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News Release

Last modified: Wednesday, March 4, 2009

Kelley School of Business to honor six IU alumni on March 11 in Indianapolis

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 4, 2009

Editors: Contact George Vlahakis at 812-855-0846 or gvlahaki@indiana.edu if you are interested in scheduling an advance interview with any of the people featured in this release. Some of them may be available for brief interviews on the day of the conference.

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- Six alumni of the Indiana University Kelley School of Business will be honored for professional achievement during an awards ceremony at the 63rd annual IU Business Conference next Wednesday (March 11) in Indianapolis.

Being named to the Kelley School of Business Academy of Alumni Fellows are S. Sue Aramian, former managing general partner of Kelley & Partners Ltd., New York; David L. Beré, president and chief strategy officer of Dollar General Corp., Goodlettsville, Tenn.; Ronald S. Cohen, retired chief executive officer and chairman of the executive committee of Crowe Horwath LLP (formerly, Crowe Chizek and Company LLP), South Bend, Ind.; Louis G. Jordan, senior vice president-global finance, Starbucks Coffee Co., Seattle; and Carey B. Lykins, president and CEO of Citizens Energy Group, Indianapolis.

The 2009 Distinguished Entrepreneur Award will be presented to Charles J. Clifford, co-founder of Tumi Inc. of Osterville, Mass.

The conference, with the theme, "The 21st Century Perfect Storm: Health Care, Energy and the Environment," will be from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Indiana Convention Center, 100 S. Capitol Ave. It will feature David Brooks, a New York Times columnist; Susan Dentzer, editor-in-chief of Health Affairs; Amory Lovins, founder, chairman and chief scientist at the Rocky Mountain Institute; Bill McKibben, environmentalist and author; Michael A. Evans, president and CEO of AIT Laboratories; Douglas Lattner, chairman and CEO of Deloitte Consulting LLP; and Michael G. Rippey, president and CEO of ArcelorMittal USA.

Information and online registration are available at 812-855-6340 and https://kelley.iu.edu/busconf/.

More about those being honored:

S. Sue Aramian

Sue Aramian holds several titles: first female graduate from IU's executive development program, first female officer of a Fortune 500 company, first female officer of a leading restaurant chain.

Aramian was the longtime business partner of E.W. "Ed" Kelley, the Kelley School's namesake, who acknowledged her as one of the modern-day founders of Steak n Shake.

Her career began as a development officer for Brown University. She later joined the consumer group of Gulf & Western Industries where she worked with Kelley. They became associated with Fairmont Foods, a Fortune 500 company, and Aramian became its first woman officer.

Subsequently, she and Kelley established a business partnership which acquired several companies and in 1981 Kelley & Partners attained majority control of Steak n Shake, where she became director and vice chairwoman. She retired from the company in 2003.

Aramian's relationship with IU is long standing. She is a member of the IU Foundation Board of Directors, the Kelley School's Dean's Council and the President's Circle, and has advocated for women in business. She has served on the Purdue University Hotel and Restaurant Advisory Board, offering hospitality students scholarship opportunities.

She formed a philanthropic foundation, establishing the Aramian YMCA Child Care and Senior Center in Armenia. The center provides educational, social and cultural programs while offering career internships for young adults. In spring of 2009, Aramian plans another trip to Armenia, to attend the dedication of a YMCA camp she has sponsored.

David L. Beré

David L. Beré earned a bachelor of arts degree in political science from IU in 1975 and an MBA degree in 1978 from the Kelley School. Today, he is president and chief strategy officer of Dollar General Corp., a leading discount retailer with more than 8,000 stores and $10 billion in sales.

Beré was named the company's president and chief operating officer in December 2006 after serving on the company's board of directors since 2002. Upon completion of Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co.'s acquisition of Dollar General in July 2007, Beré was named interim CEO and a member of the board of directors. After a permanent CEO was named in January 2008, Beré was named president and chief strategy officer.

From 1998 to 2005, Beré was president and CEO of Bakery Chef, a leading manufacturer and marketer of frozen bakery products. Bakery Chef initially was owned by Value-Added Bakery Holding Co., a partnership formed in 1998 by Beré and Wind Point Partners, a private equity investment firm. VABCO sold the company to Ralcorp Holdings Inc. in December 2003. Upon completion of the acquisition, Beré remained CEO of Bakery Chef and was named corporate vice president of Ralcorp Holdings Inc.

From 1996 to 1998, Beré was president and CEO of McCain Foods USA, a manufacturer and marketer of frozen potato, appetizer and pizza products. From 1978 to 1995, he worked at The Quaker Oats Co., where he was president of the Breakfast Division (in 1992-95) and president of Golden Grain (which has the Rice-A-Roni, Noodle-Roni and Ghirardelli Chocolates brands) from 1990-92. Prior to 1990, he held various brand marketing positions at Quaker Oats.

In 1983, Beré was granted a one-year leave of absence from Quaker Oats after he was selected a White House Fellow by President Ronald Reagan. Beré currently is chairman of the board of trustees of Fuller Theological Seminary and is a member of the IU Kelley School of Business Dean's Council.

Charles J. Clifford

Charles J. Clifford is the co-founder of Tumi Inc. and served as its CEO for many years before finishing his career heading up Tumi's international business. Clifford launched Tumi in 1975 with a partner as an importer of leather bags from Colombia with an investment of $10,000, naming the company after a Peruvian pre-Colombian god.

Today, Tumi is sold in 60 countries as the leading brand of prestige luggage, business cases and accessories worldwide, with a dedicated following among frequent travelers, including international executives, famous athletes and celebrities from the entertainment industry.

Clifford earned a bachelor of arts degree in English from IU in 1965 and an MBA in marketing from the Kelley School in 1967. He then spent two years in an experimental Peace Corps program in Peru designed for MBAs, working as a consultant with small businesses and assisting government agencies with economic development projects.

He has consulted with various companies in the leather goods sector and is a principal at Compass Partners International, a management firm which partners with a select group of accessories and related consumer products companies in order to develop their business in the U.S. market.

Clifford is a member of the board of Aid to Artisans, a non-profit organization which creates economic opportunities for artisans around the world to build profitable, sustainable businesses. He is a member of the President's Council of ACCION International and the Dean's Council of the Kelley School.

He also has served on the board of directors for the Travel Goods Association, which recognized him in 2005 for his excellence and outstanding contributions to the travel goods industry, the industry's associations and the community. He received the President's Award from the American Luggage Dealers Association in 1994.

Ronald S. Cohen

Ronald S. Cohen retired from Crowe, Chizek and Company LLP (now Crowe Horwath LLP) in 2003 after leading the firm through tremendous growth as its chief executive and later as chairman of its board of executives, as well as serving as chairman of Horwath International and a member of its executive council/board.

Cohen was one of 12 employees when he joined the firm in 1958, and Crowe Horwath currently is the eighth largest U.S. accounting firm with approximately 2,500 employees. Cohen now has his own CPA business, specializing in complex commercial disputes.

He has served as chairman of the board of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) and has been a member of its governing council since 1998. Cohen has been a member of the commercial panel of the American Arbitration Association since 2000 and is a former member of the governing council of the International Federation of Accountants. A member of the Indiana CPA Society since 1961, Cohen is a past president of its South Bend chapter.

Cohen earned his Bachelor of Science degree in business from the Kelley School in 1958 with honors. He is a member of its Dean's Council and a past member of the Kelley Alumni Association board of directors. Cohen's many civic involvements include service as a board member and treasurer of Memorial Hospital and Memorial Health Systems and as a board member and campaign chairman of the United Way of St. Joseph County.

Cohen received the American Institute of CPAs' Gold Medal for Distinguished Service in 2006 and the Indiana CPA Society's Distinguished Service Award in 2008. He was recognized in three consecutive years in the mid-1990s as one of the 100 Most Influential Accountants in the U.S. by Accounting Today, and he received the President's Award in 1996 from the Indiana Society of CPAs.

Louis Jordan

Louis Jordan joined Starbucks Coffee Co. on Monday (Feb. 23) as senior vice president-global finance. He previously had been chief financial officer of Nike Inc.'s Global Retail and Digital Commerce operations.

Jordan is a native of Philadelphia and the sixth child of Rev. Samuel B. Jordan Sr. and Mary Jordan. He received Bachelor of Arts and Master of Arts degrees in history from Westmar College and Brown University respectively. He received his MBA in finance from the Kelley School, where he was a Consortium for Graduate Study in Management Fellow, president of the Finance Guild and recipient of the Outstanding MBA award in 1980.

Since receiving his Kelley MBA, Jordan has worked for a succession of Fortune 500 companies, including Dupont, Dun & Bradstreet, Citibank, Duracell and The Gap.

Jordan joined Nike in February 2003 as CFO-USA Retail. Before assuming his position as CFO for global retail and digital commerce in early 2007, he also headed up global business planning for Nike Inc. for two years. His management scope before he left Nike included finance responsibility of all Nike-owned retail and factory stores and digital commerce activities worldwide.

Jordan and his wife, Lynda, began production of estate-grown Bordeaux style wine in 2006. The Louis and Lynda Jordan vineyard, under the brand name "Tympany 5," is located in Sonoma County, Calif.'s Alexander Valley. An active alumnus, he he has served on the board of directors of the Kelley School of Business Alumni Association and as president of its San Francisco Bay Area Alumni Board Chapter. Since 2006, he has served on the advisory board of the school's Johnson Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation.

Carey B. Lykins

Carey B. Lykins is president and CEO of Citizens Energy Group. Lykins joined the utility in 1973 as a cashier and worked his way up through various positions of increasing responsibility, including director of budget and rates, vice president of customer services and rates, senior vice president and chief financial officer, and executive vice president and chief operating officer. Under his leadership, the utility has embarked on a comprehensive effort to make diversity an integral part of the utility's culture, mission and vision.

A certified public accountant, Lykins has a bachelor's degree in finance and a MBA from the Kelley School. He serves the Board of Visitors of the Kelley School of Business at Indianapolis, on boards of directors for the Indiana and Midwest energy associations and the American Gas Association. His active community involvements include serving on the boards of directors for Educational Choice Charitable Trust, Junior Achievement of Central Indiana, Indianapolis Downtown, Greater Indianapolis Chamber of Commerce and the Indianapolis Neighborhood Housing Partnership.

He was the corporate chairperson for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society's annual Light the Night fundraiser in 2005 and 2006. He previously served on the boards of the Leukemia Society, the Campfire Girls, the Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra and Community Centers of Indianapolis.

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