In the more than 100-year history of the Wisconsin School of Business, fewer than 100 individuals have been chosen for its Distinguished Business Alumnus Award. This fall, four alumni were honored for their career achievements in career and contributions to community service, and the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Dean Michael Knetter presented the awards to this year’s honorees during the 2009 Homecoming Gala.

 David R Anderson, BBA ‘70, MBA ’74, is chairman and CEO of American Family Insurance Group. Based in Madison, American Family is the third largest mutual property/casualty insurance company and the sixteenth largest property/casualty company in the nation.

Anderson is a member of several industry boards. He also serves on the boards of Meriter Health Services, Inc./Meriter Hospital, Inc./Meriter Management Services, the Wisconsin School of Business Dean’s Advisory Board, and the U.S. Bank Advisory Board. Other boards on which he serves include those of the Greater Madison Chamber of Commerce, Future Madison Housing, and United Way of Dane County.

Stephen M. Bennett, BBA ‘76, is the former president and CEO of Intuit Inc. Under Bennett’s leadership, Intuit became a leader in small business, consumer tax preparation, and personal financial management software, with flagship brands such as QuickBooks, TurboTax, and Quicken. Since leaving the company in 2007, Bennett has been active as an angel investor and board member. He is a board member of Sun Microsystems, Qualcomm, Intuit, and two private companies, Sojern and Nemean Networks. Bennett chairs the board of Nemean Networks and the Dean’s Advisory Board of the Wisconsin School of Business.

Glen Tellock, BBA ‘83, is president and CEO of the Manitowoc Company, Inc. The company’s two businesses, Manitowoc Cranes and Manitowoc Foodservice, employ nearly 16,000 people and run operations in more than 20 countries. In addition to his work at Manitowoc Company, Tellock has served on the Dean’s Advisory Board of the Wisconsin School of Business and is on the board of directors for Big Brothers Big Sisters of Manitowoc County.

Patrick A Thiele, BBA ‘72, MS ‘75, is president and CEO of PartnerRe Ltd. Under his leadership since 2000, PartnerRe has become a diversified, global reinsurance company with 13 office locations worldwide, offering reinsurance coverage for property and casualty, catastrophe, specialty lines, life, and alternative risk products. A Chartered Financial Analyst, Thiele serves on the Dean’s Advisory Board of the Wisconsin School of Business and the board of St. John’s University’s School of Risk Management and Actuarial Science.

Posted in Alumni News, Awards