UW-Green Bay to honor distinguished alumni at annual Alumni Awards dinner

The University’s 2023 best of the best to be recognized in April along with Terry Fulwiler who will receive the Honorary Alumni Award

Green Bay, Wis.— The University of Wisconsin-Green Bay will recognize a number of outstanding alumni and one honorary alumnus at the 2023 Alumni Awards Dinner on Thursday, April 20, 2023 in the Phoenix Rooms in the University Union. The event will begin with a reception at 5 p.m. and is followed by dinner at 6 p.m.  The program will begin at approximately 6:40 p.m. The event is open to the public. Tickets are $50 and can be purchased at UW-Green Bay Alumni Awards. For more information, contact the UW-Green Bay Alumni Office at 920-465-2074 oralumni@uwgb.edu.

“One of our strongest assets as a university is our alumni,” said UW-Green Bay Chancellor Michael Alexander. “UW-Green Bay graduates make a difference every day in communities across our region, state, nation, and the world. We need their insights and experience to help UW-Green Bay continue to grow and influence the next generation of graduates. We are honored to recognize these alumni for their career achievements and the impact they have made in our community and throughout the world.”

The Alumni Awards highlight UW-Green Bay graduates and other individuals who have made special contributions to UW-Green Bay, their communities and professions. The 2023 Distinguished honorees are Neil Jacobstein ’76, Laurie Lindborg Parsons ‘80, Eric Lund ’89, siblings Rita Owino ’97, Peres Owino ’99, and David Owino ’03. Receiving the Outstanding Recent Alumni Award for 2023 will be Sarah Beckman ’08. Terry Fulwiler, retired CEO and Chairmen of the Board of WS Packaging, who has worked tirelessly to advocate for UW-Green Bay and has extensive community involvement, will receive an Honorary Alumni Award.

“The true strength of UW-Green Bay lies in the collective accomplishments of all of our graduates,” said UW-Green Bay Alumni Relations Director Brian Rammer. “These recipients are examples of all those that have been able to use their talents and share their expertise to have an extraordinary impact on their profession and community. We are proud to be able to recognize these individuals for their achievements.”

About the awardees: 

Receiving 2023 Distinguished Alumni Awards

Neil Jacobstein ’76 (Environmental Sciences) is the Chair of the Artificial Intelligence and Robotics Track at Singularity University. He is a founding Singularity Expert, and past President of Singularity. Neil was a MediaX Distinguished Visiting Scholar at Stanford University from 2007-2022, where his work focused on augmented decision systems. He was CEO of Teknowledge Corp, a pioneering AI company that did successful AI application work but was too early for the mass adoption we see today. Neil has practical and strategic AI/ML system building and R&D consulting experience with a long list of industrial and governmental partners, including: Deloitte, E&Y, PWC, Boeing, GM, Ford, BMW, GE, Applied Materials, Texas Medical Center, NASA, Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, National Science Foundation, NIH, EPA, DOE, the U.S. Army, the U.S. Air Force, GM, Ford, Boeing, Applied Materials, Xero, National Institute of Standards and Technology, and more. Neil served at the National Academy of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine Division of Earth and Life Sciences 2015-2020, and the Academy’s Strategic Planning Committee 2020-2021. He wrote the founding white paper for the Queenstown Machine Learning Institute in New Zealand. Neil provides public speaking and interdisciplinary technical consulting services to corporations, venture capital, and government organizations worldwide.

Neil received his B.S. in Environmental Science, Summa Cum Laude in 1976 at the University of Wisconsin’s Green Bay Environmental Campus. He earned his M.S. in Human Ecology, under a US Public Health Service Scholarship, University of Texas School of Public Health and the NASA Johnson Space Center, Environmental Physiology Simulation Program. He spent four years doing environmental systems research as a Research Associate at the Center for the Biology of Natural Systems at Washington University and the Research Foundation of CUNY. He completed the Stanford University Advanced Management College Executive Program and the Aspen Institute Crown Fellows Program.

Laurie Lindborg Parsons ’80 (Environmental Sciences/Chemistry) is the U.S. Water Resources Division Lead with Ramboll.  Her career began with the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources in water quality planning and policy development prior to attaining her Master’s Degree.  After receiving her M.S., she launched her consulting career at Warzyn Engineering, Inc where she worked both in water resources and environmental engineering capacities.  After seven years Laurie was offered an opportunity to establish engineering services for then-startup company Natural Resource Technology, Inc. Thirteen years later she took on an ownership role with partners, and led NRT as president and CEO, doubling the size of the firm, expanding services, and adding offices in Illinois and Michigan. Having achieved national recognition for work in the environmental consulting sector with specialized expertise in cleanup and restoration of contaminated waterways, NRT attracted the attention of larger firms. After 10 years leading the firm, Laurie and the NRT team joined forces with a mid-size east coast engineering firm, O’Brien and Gere, expanding their Midwest footprint.  She then served in various leadership roles, and was a member of the company’s board of directors until 2019 when O’Brien and Gere became part of Ramboll, a 17,000-person engineering and consulting firm headquartered in Denmark.  In her current role at Ramboll, Laurie leads the US Water Resources Division, serves in leadership roles on the Americas merger and acquisition team, and the firm’s equity, diversity, and inclusion council.  All with a mission of being a partner for sustainable change in in the firm’s water, energy and environmental services.

As a recipient of the Milwaukee area “STEM Forward Engineer of the Year” award for 2015, that was endorsed by the American Society of Civil Engineers, Laurie is committed to public service, including her regular participation in events that expose young people to careers in science, technology, engineering and math. Through these events, Laurie has become a prominent role model, especially for girls and women.  Presently she is Chair of the UW-Madison, Civil and Environmental Engineering visiting board and is recipient of the College of Engineering 2020 Distinguished Achievement Award.

Laurie graduated from UW-Green Bay with a B.S. in Environmental Science/Chemistry in 1980 and received her M.S. in Civil and Environmental Engineering from UW-Madison in 1987.

Eric Lund ’89 (Psychology/Human Development) is chief clinical officer at Caravel Autism Health.  Dr. Lund leads their team of expert clinician and is a licensed psychologist who has specialized in the diagnosis and therapy of childhood disorders for nearly three decades and has focused on autism spectrum disabilities for the last 20 years. Dr. Lund is passionate about setting the standard for quality clinical outcomes and building Caravel’s proprietary outcomes platform. He has a doctorate in clinical psychology and a post-doctoral master’s degree in clinical psychopharmacology. He is board certified by the Behavior Analyst Certification Board (BCBA-D) and the American Board of Professional Psychology (ABPP). Dr. Lund founded Caravel in 2009 with Chris Van Dyke.

Eric graduated from UW-Green Bay with a B.S. in Psychology with a minor in Human Development in 1989, a Psy.D. degree in Clinical Psychology from Forest Institute of Professional Psychology in 1993 and M.S. degree in Clinical Psychopharmacology from Fairleigh Dickinson University in 2006. He is board certified in clinical psychology and behavior analysis and is licensed in WI, IL, WA, ID, MN. IA, CO, MI.

Rita Owino ’97 (Human Biology) is a healthcare executive with more than a decade of leadership experience and is currently a healthcare consultant. In this capacity, she collaborates with a variety of clients, from startups to multinationals, to implement transformation initiatives by leveraging innovation to design new care delivery and business models aimed at improving access, quality of care, and outcomes for health systems and patients in emerging markets.

Rita’s professional career spans 20+ years and is marked by roles of progressively increasing scope and responsibility with Fortune 100 companies in the United States and Africa. Her background is in medical and digital technologies at GE Healthcare, “big 4” management consulting at KPMG, and managed care at UnitedHealth Group.

At GE Healthcare she worked with the global health community to design and implement innovative primary healthcare delivery models that improved access to care and health outcomes for patients in Africa, Asia, and the Middle East. She was awarded a GE Healthcare Hero Award by GE Healthcare’s global President and CEO in recognition of her work, contributions, and impact delivered both to communities served and the organization. As a healthcare advisor at KPMG, she advised a wide range of healthcare clients on strategy, care system redesign, and operations optimization. And in managed care, she worked across the healthcare value chain to manage the total cost of care related to quality improvement and cost reduction by implementing various managed care techniques.

A life-long learner committed to both personal and professional growth and development, Rita is currently pursuing her MBA at Boston University’s Questrom School of Business.

Peres Owino ’99 (Social Change and Development/Theater) is an award-winning Kenyan-American storyteller who came onto the scene with her directorial debut, “BOUND: Africans vs African-Americans”, which played in over two dozen festivals around the world winning the Women In Film- Lena Sharpe Award at the Seattle International Film Festival, the Audience Award for Best Documentary at the Pan African Film Festival in Los Angeles, and the Best Film Directed by a Woman of Color Award at the African Diaspora Film Festival in New York. Her latest film projects, include the short films “Stray”, produced by 20th Century Fox Digital as part of Hulu’s Best of Huluween and “Glimpse.”

Peres’ feature credits include her original screenplay, “The Basket Weaver”; winner of the NYWIFT Writer’s Lab supported by Meryl Streep, “Seasons of Love”, produced by Taraji P. Henson, nominated for an NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Writing of a Television Movie; and “Once Upon A Time in Africa”, currently in pre-production. Her original works for the stage include her one act play, “Cut” which premiered at The Walt Disney Concert Hall – REDCAT and her one-woman show, “Beauty For Ashes”.

The show, “African Queens” which she co-wrote for Netflix, Westbrook and Nutopia premiered on February 15, 2023. She is currently developing various TV projects for Warner Brothers, Berlanti, Hartbeat, TinkerToy Productions and Gaumont. Peres is repped at Creative Artist Agency and Yorn Levine et. al

David Owino ’03 (Business Administration) is the Vice President of Business Development at Forbes Marketplace. His role involves generating new business for the company, innovating the monetization funnel and maintaining partnerships across the world. At Marketplace he has been instrumental in leading the teams that secured brand partnerships for the award-winning performance media brands – Forbes Advisor, Forbes Health, Forbes Home and Forbes Wheels.

This University of Wisconsin – Green Bay Econ alum began his postgraduate journey at Schneider Logistics, managing the Northeast Market for all General Motors deliveries. Dave then took the position of Affiliate Manager at a small digital marketing startup in Florida to escape Wisconsin’s brutal winters. Learning the ins and outs of the digital marketing space, Dave led a team that built the Flexoffers Affiliate Network, which was later sold to Bankrate to power their partnership network. This network currently generates over $50 million annual revenue.

A two-time Affiliate Manager of the Year nominee, Dave recruited, onboarded and launched the affiliate programs for several big brands, including Nerdwallet.com, Thepointsguy.com, USnews.com, CNBCSelect.com and Comparecards.com.

Dave Owino currently lives in Miami, FL with his college sweetheart and their two kids.

2023 Outstanding Recent Alumni Award

Sarah Beckman ’08 (Social Work) started in a new role as Executive Director with Achieve Brown County in January of 2022. ABC is part of the StriveTogether network and one of over 70 organizations in the United States that focuses on collaboration and community led collective impact to ensure that every child from cradle to career succeeds regardless of race, income or zip code.

Sarah has always wanted to be in nonprofit administration. For most of her career, she worked in nonprofit fundraising. With each nonprofit she worked for, she gained more experience and more responsibility. In 2017, she decided to go back to school to pursue her MBA as she looked to take the next step towards a career goal of moving into a nonprofit Executive Director role. Halfway through her schooling, she achieved this goal when she was selected as the Executive Director for Habitat for Humanity Lakeside in Sheboygan, WI. A major achievement since moving into this role has been Sarah’s efforts in working with the Habitat for Humanity Lakeside’s Board of Directors to create and launch a 5-year strategic plan for the organization. In addition to this, Sarah takes pride in her mission knowledge and length of service with Habitat for Humanity that dates all the way back to 2004 when she first got involved with Habitat for Humanity as a student at UW-Green Bay. Sarah has presented at statewide and national Habitat conferences and in webinars that have had a national audience. In 2019, she received her M.B.A. from St. Norbert College.

In addition to her work with Achieve Brown County, she currently is a volunteer with the Brown County United Way Advocacy Council, the Volunteer Center of Brown County’s Reading Coaches for Kids Program, with Girl Scouts of the Northwestern Great Lakes and with the Greater Green Bay Chamber on the Partners in Education Board as well as the Young Professional Advisory Board. Sarah was previously named Emerging Leader of the Year by Brown County United Way in 2018, Future 15 and Young Professional of the Year by the Greater Green Bay Chamber in 2018 and Top 10 Best Under 40 Recipient by the Sheboygan County Chamber in 2019.

Sarah graduated from UW-Green Bay with a Bachelor of Social Work with emphasis in Child Welfare in 2008 and received her M.B.A. from St. Norbert College in 2019.

2023 Honorary Alumni Award

Terry Fulwiler currently serves on the UW-Green Bay Council of Trustees. Terry and his wife, Kris have supported UW-Green Bay establishing the Terry and Kris Fulwiler Phuture Phoenix Scholarship.  He is also currently on the board of directors for the following corporations: Bellin Gunderson Health Systems, the Green Bay Packers, East Shore Industries, Bellin College, Northeast Technical College and On-Site Productions. He is also a strong supporter of the Boys & Girls Club of Green Bay, Bellin Foundation, Unity Hospice, and the Meyer Theater.  

Terry is the former CEO and Chairman of the Board of the WS Packaging Group of Companies.  He was selected Converter of the Year for 2000 by the Tag & Label Institute, which is the Trade Organization for the Tag & Label Industry. He also was selected as the 2010 winner of the Stanton Avery Lifetime Achievement Award [named after the inventor of pressure sensitive labels] which is presented to the person that has made a lasting mark on the label printing industry. In 2011, Terry was selected as the Green Bay Free Enterprise Award recipient which is presented by the Rotary Club of Green Bay to the person that has made an outstanding contribution to both business and the community.

Terry is a native of Algoma and graduated from the University of Michigan in 1972 with a degree in Aerospace Engineering.

About UW-Green Bay
Established in 1965, UW-Green Bay is a public institution serving more than 9,600 undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral students and 95,000 continuing education learners each year. We educate students from pre- college through retirement and offer 200+ degrees, programs and certificates. UW-Green Bay graduates are resilient, inclusive, sustaining and engaged members of their communities, ready to rise to fearlessly face challenges, solve problems and embrace diverse ideas and people. With four campus locations, the University welcomes students from every corner of the world. In 2021, UW-Green Bay was the fastest-growing UW school in Wisconsin. For more information, visit www.uwgb.edu.

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