Working Professionals Earn Wake Forest MBA Degrees

One Graduate Joins the Celebration while stationed in the Middle East

WINSTON-SALEM, NC – Twenty-eight working professionals earned their MBA degrees from Wake Forest University Schools of Business this month after completing the two-year evening program at the Winston-Salem campus. They were honored during a graduation celebration on Friday, Sept. 7 at Forsyth Country Club.

For two years, the students balanced careers, families and community service while completing the rigorous MBA Program at Wake Forest University. For one student, her commitments included a recent deployment to the Middle East with her U.S. Army Reserve unit. Through video-conference technology, Sergeant Amanda Hayes joined the graduation celebration live from Kuwait to accept her diploma, thank her professors and congratulate her classmates. She received a standing ovation from attendees.

"Wake Forest is a military friendly school and we do all we can to support students that are currently serving, or have served, in the different branches of the United States Military. With the help of our faculty leadership, Amanda was able to accelerate her coursework this summer and complete requirements in advance of her deployment in late June. Including her in the graduation celebration was a complete surprise to her classmates, and a highlight of the evening," said Kevin Bender, Director of the MBA Program for Working Professionals in Winston-Salem and Lieutenant Colonel in the Army Reserve.

The Winston-Salem Evening MBA Class of 2013 honored Professor Gary Shoesmith with the Outstanding Educator Award and student Stefano Marsella with the class Leadership Award.
Marsella, Adam Filipponi, and Susan Redmond earned Academic Distinction Awards.

The following students earned their MBA degrees: Maria Bahawdory*, Jason Bertinetti, Elizabeth Romero Bruder, Edd Alexander Bullock, Amanda Anne Burton, Sharon Caudle Conaway, Robert Michael Crowley, Jason Bradley Davis, Matthew Vansant Day, Sanjeev Dimri, Adam Daniel Filipponi, Hunter Dalton Grein, David Haun, Katie Judge, Jennifer Leigh Killingsworth, Zabra Star Lee, Chaffraix Andre Lelong, Chun-ting Timothy Lin, Stefano Marsella, Brian Keith Nordskog, Robert Carswell Parsley, Lauren Michelle Race, Susan Brunswick Redmond, Justin Ray Shumaker, Joshua Brandon Simpson, Jonathan Paul Smith, Garrick Stefan F. Witt, and Amanda Wilds Hayes. *Will complete PhD/MBA joint degree in May of 2013.

Graduates represent such companies as: Advanced Tech Systems; Bayada Nurses; BB&T; ComStock Advisors; Danaher, Gilbarco Veeder-Root Corporation; Ecolab; Epes Transport System, Inc.; Forsyth Country Day School; Merrill Lynch; North Carolina Army National Guard; PricewaterhouseCoopers; R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company; RMIC; Suntrust Banks; Targetbase; Wake Forest University; Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center; and Walter Robbs Callahan & Pierce Architects, P.A.

Students in the Charlotte Evening MBA Program will celebrate their graduation on Friday, Sept. 21 at the Mint Museum in Uptown Charlotte.