Pitt's Business Alumni Association to Honor Community Leaders at 46th Annual Awards Program May 12

PITTSBURGH-In recognition of their commitment to the University of Pittsburgh and contributions to their communities, six individuals and one corporation will by honored by Pitt's Joseph M. Katz School of Business and College of Business Administration (CBA) at the 46th Annual Business Alumni Association Awards Program on the evening of May 12 in the Carnegie Music Hall and Foyer, 4400 Forbes Ave., Oakland.

The by-invitation-only event will begin with a catered reception followed by an awards ceremony from 7:15 to 8: 30 p.m.; the evening will conclude with an opportunity for networking.

The 2010 honorees are Distinguished Service Award-winner Robert Schnoes (BSIM '49), vice chair of Ultrasonic Power Corporation and president and owner of Freeport Depot, Inc.; H.J. Zoffer Medal for Meritorious Service Award-winner Shekar Narasimhan (MBA '75), managing partner of Beekman Advisors and CEO of Beekman Helix India Partners; Distinguished Alumni Award-winners Jeffrey Davis (EMBA '92), senior vice president of finance within store operations at Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., Donald R. Fischer (MBA '98), senior vice president of Health Affairs and CMO of Highmark Inc., and Barbara K. Mistick (MBA '92), president and director of the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh; and CBA Outstanding Alumni Award-winner Joan Snyder (BSBA '01), senior manager of segment marketing of Forest Laboratories, Inc. The Corporate Appreciation Award will be presented to BNY Mellon.

Brief biographies of the honorees follow.

Schnoes' Distinguished Service Award recognizes his more than 20 years of continuous service to the school's Board of Visitors. Schnoes' career spans more than six decades. In that time, he has served as an executive officer and director for some of the nation's leading corporations, including Westinghouse Atomic Power Division; American Standard, Inc.; Dresser Industries, Inc.; and IC Industries, Inc. Schnoes, who studied industrial management and industrial engineering, accumulated much of his professional experience with international manufacturers and industrial firms. In 1987, Schnoes received Pitt's Bicentennial Medallion of Distinction. He is also a member of the Board of Advisors of the University of Wisconsin Department of Urology, where he and his wife, Dolores, have endowed a lecture series and a chair for cancer research.

As a key player in the financial services, investment banking, and real estate industries for more than 30 years, Narasimhan has shown his commitment to cultivating leadership best practices in the next generation of executives by cosponsoring the Pitt Business "Thought Leaders in Business" speakers' forum. Narasimhan has held a number of top management positions at various companies, including WMF Group and Prudential Mortgage Capital Company. He is on the executive committee of the National Housing Conference and the boards of the Community Preservation and Development Corporation and the Low-Income Investment Fund. Narasimhan also serves as an independent director on the board of Broadstone Net Lease, Inc.

Davis joined Walmart's finance department as vice president in 2006. In his current position as senior vice president of finance, he is responsible for supporting store operations through finance operations and logistics. His team is responsible for enhancing the Walmart shopping experience for U.S. consumers and improving efficiencies and reducing overall costs for the nearly 3,700 Walmart stores nationwide. For his role in the design and implementation of the company's $4 prescription drug program, he was awarded the Sam M. Walton Entrepreneur of the Year Award, the highest honor for a Walmart associate. He has demonstrated success in team development and for building a robust pipeline for underrepresented groups in the field of finance and accounting. Prior to working for Walmart, he held several finance positions, including service as the chief financial officer for McKesson General Medical Corp. and Lakeland Tours, LLC. A certified public accountant, Davis began his career in public accounting and is a member of the National Association of Black Accountants.

After completing a pediatric residency and pediatric cardiology fellowship at the Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC in 1981, Fischer returned to the classroom as a faculty member in the Division of Pediatric Cardiology in Pitt's School of Medicine. He ultimately became medical director for Children's Hospital. In 2001, he joined Highmark Inc., where he currently is responsible for clinical strategy, medical management and policy, care management services, quality management, pharmacy affairs, and preventive health services. He is a certified physician executive in the American College of Physician Executives and president of the board of the Western Pennsylvania chapter of the American Heart Association. Fischer is a member of the boards of Gilda's Club Western Pennsylvania, the Pittsburgh Regional Healthcare Initiative, and Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh.

As president and director of Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh, Mistick contributes to the educational vitality, economic development, and cultural enrichment of the Pittsburgh region. Mistick is responsible for shaping the strategic operation of the 114-year-old library system, which welcomes more than 2 million visitors annually and engages the community in literacy and learning. Under Mistick's leadership, the library embarked on a $55 million capital campaign, the first in its history, to modernize the Carnegie neighborhood libraries systemwide. These efforts have resulted in significant investment in Pittsburgh neighborhoods and provide a range of library services and programs for children, teens, and adults. She serves on the Strategic Planning and Highsmith Award Committees of the Urban Libraries Council, where she was instrumental in commissioning a national study on the value of libraries.

Overseeing the managed care marketing team at Forest Laboratories, Inc., Snyder is pursuing a career where business and health care converge. At Eli Lilly and Company, Snyder's sales were among the top 2 percent in the United States, and her leadership turned an underperforming sales team from 77th to first in the nation. Snyder's leadership also extends into the community, where she concentrates her efforts on writing for and speaking to students and young professionals, helping them to develop their own leadership styles and values and extolling the importance of working with nonprofits, where, she says, young professionals can get hands-on experience with big projects, take on greater responsibilities, and develop transferable skills faster than in corporate America.

BNY Mellon is being recognized with the Business Alumni Association's 2010 Corporate Appreciation Award for its outstanding business leadership in and beyond the Pittsburgh community, its generous philanthropic support of the school and the University of Pittsburgh at large, and its continued commitment to hire Pitt Business alumni and students. Currently, more than 280 Pitt alumni are employed by BNY Mellon, almost half of whom are graduates of the Katz School or CBA. Accepting the award on behalf of BNY Mellon's Pittsburgh Office will be David R. Nesbit (MBA '86), managing director and chief administrative officer for finance, BNY Mellon.

For more information, call 412-648-1654.

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