alumni leading their programs, including Dean Lillian Mills (BSAc ’80, MAcc ’81) and Chair and Professor of Accounting Steven Kachelmeier (PhD ’88) at the University of Texas – Austin, Head of the Department of Accountancy Michael Donohoe (BSAc ’01, PhD ’11) of the University of Illinois and Vice Dean and Professor of Accounting Patrick Hopkins (BSAc ’85, MAcc ’86) of Indiana University.
• Kelley Gazdak (BSBA ’94) and Ronika Carter (BS ’09, MSM ’10) are just two of several Warrington alumni leading change in the NFL.
• Rooted in the Swamp, three generations of the Prida family, including Luciano Prida, Sr. (BSBA ’49), Luciano Prida, Jr. (BSBA ’72) and Andres Prida (MAcc ’00), maintain their business of accounting with Gator pride.
• Bill Moss (BSBA ’83, MBA ’87), Carol Moss (MBA ’87), Marty Schaffel (BA, BSBA ’76) and Rick Scarola (BSBA ’82) are creating a better future for the next generation of Business Gators by giving back their most valuable assets – time and expertise.
• Daryl Kenningham (MBA ’88), Kamila Chytil (MBA ’06) and Frank Lao (BSBA ’91) are just three of the 2,750 Business Gators who have made it big in the state where everything’s bigger – Texas.

Alumni Spotlights

Warrington alumni hold C-suite roles in businesses across the world. In 2024, we put the spotlight on some of our talented alumni to learn more about how they got to where they are today.  

• Ann Sung Ruckstuhl (BS ’86, MBA ’92) | No limits – How Ann Sung Ruckstuhl’s unstoppable mentality led her to five C-suite roles.
• Tim Peterson (BSAc ’85, MBA ’87) | Sowing the seeds of success – The Altman Companies CIO Tim Peterson has focused his real estate career on building relationships that have helped grow his businesses and what would develop into the Kelley A. Bergstrom Real Estate Center.
• Chris McGibbon (MBA ’01) | Solving the real estate puzzle – Nuveen’s Global Head of Real Estate Chris McGibbon is always looking for the next piece that will build great results for his clients.
• Greg Rosica (BSAc ’86, MAcc ’88) | The entrepreneur’s consultant – Greg Rosica’s passion for helping business owners and entrepreneurs inspires his work with EY and the Gator100.
• Rob Carter (BSBA ’81) | Innovation, delivered – FedEx CIO Rob Carter has spent his career innovating business solutions through technology, a passion he first discovered at the University of Florida.
• Chip Lane (BSAc ’75) | Suncare sales’ shining light – Sealane Marketing Founder and CEO Chip Lane has collaborated with leading retailers in the suncare category for over 40 years.
• Jose “Joche” Smith (BSIS ’89, MBA ’91) | Rooted in solutions – How CEO Joche Smith’s problem-solving approach grows Costa Farms.
• Sumit Dhawan (MBA ’03) | How to navigate the evolving cybersecurity landscape – Sumit Dhawan leverages his diverse experience in technology and business as Proofpoint’s CEO.
• Robert Cornella (BSBA ’93, MBA ’95) | Bottling success – How a global journey of learning, languages, and leadership shaped Robert Cornella’s (BSBA ’93, MBA ’95) career spanning companies from EY to Coca-Cola to Republic National Distributing Company.

Class Notes

We want to stay in-the-know with our alumni. Through Class Notes, we encourage alumni to tell us what’s new and exciting in their lives, both personally and professionally. 

Have a Class Note you’d like to share? Click here to submit your news to the Warrington Class Notes. 

• Loreen Spencer (BSAc ’87, MAcc ’88) was appointed to the Board of Directors of Superior Group of Companies, bringing a wealth of audit, accounting, financial and governance expertise from her a nearly 30-year career as Partner at Deloitte.  
• Stephen Mounts (MBA ’99, MHA ’99) is the United States Air Force’s associate deputy surgeon general, providing guidance and expertise to a $6.1 billion, 44,000-person integrated health care delivery and readiness system serving 2.6 million beneficiaries.
• Jasmine Moore (BSBA ’23) won two bronze medals at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games in the long jump and triple jump.
• Daniel Hoh (MBA ’24), UF Health & University of Florida College of Medicine neurosurgeon, began his term as President of the Congress of Neurological Surgeons (CNS), one of the largest international neurosurgical societies, with over 10,000 members worldwide.
• Maureen Short (MBA ’03) was appointed to Big Lots’ Board of Directors after serving as CFO of Upbound Group (formerly known as Rent-A-Center) from 2016-2022.
• Nick Banks (BSBA ’90) was named CEO of Concept Companies. A 30-year veteran in commercial real estate, he spent much of his career as CEO of Front Street Commercial Real Estate Group, which he founded in 2002.