Business Week

Jeffrey Cavanaugh ’90 Business Administration

“Managing and Serving in the Political Arena"

 As Chief of Staff to the Under Secretary for International Trade in the United States Department of Commerce, Cavanaugh is responsible for the management of the Under Secretary’s office operations and is a member of the senior management team of the International Trade Administration, a federal agency with a budget of over $400 million and more than 1800 employees located in over 80 countries. Cavanaugh has previously served as a special assistant to the Administrator of the Research and Special Programs Administration in the United States Department of Transportation, as an assistant to the Secretary of Transportation for policy, and as chief of staff to a member of the National Transportation Safety Board.  Before joining the Bush administration in Washington, DC, he managed the district office for State Representative Dan Rutherford, was elected precinct committeeman in Bloomington, and volunteered as an advance team member for Vice President-nominee Cheney during the 2000 presidential campaign.

Brett Ellis ’88 Finance

 "Thriving in a Changing Market or Industry"

 Using his background in finance to shape business decisions, Brett Ellis has reached the highest levels of professional success and recognition in the real estate industry. Ellis and his family are among the Top 50 teams at RE/MAX International, out of more than 124,000 top-producing agents, and have been listed as one of the Top 100 Teams by the National Association of Realtors. Brett is a RE/MAX Lifetime Achievement Award recipient and a member of the RE/MAX Hall of Fame. Leveraging his finance and business expertise, Ellis has developed powerful systems and strategies that are now used by agents from around the world. He enjoys sharing with industry professionals as a Star Power University Instructor, and as a speaker at state, national, and international conventions. Ellis also serves as a consultant to the National Association of Realtors. Brett appears regularly on television news reports, using his finance background to interpret real estate trends and provide data analysis. His comments have appeared in the Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg News, USA Today, CRS Magazine, Realtor Magazine, Florida Realtor Magazine, and California Association of Realtors Magazine. Ellis also hosts his own real estate radio show.

Greg Heerde ’91 Finance, MS ’93 Accounting

“Reinsurance – Opportunities and Challenges”

Aon Re Global is the world’s leading reinsurance brokerage operating in more than 40 countries providing reinsurance coverage, captive management services and catastrophe information forecasting. As Senior Vice President, Aon Re Services, Chicago, Greg developed and leads the practice group responsible for delivering rating agency and accounting modeling and consultative services for clients. The team provides practical guidance to insurance and reinsurance companies that assists them in achieving and maintaining Financial Strength Ratings in accordance with their corporate goals. The service involves timely analysis of changes in ratings agency criteria and ongoing analysis of the qualitative and quantitative factors important to their rating, including detailed modeling of current and projected results. Under Heerde’s leadership clients have obtained initial or first time ratings, achieved upgrades, avoided downgrades, and routinely allowed for corrections when the clients are not being evaluated in accordance with an agency's criteria. Greg joined Aon Re Services in 2000 after seven years with PricewaterhouseCoopers, where he specialized in the audits of insurance and reinsurance companies.

Greg Monigold ‘91 Organizational Leadership

“Management Success - Building and Leading Successful Teams”

Greg Monigold is the Manager of Information Systems for Harris Alternatives, a fund-of-funds hedge fund with more than 9 billion dollars in assets under management.  After graduating from Illinois State he earned an MBA in 2003 from DePaul University, with concentrations in Financial Analysis and Management Information Systems. Greg has worked in the technology field for 20 years, half of those managing technology teams. Monigold built and leads a team of developers and network engineers that strive to provide the firm with the finest IT systems and services available.  Within his department Monigold attempts to foster an atmosphere of creativity and collaboration where his employees have the opportunity to continuously develop their business and technical skills. His current responsibilities include process development and strategy planning, talent selection and development, budgeting and project management, risk management and auditing, security and business continuity and responsible and ethical operations.

Eileen Ni '87 M.A. English, ’91 M.B.A.

“Opportunities and Challenges of Doing Business in China”

Eileen Ni has dual responsibilities of Division Marketing Manager and Asia-Pacific Sales Manager at Adalis Corporation (Vancouver, WA), a business-to-business company providing packaging solutions to consumer and industrial manufacturers in more than 40 countries around the world. She is in charge of brand development and marketing communication, as well as managing sales of the Asia-Pacific region with a focus on China business development.  Prior to joining Adalis, Eileen worked for more than a decade at Kraft Foods in marketing and marketing research, with responsibilities in the United States, Canada, Brazil and China. Her last expatriate assignment at Kraft was as Marketing Director in China, managing Kraft’s mega brands including Maxwell House coffee and Nabisco biscuits in a fast growing consumer market. In addition to her business career, Eileen is an educator.  She taught English and published several educational books in China before emigrating to the U.S. Ni earned her master’s in English from Illinois State in 1987 and has taught business classes part-time at Concordia University and Cardinal Stritch University in Wisconsin.

Details about all the events included in Business Week will be available soon.