The University of Tennessee, Knoxville’s Haslam College of Business recognized the accomplishments of three alumni and one corporation at its 13th annual Alumni Awards Gala on Friday, November 11, at the Knoxville Convention Center.
Nearly 400 alumni, faculty, staff and friends of the college attended the gala, which included a cocktail reception followed by dinner and the awards ceremony. Proceeds from the event benefit the College Fund for the Haslam College of Business.
This year’s award recipients were:
Dave Clark (HCB, ’99) was honored with the 2022 Distinguished Alum Award. Clark began his career at Amazon and rose quickly through the ranks, eventually becoming the company’s CEO of consumer business. In 2022, he left Amazon to take on the role of CEO at Flexport, a San Francisco-based supply chain technology company focused on freight forwarding and customs brokerage. Clark has hired many Haslam alumni over the years, and he has returned to Knoxville several times to teach classroom sessions and speak at the Global Supply Chain Institute’s annual forum.
Don Bruce (HCB, ’73) received the 2022 Outstanding Entrepreneur Award. Bruce is the founder and CEO of the Nashville-based home improvement company American Home Design, which has been named as one of the top 50 home improvement companies in the U.S. by Remodeling Magazine and Qualified Remodeler. His entrepreneurship also includes real estate development and aviation. He has flown dozens of missions for the volunteer organizations Lifeline Pilots and Angel Flight, flying seriously ill patients to treatment facilities around the country. He speaks to classes at Haslam, serves on numerous nonprofit boards and volunteers as a teacher for men who have been incarcerated.
Danielle Casson Martin (HCB, ’07) garnered the 2022 Outstanding Young Alum Award. After earning her bachelor’s in finance from Haslam and graduating with high honors, the Knoxville native worked at a law firm in Charlotte, N.C., followed by moving to the Washington, D.C., area to work for Lockheed Martin in a finance leadership program. She then earned an MBA with distinction from the University of North Carolina’s Kenan-Flagler Business School, spending her summer internship at Barclays Investment Bank in New York and joining the bank full-time after graduation as an associate in the financial sponsors group. In 2014, Martin and her husband moved back to Charlotte, where she joined global investment banking firm Jefferies and is now a managing director in the firm’s consumer and retail group. The proud mother of two young children, Martin maintains close connections with her alma mater, hosting and attending alumni events and recently serving on the Haslam Young Alumni Board for two years.
Jewelry Television (JTV) was recognized as the 2022 Outstanding Corporate Partner. Co-founded in 1993 by Haslam graduate Bob Hall (HCB ’75, MBA ’79) and UT alumni Jerry Sisk (‘75) and Bob Kouns (‘85), the Knoxville-based company now broadcasts live 24 hours a day through cable, satellite, streaming services, mobile apps and social media platforms.
For the past two decades, JTV has consulted with applied analytics experts at Haslam. In 2021, the JTV Center for Applied Business Analytics was created at the college. JTV’s transformative gift for the center will fund scholarships and fellowships, student travel to conferences and competitions, technology, and administrative and faculty support. The center will facilitate collaboration between businesses in need of data analytics and teams of business analytics undergraduates to enhance skill development in real-life situations.
More information about the awardees will be published in the winter 2023 issue of Haslam Magazine.
–
CONTACT:
Stacy Estep, writer/publicist, sestep3@utk.edu
