BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – Five alumni of the Indiana University Kelley School of Business will be honored for professional achievement during the 2021 Kelley Alumni Awards Ceremony on Oct. 9 at IU Bloomington.
“It is always an honor to recognize accomplished Kelley alumni who have left their marks in their communities and at their companies,” said Idalene “Idie” Kesner, dean of the Kelley School and the Frank P. Popoff Chair of Strategic Management.
“These five people have distinguished themselves in their careers through their personal talents and their professional achievements, and they have helped distinguish our school as well,” Kesner added. “Thanks to their various means of support, we are able to offer the best educational experience inside and outside the classroom and remain among the most innovative business schools in the world.”
Being named to the Kelley School of Business Academy of Alumni Fellows are:
Sherry Davis
Sherry Davis
Sherry Davis, of Indianapolis, chief financial officer of Lilly USA, Eli Lilly & Company’s largest affiliate. As CFO of Lilly USA, Davis has enhanced U.S. government policy evaluation and has contributed to key transformation initiatives of its commercial capabilities. During her 13 years at Lilly, Davis has held various international and domestic roles in the finance organization and has also been a key leader in Lilly’s efforts to advance diversity and inclusion, serving on the executive advisory board of the African American Network.
Most recently, Davis was the CFO and treasurer of the Lilly Del Caribe manufacturing site in Puerto Rico. While in this role, Davis helped lead the site through the aftermath of Hurricane Maria, the greatest natural disaster in the island’s history. Prior to that, she was the CFO for Lilly’s research organization, managing Lilly’s early-phase portfolio investments. Prior to joining Lilly, Davis worked at PricewaterhouseCoopers and in the accounting department of Ford Motor Company. Davis is a certified public accountant and maintains an active license in Indiana. She earned dual Bachelor of Science degrees in accounting and finance in 2000 from Kelley.
Ming Z. Mei
Ming Mei
Ming Z. Mei, of Singapore, co-founder and CEO of GLP, a leading provider of global logistics solutions with more than $100 billion in assets under management in real estate and private equity. Under Mei’s visionary leadership, GLP revolutionized the modern logistics industry with an innovative and entrepreneurial approach to growth and value creation and has since expanded into adjacent sectors and new markets.
He serves as chairman of the investment committee of Eastern Bell Venture Capital and sits on various public and private boards. He is also an investor and board member of Value Retail China, a company specializing in the development and operation of luxury outlet shopping villages. He earned a Bachelor of Science degree in finance at Kelley in 1996.
Lance Reese
Lance Reese
Lance Reese, of West Bloomfield, Michigan, chief executive officer of Camelot SI LLC, a private equity portfolio company that operates the license for SharperImage.com and its iconic catalog. Camelot Venture Group acquired the license in 2014 after operating the business for five years. Reese began his Camelot career as chief operating officer in March 2016 and was appointed chief executive officer in April 2018.
Reese found his initial career passion through technology. At the age of 16, he started a small technology consulting business that developed microfilm cataloging databases for hospitals and county governments, which ultimately evolved into developing governmental contract management software for nuclear waste management companies. He was a computer programmer for National Computer Systems and the retail operations intelligence team at Mrs. Fields.
His career progressed to the executive suite at RS&I, a distributor of satellite television and home security systems, where he advanced from programmer to MIS director to chief information officer more than 12 years. He has been chief information officer for Altrec and Melaleuca and chief operating officer for Docutech and LIMU. He earned an MBA at Kelley in 2003 and maintains strong ties to the school, participating in case study development and analysis for Kelley MBA students.
2021 Distinguished Entrepreneur Award
Dale Pollak
The 2021 Distinguished Entrepreneur Award will be presented to Dale Pollak, of Hinsdale, Illinois, founder and chairman of vAuto. Over a four-decade career in the automotive industry, Pollak has been a dealer, technology entrepreneur and best-selling author. He has helped more than 12,000 automotive dealers in North America and Australia make dramatic improvements in their new and used vehicle operation and pioneered the Velocity Method of Management™, which maximizes a dealer’s profitability using new and used vehicle market metrics.
Pollak crafted this approach during his years as a Cadillac dealer in Chicago in response to not being able to physically observe his used vehicle inventory due to blindness. In 2019, Pollak changed course to a new investment-minded management approach called ProfitTime, which addresses fundamental shifts that occurred in prior years. Pollak earned a Bachelor of Science in business administration at Kelley in 1980.
2021 Volunteer Leadership Award
Patrick Beeman
Patrick Beeman, of LaGrange, Illinois, a managing director at FTI Consulting, will receive the Volunteer Leadership Award in recognition of his many years of service as a volunteer leader to the Kelley School of Business Alumni Association in Chicago.
Beeman has broad experience in client services, including 15 years of operational management, business development, engagement management and technical consulting. Beeman also has served as the CIO and senior vice president of Omnivere LLC, a litigation support and e-discovery company, and was part of Navigant’s Technology Solutions practice in the Disputes & Investigation segment. He is a certified public accountant and certified fraud examiner and earned a Bachelor of Science degree in accounting, economics consulting and finance from Kelley in 2005, with a minor in political science.