Leaders, champions celebrated at Belk College alumni awards ceremony

Business Niner Amy Nance Lewis ’93 lives a life guided by memories of her mother, who died soon after Lewis completed a bachelor’s degree in business administration as a marketing major.

“I was only 23 when my mother was tragically killed in a car accident,” Lewis told attendees at the 2025 Belk College of Business Alumni Awards as she accepted this year’s Distinguished Alumni Service Award. “I was devastated. I was lost. But right then and there, I made a commitment to live a life that would make her proud. I always want to carry on her legacy of service and kindness. She lived by the motto that it’s nice to be important, but it’s more important to be nice.”

Lewis and the other four recipients of the Belk College’s annual alumni awards embody the Belk College mission to inspire a passion for service and knowledge, said Dean Richard Buttimer. “The Belk College is now home to over 5,700 students, making us the largest business school in the state of North Carolina,” Buttimer said. “But our strength isn’t just in our numbers. Our alumni and friends are shaping the future of business and leading innovation in their fields.”

Paul Claiborne ’88, chair of the Belk College Alumni Council, hosted the awards ceremony on Oct. 19 at the UNC Charlotte Marriott Hotel & Conference Center, and current student leaders introduced the honorees. Award recipients are:

• Distinguished Alumni Award: Eric W. Seidel ’90, business administration
• Distinguished Alumni Service Award: Amy Nance Lewis ’93, business administration
• Outstanding Young Alumni Award: Kate Frear ’12 M.A. Sociology, ’14 Ph.D., organizational science
• Outstanding Young Alumni Award: Samantha Paustian-Underdahl ‘10 M.A., industrial and organizational psychology, ‘12 Ph.D., organizational science
• Honorary Alumni Award: Christopher L. Johnson

Three defining elements emerged from the honorees’ stories. 1) Achievements are rooted in the support and guidance received from others, which has created an imperative to give back. 2) Networks provide connections and expand impact, particularly through the Belk College alumni network of more than 40,000 people, many in the Charlotte region. 3) Knowledge from studies and engagement through UNC Charlotte has proven essential for solving complex challenges, enhancing workplaces and ensuring a competitive edge.

Student leaders stand out

Students introduced the honorees, as a way to connect current scholars with those who have come before them. “Each of our student presenters is a campus and college leader who has excelled both inside and outside the classroom and in internships and professional roles throughout the Charlotte and North Carolina region,” said Paul Claiborne ’88, chair of the Belk College of Business Alumni Council and host. The student presenters were:

• Amorion Armstrong, a junior majoring in marketing, presented the distinguished alumni award.
• Krupa Jacob, a junior who is double majoring in management and management information systems, with a minor in communication studies, presented the distinguished alumni service award.
• Isabella Lain, a senior who is pursuing a double major in marketing and finance with a minor in journalism, presented the first outstanding young alumni award.
• Elana White, who is pursuing a doctorate in organizational science, presented the second outstanding young alumni award.
• Cooper Ellis, a senior majoring in finance with a concentration in risk management and insurance and a minor in management information systems, presented the honorary alumni award.

Distinguished Alumni Award: Eric W. Seidel ’90

This year’s recipient of the college’s highest alumni honor is a visionary leader whose career has been defined by driving growth and commercial excellence on a global scale. Described as a shining example of the heights a Belk College graduate can achieve, Seidel is lauded for his strong commitment to helping to shape the future of the Belk College and Charlotte.

“I’m incredibly humbled to be here,” he said. “I graduated in 1990, and I never would have thought, in my wildest expectations, to have been here. I came here as a transfer student in 1986. I was originally from New York. What brought me down here was the weather. That really was it. After I came here, I quickly got involved with things.”

That involvement with Charlotte and Belk College has faithfully continued through the years. He now serves on the Belk College of Business Board of Advisors and the UNC Charlotte Board of Visitors. Earlier this fall, Seidel joined other Honeywell executives in announcing a $10 million investment in Charlotte to transform Burson Hall into the Honeywell Innovation Hub.

As senior vice president and chief commercial officer at Honeywell, Seidel is responsible for driving organic growth through commercial excellence. He also has responsibility for enhancing the company’s global sales capabilities to best support customers in their efforts across automation, energy transition and aviation. Throughout his career, he moved more than a dozen times, as he took on increasingly higher positions. This has required sacrifices by his wife and six children, one of whom is a student at Charlotte.

“If I think about a couple of pivotal points during my life, obviously my marriage and my family rank as No. 1,” said Seidel, who noted that his undergraduate experiences through the Belk College was a second decisive point. “UNC Charlotte gave me my first opportunity for a real career. I did a co-op program in what was then called downtown.”

At that time, Charlotte was more of a regional banking community, rather than the dynamic financial and business hub it has become. Seidel and colleagues brought bag lunches every day because there were so few restaurants. In a full circle moment, when Honeywell chose its temporary headquarters before moving into its permanent site, he found himself amazed to be back in the same offices where he had reported to work as an intern as a Charlotte student decades ago.

“So, there’s something about Charlotte,” he said. “The difference is Charlotte. I truly believe that.”

Distinguished Alumni Service Award: Amy Nance Lewis ’93

Lewis is senior director of human resources for Charlotte Radiology, Windsong Radiology and Connexia Imaging, after a 25-year career at Belk, Inc. which began when she was a sophomore at Charlotte. She has been a passionate advocate and supporter of the University and the Belk College of Business, serving multiple terms on the UNC Charlotte Alumni Association Board of Directors and the Belk College Alumni Council and as the alumni representative for the University Teaching Excellence Awards.

“Amy exemplifies what it means to be an alumna who gives back,” a nominator said. “Through the extraordinary time and energy she has devoted, she has shaped the experiences of students who are now proud alumni, standing out as one of our most dedicated alumni to our students’ experience and to University pride and leadership.”

Lewis has been a guest lecturer for decades for undergraduate and graduate-level marketing, management and consumer behavior classes. She began her service on the Women in Business Associate Board in 2020 and has been an engaged mentor and champion for the program’s student ambassadors.

“My husband Jeff is also a class of ’93 Charlotte graduate,” Lewis said. “He had quite a career with Harris Teeter, with 39 years of dedicated service. And when my mom was going through his checkout line at Harris Teeter, he was her favorite cashier. She introduced us. He ended up being a math major, and I needed a little help in business calculus, so it worked out quite nicely.”

The two have worked side-by-side in community service at their companies and at UNC Charlotte, from delivering meals and household items families in need, to putting together furniture and cribs, in addition to stocking canned goods and installing shelves at the Jamal Niner Student Pantry. In another Charlotte connection, one of their daughters recently earned an MBA through the Belk College. 

“UNC Charlotte has always been a special place for me and my family,” Lewis said. “Three of the six children in our family are proud 49er alums. I’m the professional that I am today because of my experience in the Belk College. It has truly been a privilege to share my pride and to give back. My favorite poet, Percy Bysshe Shelley, said, ‘The soul’s joy lies in doing.’ That is very true for me. I’m so looking forward to continuing to serve and give back, and I look forward to what is to come.”

Outstanding Young Alumni Award

This year, the college’s Outstanding Young Alumni Award is presented to two people, who were classmates in doctoral studies at Charlotte and now are business partners in the entrepreneurial company Joyntly. Their company uses science-backed behavioral practices and algorithms to craft personalized training programs for leaders so they develop effective and long-lasting leadership habits.

Outstanding Young Alumni Award: Kate Frear

Frear, co-founder and CEO of Joyntly, is a visionary leader whose career has been a master class in turning academic insight into real-world impact. Her life’s goal is to improve workplaces in ways that help employees and organizations achieve their full potential. She earned a doctorate in organizational science in 2014, building upon a master’s degree in sociology, also from Charlotte.

“I feel humbled and fortunate to be here,” Frear said. “When I applied to the organizational science program at UNC Charlotte, I was wait-listed. There were five spots available, and I was No. 6. I almost didn’t get in. I’m so glad (program director) Stephen Rogelberg and the admissions committee saw something in me and I got accepted.”

Following graduate school, Frear began her career in academia, holding faculty positions at University of South Carolina Upstate Johnson College of Business, Southern Methodist University Cox School of Business, and Wake Forest University School of Business. In these roles, she taught the next generation about organizational behavior and human resource management. She transitioned to research scientist role at the Center for Creative Leadership before co-founding Joyntly.

A supporter of Frear’s nomination said, “In a world where it’s easy to lose focus on what truly matters, Joyntly brings us back to first principles: people matter, and their skills drive business.”

In addition to co-leading her own startup, Frear is a passionate supporter of the Charlotte region’s entrepreneurial ecosystem. Joyntly is one of the first organizations to lease space at CO-LAB at UNC Charlotte Center City, where entrepreneurs and industry professionals come together with Charlotte faculty and students to address real-world challenges.

She is also an angel investor and board member at Charlotte Angel Fund (Fund III), where she invests in early-stage entrepreneurs and startups in the southeastern U.S., to help other founders realize their dreams, even as she continues to pursue her own. “I look forward to the adventures that await,” Frear said.

Outstanding Young Alumni Award: Samantha Paustian-Underdahl

Paustian-Underdahl is an entrepreneur whose career is dedicated to enhancing employee and organizational well-being and effectiveness. Her work illustrates how rigorous academic inquiry can translate into powerful, real-world solutions.

She is an associate professor of management at the University of Central Florida, with research published in premier academic journals, including the Journal of Applied Psychology and the Journal of Management. In 2020, she was a U.S. Fulbright Scholar conducting research in Ireland. She also serves as an associate editor for the Journal of Management and on the editorial boards for Leadership Quarterly and the Journal of Business and Psychology.

Her drive to make a tangible impact on the business world led her to partner with Frear on Joyntly. “I was honored and thrilled that Kate asked me to co-found Joyntly with her, and we’re really taking the science and translating that to make the workplace better,” she said. “I feel like I have the dream job.”

Paustian-Underdahl sees her preparation at Charlotte through completion of a doctoral degree in organizational science and a master’s degree in industrial and organizational psychology as essential to her academic and business career.

The doctoral program is unique for combining industrial and organizational psychology with management, sociology and organizational communication. “It’s an interdisciplinary focus on employee well-being and effectiveness,” she said. “I learned so much from the faculty here. That’s really where I learned to teach. I learned to mentor. I learned to be a leader. And the focus of our program was really on being a scientist and a practitioner. We were trained to be scholars and scientists, but also we were trained to know the importance of applying that science to the real world.”

One of Paustian-Underdahl’s supporters commented, “Her commitment to advancing organizational science and human capital, developing solutions for enhancing workplace leadership and accelerating the organizational mission cannot be undervalued.” 

Honorary Alumni Award: Christopher L. Johnson

Johnson is a seasoned human resources executive, a respected leader and a dedicated champion for students at Charlotte and particularly in the Belk College. He is Head of Employee Relations at Equitable, where he has been a pivotal member of the human resources leadership team since 2019.

“My path to college was not a traditional one,” Johnson shared. “We didn’t have a lot of money, so I had to self-finance my education. I started at a small community college. I was that kid, having to work and try to figure it all out. I think one of the things that always comes to mind from when I was a student was just how lost I was.”

Staff and faculty at County College of Morris and later at Fairleigh Dickinson University, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration and management, stepped in and smoothed his path forward. “That’s when I came up with the idea that one day I was going to pay this forward and find a way to make a difference,” he said.

About a decade ago, he started volunteering at Charlotte, which then led to an invitation to join the Belk College Board of Advisors in 2023. Since then, he has devoted an extraordinary amount of time and energy into students’ success, arranging career panels, sharing advice and speaking to business classes. Most recently, he ensured a trip by Belk College students to New York City was packed with learning experiences including a tour of Tribeca art galleries sponsored by Equitable and a tour and panel discussion at the company’s global headquarters.

Johnson described the one ask he makes when mentoring students, when he asks them to remember the moment and do the same when established in their careers. “Now, I’m getting to the point where some of the former students have come back and told me they’re starting to do that,” he said.

Johnson and his wife have become such supporters of Charlotte that their closets are crammed with green clothing, and their niece was even drawn to become a student here. People see him on campus so often, they ask what year he graduated. “I tell them it’s a long story,” he said. “I didn’t really graduate from here, but I bleed green. As of today (with the award), I’m actually going to be able to tell people I’m a Niner. So thank you so much.”