2019 Belk College of Business Alumni Awards

Belk College Alumni Awards 2019

As part of UNC Charlotte’s Homecoming celebrations, the Belk College of Business honored four alumni and friends for their accomplishments, service and dedication to the college at the Belk College Alumni Awards at the Harris Alumni Center at Johnson Glen. 

The Belk College Alumni Awards recognize alumni and advocates of the UNC Charlotte Belk College of Business who have demonstrated leadership and outstanding career achievements and enhanced the mission of the College. Sponsored by the Belk College of Business Alumni Council, the awards were bestowed on September 25 upon four individuals, each in a distinct category:

  • Distinguished Alumni Award: The Distinguished Alumni Award is presented to alumni for extraordinary leadership and accomplishments. It recognizes alumni who have demonstrated exceptional commitment to the University and the business community by giving generously of their time, energy and leadership. This award celebrates alumni who have had a transforming influence onour college and/or the community, over a lifetime. It is the highest honor the Belk College bestows.  .  
  • Distinguished Alumni Service Award: The Distinguished Alumni Service Award is presented to a member of the Belk College community for outstanding service to the Belk College of Business.   
  • Distinguished Young Alumni Award: The Distinguished Young Alumni Award recognizes an alumnus or alumna who is under forty years of age, has demonstrated achievement, and shows a promising future in business.
  • Honorary Alumni Award: The Honorary Alumni Award recognizes outstanding individuals who, while not graduates of the Belk College of Business, have made significant contributions to its leadership, vision and educational mission.

Susan JamisonSusan Jamison '78 Accounting - Distinguished Alumni Award
Susan Jamison is the founder of Wealth Matters, LLC, a wealth planning consulting practice. Jamison's bachelor's degree in accounting from the Belk College of Business at UNC Charlotte paved the way for her successful 40-year career as a certified public accountant. She worked in the auditing department of KPMG until 1985 when she joined Belk Inc., serving as vice president and tax advisor until her retirement in 2014. Jamison has remained involved with her alma mater, serving on the Alumni Association Board of Directors in the 1980s and currently as a member of the UNC Charlotte Foundation Board. In 2018, she established the Susan N. Jamison Accounting Scholarship to support accounting students from North Carolina who, like Jamison, are first-generation college students giving new opportunities to business students.

Kelly McPhilliamyKelly McPhilliamy '89 Finance - Distinguished Alumni Service Award
Kelly McPhilliamy is managing director in Harris Williams’ Consumer Group. She has over 20 years of experience providing strategic and financial advice to public and private companies, entrepreneurs, and private equity firms regarding mergers and acquisitions, capital raising, and capital structure. Prior to joining Harris Williams in 2018, she spent 15 years at Wells Fargo as managing director and head of Consumer Investment Banking and six years in Morgan Stanley’s Global Retail group and Merrill Lynch’s Financial Sponsors group. McPhilliamy serves on both the Belk College of Business Board of Advisors and the Belk College Women in Business Board. She was instrumental in founding and growing the Women in Business Initiative for the College and is directly involved with business students. McPhilliamy has served twice as the keynote speaker at the Belk College Women in Business signature event for students and alumni and gives generously to empower and support the futures of Belk College students. McPhilliamy has received numerous awards including being named a “Mover, Shaker and Money Maker” by Women’s Wear Daily in 2018, recognized by the Charlotte Business Journal for their “Women in Business” awards in 2017, and was named one of “Beauty’s 50 Most Powerful Women” by Women’s Wear Daily in 2015.

Latesha ByrdLatesha Byrd '12 Accounting - Outstanding Young Alumni Award
Latesha Byrd is the founder and CEO of Byrd Career Consulting, an agency that provides resume and LinkedIn makeovers, interview coaching and executive career coaching. The company has provided career development coaching and resources to over 800 professionals in over 30 industries nationally and internationally.  Byrd partners with professional organizations, nonprofits, corporations and universities, including UNC Charlotte, to deliver workshops on people engagement and upward mobility. She was recently featured in Forbes magazine and has been a guest on NBC Charlotte Today. Byrd is also an adjunct faculty member at North Carolina A&T State University, a certified Life and Career Coach, and hosts a weekly career advice podcast with Living Corporate, "The Link Up With Latesha."  Byrd earned her bachelor's degree in accounting in 2012 and serves on the UNC Charlotte Black Alumni Chapter board.

Tom Marshall - Honorary Alumni Award  Tom Marshall
Tom Marshall has been an adjunct faculty member and lecturer in the Belk College of Business Department of Finance since 2005.  Marshall teaches classes in the Risk Management and Insurance program and serves as the faculty advisor for the student organization Gamma Iota Sigma.  Impressed with the diversity of the student body and newly established Risk Management and Insurance program, Marshall quickly adopted UNC Charlotte and the Belk College as his university home.  Since 2005, he has co-directed three UNC Charlotte Symposiums for industry professionals and alumni and 19 study abroad programs for Belk College students. He established a semi-annual career fair for all business students, a golf tournament fundraiser for scholarships and an annual alumni reunion. Under Marshall's leadership, the risk management and insurance program has raised over $1.7 million during the Exponential campaign which began in 2013. During his insurance career, Marshall served as the President of Marshall General Agency and later as Regional Vice President of Auto-Owners Insurance Company.  Marshall earned his bachelor's degree from Wake Forest University and an MBA from the Wharton School of Finance at the University of Pennsylvania. He currently serves on the Board of Directors for the Charlotte CPCU Chapter and chairs the Independent Insurance Agents of North Carolina Education Foundation.
  

Dean Steven Ott says the four award winners are the embodiment of leadership and ingenuity not only for the Belk College, but for the broader business community.

“The Belk College is proud to honor four superior individuals this year during UNC Charlotte Homecoming. We are grateful for their support of the Belk College as advocates, volunteers and donors, while serving as leaders in the business community. All of our awardees have achieved so much, both personally and professionally. They are recognized leaders among our strong and growing Belk College network of more than 32,000 alumni,” Ott said.

About the Belk College of Business at UNC Charlotte

Accredited by AACSB International, the Belk College of Business at UNC Charlotte offers outstanding business education programs at the undergraduate, graduate, doctoral and executive levels, including the  Belk College MBA nationally-ranked in the top 20% and the M.S. in Mathematical Finance ranked #14 in the nation. . The Belk College has more than 32,000 alumni, more than 18,000 of whom live and work in the Charlotte region. The Belk College is committed to building strong partnerships in the Greater Charlotte region and beyond as a vital part of our mission as North Carolina's urban research business school. Find the Belk College of Business online at
belkcollege.charlotte.edu.

Contact:
Belk College of Business: Kinsey Sheehan | 704-687-5012| kinsey.sheehan@uncc.edu

Date Published:  Wednesday, September 25, 2019