MISSOULA —
The University of Montana School of Business Administration will honor three alumni for outstanding career achievements on Thursday, May 3.
The three alumni, their Montana hometowns and awards are:
- John R. Turmell, Missoula, 2012 Outstanding Distinguished Alumnus Award
- Karen Blasing, Dillon, 2012 Outstanding Alumna Award
- Joseph McCaffery, Butte, 2012 Outstanding Early Career Alumnus Award
Turmell earned a bachelor’s degree in management from UM in 1964. He worked at his family’s Missoula-based auto dealership before receiving a degree in dealer management from the General Motors Institute.
In 1968, Turmell began his distinguished career with Toyota Motor Sales, USA. He made a significant contribution as vice president of sales administration, which included vehicle distribution, market representation, fleet and dealership business management; group vice president of the Toyota Forklift division; and later, senior vice president of the customer services division and North American parts logistics division. In 1998, he was appointed senior vice president, overseeing all Toyota-affiliated companies. He retired from Toyota in 2002, after 33 years of service in key positions in the Los Angeles, Boston and Cincinnati regions.
Turmell is an active UM Alumni Association member and serves on the board of directors of the National American Indian Business Leaders organization.
Turmell and his spouse, Mary Ellen, have two sons and reside in California and Bigfork.
Blasing received bachelor’s degrees in economics and finance from UM in 1978. She earned an MBA degree from the University of Washington in 1981. She has served as Guidewire Software’s chief financial officer and treasurer since 2009 and was instrumental in the company’s initial public offering in January.
Blasing served as chief financial officer at Force10Networks (acquired by Dell), Nuance Communications and Counterpane Internet Security. She held senior finance positions at salesforce.com, Informix Corporation (acquired by IBM), Oracle Corporation and Syntex Pharmaceuticals (now Roche). In 2008, while working at Force10, she was recognized as the San Francisco Bay Area CFO of the Year for venture-backed companies.
Blasing and her spouse, Robert, reside in Los Altos, Calif. They have two daughters.
McCaffery earned a bachelor’s degree in business and information technology education from the Phyllis J. Washington College of Education and Human Sciences in 1998 and his MBA degree from the UM School of Business Administration in 2001. He is a group product manager at eBay, where he has been employed since 2005. Before joining eBay, he worked in Accenture’s communications and high-tech consulting practice, supporting clients such as Cisco Systems, eBay Marketplaces and PayPal.
As a UM graduate student, he earned a graduate assistantship and managed the business school’s computer labs. He also assisted the Montana World Trade Center with several consulting projects.
He also served on the business school’s Management and Marketing Advisory Board and the Management Information Systems Advisory Board.
McCaffery and his spouse, Toni, and their daughter and two sons, live in the San Francisco Bay area.
UM’s School of Business Administration is accredited by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business International, the most rigorous accrediting body for business degree programs. The school’s faculty includes renowned scholars recognized for pioneering contributions to their field. Graduates continue a strong tradition of leadership at the highest level in entrepreneurial ventures and leading corporations.
The school offers undergraduate programs in accounting, finance, international business, management, management information systems and marketing; graduate programs in management and accounting; and certificate programs in entrepreneurship and entertainment management. Experiential learning opportunities prepare students to address real-world business problems and deliver value to their employers in today’s global economy.
More information is online at http://www.business.umt.edu/.
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NOTE TO EDITORS: Photos of the alumni receiving the awards are available by calling Tammy Yedinak at 406-243-6195 or by emailing tammy.yedinak@business.umt.edu.
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