CIT Alumni—Education in Action

Presidents, professors, vice-presidents, CEOs—our alumni have had thriving careers. Take a minute to catch up with your classmates or take advantage of their lessons learned.

	Alumni from the 1950s
Bob Fallat, 1954
Employer: Self, semi-retired Title: Doctor Responsibilities: Medical-pulmonary consulting Most Notable Accomplishment: Defining and working on genetic emphysema. Best Practices & Lessons Learned: Critical honesty Most Important Thing You Learned at CIT: To think, build keys to knowledge
Jon Ramer, 1956
Employer: None Title: Sir Responsibilities: Grandfather of nine Most Notable Accomplishment: Highly classified Best Practices & Lessons Learned: Suits lie, grunts die Most Important Thing You Learned at CIT: Stay with the fundamentals
Robert Russell, 1957
Employer: IBM (35 years) and Town of Wilton, CT (6 years) Title: Mayor of Wilton, many over the years at IBM Responsibilities: Many at IBM, more as mayor of a growing town Most Notable Accomplishment: My only lasting legacy is my book—a 600 page history of Wilton written after my second retirement. Best Practices & Lessons Learned: Lessons learned in life? Cherish family values, service to one’s community. Most Important Thing You Learned at CIT: How to juggle academic excellence, multiple extracurricular activities, and personal life, while still maintaining sanity and a sense of humor.
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	Alumni from the 1960s
Michael S. Ellegood, 1960, PE, BSCE
Employer: Maricopa County (former, now retired) Title: Director, Public Works, Director, Transportation, County Engineer (former, now retired and a part time project management consultant) Responsibilities: Responsible for all capital projects constructed in Maricopa County Arizona. This involved direct responsibility for a $250 million dollar annual budget and directing a staff of 765 individuals. Responsible for a 2600 mile highway system including 150 bridge structures and 23 flood control dams Most Notable Accomplishment: Introducing the acculturation of current private sector project management techniques into a public sector organization thus making the Department accountable and its efforts measurable. Developing and mentoring selected individuals to reach beyond themselves and grow professionally Best Practices & Lessons Learned: Private sector project management protocols can be adapted to the public sector with some modification. In doing so, performance and accountability increases, the threat of privatization is diminished and public satisfaction with their government is improved. Most Important Thing You Learned at CIT: Holistic thinking, think beyond the immediate issue, seek answers from other technologies, adapt protocols from other disciplines, keep it simple.
Melvin R. Ramey, 1965, MS, Ph.D.
Employer: University of California Title: Professor Emeritus Responsibilities: Served as a faculty member in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of California, Davis from 1967 to 2004. At time of retirement I held the titles of (1) Associate Dean of Graduate Studies and (2) Faculty Athletics Representative. Most Notable Accomplishment: Served as Department Chair for 5.5 years during a period of extreme budget reductions. Was able to replace one-third of the faculty, move the department into new and modern research and teaching facilities, grow research funding and keep morale high. Best Practices & Lessons Learned: 1. Surround yourself with talented people, charge them with reasonable responsibilities and get out of their way so they can use that talent. 2. Listen to those around you. 3. Move forward on the assumption that “the glass is half full.” Most Important Thing You Learned at CIT: I learned that one can achieve by having an open mind and a good work ethic.
David Kaye, 1967
Employer: KPR, Inc. Title: CEO Responsibilities: Supervise all aspects of a high-tech PR firm. Most Notable Accomplishment: Increase the sales and improve the reputation of hundreds of high-tech companies over more than 30 years, since founding the firm. Best Practices & Lessons Learned: Develop personal relationships with the most important editors and writers. Use the phone whenever possible. Email does not allow the degree of personalization necessary for nurturing relationships. Most Important Thing You Learned at CIT: Professional approach to problem solving.
Rick Ellinger, Electrical Engineering
Employer: HP, Agilent, Madge Networks, World Bank, VCs. Title: President, Wireless Communications Alliance Responsibilities: Presently, security and enterprise software, radio controlled lighting and communications, optical networking. Experience includes R&D, Marketing, General Management. Most Notable Accomplishment: Developed three button phone that is precursor to On-Star. Created live tracing and display system for America’s Cup. Grew large teams and businesses over $1B on three occasions. Best Practices & Lessons Learned: Do the right thing for customers. Don’t guess about customer needs; let these drive your move from technology to real and useful solutions. Experiment. The best decisions require multiple people. Decide, act and know why, then adjust as you measure the results. Expect some things to behave the reverse of what you first anticipated. Most Important Thing You Learned at CIT: Leadership and teamwork. Insist on an interdisciplinary solution. Go back to the basic science in inventions that you expect to last. Real innovation is not in the books. Design rules. Customer-needs drive good design.
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	Alumni from the 1970s
James Selevan, 1970, Electrical Engineering
Employer: Happily unemployed Title: Retired Responsibilities: Helping with homework for two teenage boys. Paying tuition for a third studying electrical engineering at Carnegie Mellon. Most Notable Accomplishment: Raising three teenage boys…successfully. Best Practices & Lessons Learned: Start earlier! Most Important Thing You Learned at CIT: Ask questions. Don’t assume anything. Arrive at the answer yourself. Learning is easy when you have a passion to learn.
Sanjaya Saran, 1973, BS, Mechanical Engineering
Employer: XLO India Limited Title: Chairman of the Board and Managing Director Responsibilities: I am responsible for setting the company’s goals and policies in collaboration with other executives that are then approved by the Board of Directors. I am accountable for the overall performance of the company and my main focus is to supervise executives who direct the activities of various departments and ensure that the company’s goals and policies are met and implemented on a day-to-day basis. I also have the responsibility of finalizing and overseeing the company’s budget to ensure that the available resources are managed efficiently in accordance with the overall goals of the company. Most Notable Accomplishment: Starting a company for the manufacture of propeller shafts (automotive component). In 1983, I founded Hindustan Hardy Spicer Limited in Mumbai with its manufacturing facility about 100 miles away. The company has used technology developed at XLO India Limited, and no other resource was required. The company has been in operation since then and is a major supplier in India, as well as has customers in Europe and the US. The company has achieved all international certifications and is a supplier to a major builder of agricultural machines in Europe and the US. We have been categorized as an “A” class supplier, which essentially means that our products are world-class in terms of quality and price, and the company can be relied upon to deliver the right quantity at the right time. All this has been achieved indigenously. Although I am not in charge of the day-to-day affairs of the company, I am involved in policy making of the company, and I have been the Chairman of the Board of Directors since its inception and responsible for developing its management team over the years. Best Practices & Lessons Learned: In today’s rapidly changing world, management of change in an organization is the most critical factor according to me. Therefore, the best practices and lessons learned can be enumerated as: 1. Identify those contributors who ensure the success of any change. 2. Develop the essential activities for effecting the changes. 3. Establish those parameters for management so that they may effectively contribute to the changes. Invariably managements do make mistakes, and for any successful change, these mistakes must first be acknowledged and then rectified. 4. Building a cohesive team is a key factor in success of any change. Top management has to be able to lead by example and effectively communicate down the line. Unless there is feedback on how effective the efforts for change have been, there will be no positive response; on the contrary there will be resistance. 5. Changes more often than not involve restructuring personnel deployment, and this has to be done by explaining the objectives and methodology effectively. Communication is the key. Obfuscation will ensure failure, and untruths are sure to doom any attempts to effect change. 6. At times, an outside look is important. However, the consultants’ role should be clearly defined, and expectations of their contributions well understood. 7. Without passion there is no success. Most Important Thing You Learned at CIT: 1. Working as a team. 2. Having to think outside the box. 3. Having to set priorities on time. 4. Fundamentals of engineering.
Daniel G. Streyle, 1975
Employer: N.W. Getz & Associates Title: Senior Project Manager Responsibilities: Manage the design and construction of large complex building projects on behalf of the owner. Most Notable Accomplishment: Managed the design and construction of the Arizona Cardinals football stadium that opened in 2006. Best Practices & Lessons Learned: Give your best every day. Lead by example. Be thorough. Never burn bridges. Most Important Thing You Learned at CIT: Work hard. Develop an analytical and quantitative approach to solving problems.
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	Alumni from the 1980s
Rick Creech, 1983
Employer: Creech Engineers, Inc. Title: Executive Vice President, Principal Responsibilities: Chief, cook and bottle washer. Most Notable Accomplishment: Successfully growing a civil engineering firm to roughly 100 people over 20 years, and continuing to live in Florida. Best Practices & Lessons Learned: 1. Do not spend more than four years in a cold climate. 2. Go 100% everyday and great things will happen. 3. Life is not a spectator sport. Most Important Thing You Learned at CIT: How to be tenacious and never give up even when the odds are against you.
Poong Chun, 1984, Electrical Engineering
Employer: Doosan Co. Title: CEO Responsibilities: Food Business Group. Most Notable Accomplishment: Market share 70% of Kimchi and one of three major brands of Tofu. Operate 9th nationally ranked Animal Food Co. Best Practices & Lessons Learned: Expand all commodity distribution at 90% for kimchi. Most Important Thing You Learned at CIT: Creative thinking and good networking.
Jonathan M. Rothberg, 1985
Employer: Multiple (see below) Title: Chairman and Founder Responsibilities: Dr. Rothberg is the founder of CuraGen Corporation, and founder and Chairman of 454 Life Sciences, The Rothberg Institute for Childhood Diseases, and the co-founder and Chairman of RainDance Technologies and Clarifi Corporation. Most Notable Accomplishment: Dr. Rothberg was named an Ernst and Young Entrepreneur of the Year and is the receipt of The Wall Street Journal’s Gold Medal for Innovation for his invention of 454 sequencing, and The Irvington Institute’s Corporate Leadership Award in Science. He has appeared on CNBC for his pioneering work in the field of genomics medicine and his scientific work has been featured on the covers of leading scientific journals including Cell, Science, and Nature. While at CuraGen Dr. Rothberg developed a series of new medicines, now in over 14 human clinical trials, for the treatment of a wide range of cancers. Dr. Rothberg’s invention of a new way to sequence DNA on a chip—454 Sequencing, first motivated by his son’s visit to the emergency room, has ushered in the era of personal medicine, and is now in use at major pharmaceutical companies, universities, genome centers, and medical centers around the world. Most recently Dr. Rothberg initiated the Neanderthal Genome project and was invited to the World Economic Forum in Davos Switzerland as a technology Pioneer. He is a member of the National Academy of Engineering, the Connecticut Academy of Science and Engineering, and serves on the board of trustees of Carnegie Mellon University. Best Practices & Lessons Learned: Work with smart, driven, good people. Do things others say can’t be done. Most Important Thing You Learned at CIT: How to be quantitative.
Douglas F. Smith, 1987, MSCE
Employer: Wilbur Smith Associates Title: Senior Vice President Responsibilities: I oversee the 18 offices of the company’s North Group. WSA provides a variety of transportation planning, design and construction support services. Most Notable Accomplishment: I have enjoyed building teamwork and a shared vision among the leaders in my new company (Wilbur Smith). It’s a work in progress and always should be, but seeing a group start to recognize and leverage one another’s strengths is a great thing. Best Practices & Lessons Learned: Patience, perspective and integrity pay off in civil engineering—the patience is the hardest part, though! Most Important Thing You Learned at CIT: Self-initiative CAN be taught, and it is at Carnegie Mellon.
Jacques Benkoski, Electrical Engineering, MS 1987, Ph.D. 1989
Employer: U.S. Venture Partners Title: Venture Executive Responsibilities: Focus on Israel-based company financing. Help portfolio companies in the semiconductor space to succeed. Most Notable Accomplishment: CEO of Monterey Design Systems Chairman of Synfora, Certess Board observer at Kilopass, Lightspeed, Clearshape Best Practices & Lessons Learned: 1. Don’t confuse market and market entry. 2. The market does not want you to exist until proven otherwise. 3. You don’t have a product until your customers say so. Most Important Thing You Learned at CIT: 1. Every problem can be analyzed to a greater depth than you thought possible. 2. It’s not because you can that you should. 3. Your CIT friends will be your greatest asset throughout your career.
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