2008 Recipients
Alfred A. Molinari Jr. ’63
Fred Molinari, though markets rise and fall, and bubbles float and burst, you have always landed on your feet. With your positive outlook and your genius for cutting-edge products, you have survived the tumultuous decades of the digital revolution and invariably come out on top.
You got your start managing a very small enterprise—Tech News, WPI’s student newspaper. A hardworking scholarship student, you furthered your education with a master’s degree in electrical engineering from Northeastern University, and an MBA from Harvard Business School. Early on, you found the traditional corporate mold too confining and knew that you had go your own way.
The company you founded, Data Translation, is now a world leader in the field of data acquisition and monitoring. Launched in 1974, during a recession, with borrowed money, it has grown into a multimillion dollar corporation with worldwide presence. As president and CEO, you oversee research and development of precision products for the test and measurement market, with applications in medicine, manufacturing, and media transmission.
You pioneered the Media 100 line of products, which put professional multimedia editing capabilities at the fingertips of anyone with a personal computer. You saw this as a great equalizer to help the “little guy” compete. You also foresaw the community-building power of Web-based production and broadcast, a full decade before the emergence of social networking, podcasting, and the likes of YouTube. “People will start making friends with strangers across the sea,” you predicted. “It will be very difficult for societies to be closed off from each other again. I see this as a way to help break down the barriers to worldwide peace.”
Because you value your WPI education, you have worked to nurture other technological entrepreneurs, through WPI’s Venture Forum and the Massachusetts High Tech Council. You have given back to your alma mater as a trustee, a generous donor, and a member of the steering committee for The Campaign for WPI.
Fred Molinari, we are pleased to present to you with the Robert H. Goddard Alumni Award for Outstanding Professional Achievement.
Scott W. Ramsay ’68
Scott Ramsay, over the last 40 years your myriad professional successes and accomplishments have garnered the admiration of your colleagues, peers, friends, and family.
You began your career in 1969 as an engineer for United Illuminating Company before going to work for Mobil Corporation and the State of Maine. In 1973 you earned an MBA at the University of New Hampshire. Three years later, you began what would become a long, successful tenure at Shaw’s Supermarkets. Originally hired as an office manager in 1976, your hard work and determination paid off, and in 2004, you retired as executive vice president and chief financial officer—a satisfying career, to be sure.
During your tenure at Shaw’s, you held various managerial positions, including vice president and general manager of the company’s Central Division and Southern Region, senior vice president of administration, and treasurer. In 1996 you became senior vice president for store operations, during which time you oversaw Shaw’s 100 stores throughout New England. Two years later, you were appointed executive vice president of finance, systems, and strategic planning, and in 2001, you were named executive vice president and chief financial officer.
Now semiretired, you continue to take your professional expertise to the boards and committees on which you sit. WPI has been a direct benefactor of that business acumen, for you have served as a trustee at the university since 2004; as Reunion Chair for the 40th Anniversary Gift Committee, you have worked fastidiously encouraging your peers to donate in honor of this historic reunion. You are also a member and past president of the board of directors of the Old Colony YMCA, a director of the Old Colony United Way and the United Ways of New England, and a member of the South Shore Hospital Board of Directors.
Scott Ramsay, on this, your class’s 40th Reunion, your alma mater celebrates your most distinguished career by honoring you with the Robert H. Goddard Alumni Award for Outstanding Professional Achievement.
Maryann Bagdis Goebel ’73
Maryann Bagdis Goebel, since graduating from WPI with a degree in mathematics, your impressive 35-year career in information technology has spanned the globe.
You entered WPI with aspirations of eventually teaching math, yet you have made your mark within major corporations around the world—over the last 15 years you have served in the critical role of chief information officer within various organizations. In your current position as global CIO for DHL Express, you oversee the company’s IT initiatives in 220 countries in the Americas, Asia Pacific, the Middle East, and Africa; as chair of its IT board, you help shape the strategic direction of information technology at DHL.
Before joining DHL Express, you made an impact in the automotive industry as CIO for General Motors North America. You joined GM in 1997 as CIO for its Truck Group, later held the same title for General Motors Europe, and served as its chief strategy officer for IT. In 2005 you received the “100 Leading Women in the North American Auto Industry” award. You’ve also held senior IT leadership positions at Frito-Lay/PepsiCo, Bell Atlantic NYNEX, Texas Instruments, and Aérospatiale, among others.
As one of 17 women in the Class of 1973 (the second WPI class to matriculate women students), you have credited your alma mater with, among other things, helping build your self-confidence. Indeed, WPI is proud to have provided a foundation from which you have built a long and successful career—from your early days as a computer programmer at the Philadelphia Electric Company, to your current post at DHL.
As one who thrives on movement and change, you have held upward of 30 positions in over 10 major organizations, living and working around the world. Several years ago, one of your former colleagues and mentors spoke about “blooming where you are planted” in order to achieve success.
Maryann Bagdis Goebel, because you so clearly bloom no matter where you are planted, WPI is proud to honor you today with the Robert H. Goddard Alumni Award for Outstanding Professional Achievement.
Robert A. Brown III ’78
Bob Brown, your professional achievements in the printing industry over the last three decades have made your alma mater proud.
Indeed, your work has always been of pressing nature. As the CEO of Goss International—maker of printing presses—you lead an organization with 4,100 employees, nine manufacturing facilities around the world, and a global sales and service network. Your company manufactures the presses on which 70 percent of American newspapers, including the New York Times and the Boston Globe, are printed. Under your direct leadership, Goss has significantly strengthened its technology platform, service capabilities, and ability to deliver value for customers. And, since becoming CEO six years ago, you have led the company from $400 million in sales to over $1.1 billion last year.
After graduating from WPI, you took your mechanical engineering degree to Harris Corporation, where, having been hired by a fellow WPI alum, you worked as a design engineer. Your perseverance and determination served you well as you earned an MBA from Southern New Hampshire University in 1985, and as you worked your way up to the position of CEO of Heidelberg Web Systems, the company that subsequently bought Harris. You held leadershippositions at Heidelberg and its predecessors for 20 years, including a decade’s tenure as president, during which time you oversaw the development and commercialization of the gapless technology incorporated in the Sunday press series.
You’ve taken your professional knowledge to better your community by serving as a member of the Board of Directors of NPES—the Association for Suppliers of Printing, Publishing, and Converting Technologies—and Printing Industries of America (PIA), as well as various charitable organizations.
In 1993, at your class’s 15th reunion, you received the Ichabod Washburn Young Alumni Award for Professional Achievement. In a note to WPI following the awards luncheon, you wrote, “WPI is a great institution because of the people that make the effort to keep moving forward. I truly am honored and will always owe much to the school.” In fact, your alma mater is indebted to you, for exemplifying so beautifully the mission and goals of WPI.
Bob Brown, we are pleased to honor you with the Robert H. Goddard Alumni Award for Outstanding Professional Achievement.
Stephan A. Mezak ’78
Steve Mezak, since graduating with high distinction fromWPI with a degree in computerscience, you have achieved tremendous professional success in the field of software development. Today, you are widely recognized as a successful technical entrepreneur and an international outsourcing expert. Your experience and advice are sought by corporate leaders around the globe.
A veteran of six start-up companies, including Aspect Development (sold to i2 for $9 billion) and Digital Market (sold to Agile Software for $75 million), you have served in a variety of management and technical roles during the past 25 years, including CTO and CEO. In 2001 you founded Accelerance, with the goal of sharing your expertise with companies in the United States and abroad on successfully integrating in-house and outsourced development teams to create dramatic cost and time savings. In the words of one of your clients, “Accelerance has mastered outsourcing.”
As an internationally acclaimed speaker, author, and consultant, you have shown hundreds of software executives how to use outsourced development as a major strategic advantage for developing their software. Your most recent book on this subject, Software without Borders: A Step-By-Step Guide to Outsourcing Your Software Development, received the Gold Independent Publisher Book Award in the Computer/Internet category. You also host a popular blog devoted to the principles of Software without Borders.
You are an advocate and practitioner of lifelong learning, having studied at UC Berkeley and City University in London. You are also an active participant in the academic life of your alma mater, sharing your expertise with new generations of WPI students and faculty as a member of the university’s Electrical and Computer Engineering Advisory Board. Your leadership helps WPI nurture and enhance the excellence of its electrical and computer engineering programs.
Steve Mezak, you display the signature WPI intelligence, spirit, and know-how in all of your endeavors. WPI is proud to honor you today with the Robert H. Goddard Alumni Award for Outstanding Professional Achievement.
James M. Welch ’83
James Welch, when you applied for admission to WPI in fall 1977, you said you felt it would be a challenge to be a problem solver in a modern society. You have risen to that challenge during your 25-year career. Since earning your bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering in 1983, you have become a master problem solver and technological leader.
Soon after graduating from WPI, you were appointed senior systems engineer at Intellution Inc. in Westwood, Mass. It was in your early years, where you designed and implemented a new generation of human machine interface that you showcased WPI’s motto of Lehr und Kunst, theory and practice. Your talent and ambition fed a prosperous career at Intellution, where you rose to senior vice president of engineering and support.
Not one for stagnancy, you received an MBA from Bentley College in the early 1990s and continued your career as vice president of product development at Ascential Software Inc., where you drove transformation of the product portfolio, helped establish the enterprise data integration market, and enabled customers to leverage their data as a strategic business asset.
After Ascential was acquired by the IBM Software Group, you led the team that built the IBM InfoSphere platform and tools. This massive project, which encompasses more than 100 software inventions, delivers trusted information providing enterprises insight to better serve their customers, identify and mitigate risks, and achieve business agility.
James Welch, because you put into practice the theories and processes needed to become an expert problem solver, WPI is proud to honor you with the Robert H. Goddard Award for Outstanding Professional Achievement.
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