At its 15th annual Alumni Awards Gala, the University of Tennessee, Knoxville’s Haslam College of Business honored the accomplishments of one corporate partner and a trio of alumni. The celebration was held Friday, November 1, at the Knoxville Convention Center.
Approximately 400 alumni, faculty, staff, family 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 Haslam’s College Fund.
Honoring Business Leaders of All Career Stages
As a highlight of the festivities, representatives of the college presented the following awards to this year’s distinguished honorees.
2024 Distinguished Alum Award – Scott Roe (HCB, ’87)
Scott Roe began his career at Arthur Young & Co., now EY. He later co-founded a paper recycling business and worked for several industrial companies before joining VF Corporation, the global apparel and footwear company that owns Vans, Timberland and The North Face. During his tenure there, Roe spent six years living and working in Switzerland and traveled extensively throughout Europe and Asia and helped increase VF’s international revenue from $1.6 billion to $2.6 billion.
After more than 25 years with VF, he joined Tapestry, Inc., a New York-based corporation that owns luxury brands Coach, Kate Spade and Stuart Weitzman. As the company’s chief operating officer, Roe supports innovative initiatives for environmental sustainability, such as leather recycling. He is also a proponent of using data analytics for sales forecasting, supply chain management and decision-making across the board.
2024 Outstanding Entrepreneur Award – Thomas Jackson “Jock” Weaver III (HCB, ’80)
After graduating from Haslam with a degree in finance, Jock Weaver pursued a career that highlights a lifelong love for entrepreneurship. At age 29, he became the youngest person in history to list a company — Hard Rock Café International, where he served as president at the time — on both the London Stock Exchange and the American Stock Exchange. Weaver then established and served as chair of TBA Entertainment Corporation, one of the U.S.’s larger live event companies.
Later, he founded and currently serves as chair of Heritage Trust Company, a private equity firm that provides advisory services to growing businesses and efficiently assesses debt and equity capital. In addition, he serves as chair of Heritage Plantation Company, a private, family-owned land holding company established in 1826, and chair of Heritage Plantation Foundation, a private, not-for-profit, charitable trust.
2024 Outstanding Corporate Partner – Amazon
Multinational technology giant Amazon continues to foster its longstanding ties with the Haslam College of Business. In 2021, connections forged with Haslam led Amazon to commit $750,000 for an endowed professorship, enabling academics to work with Amazon in applying research methods to complex technical challenges while they continue their university work. Michel Ballings, assistant professor in the college’s Department of Business Analytics and Statistics, was appointed as an Amazon Visiting Academic in 2022 and promoted to Amazon Visiting Scholar in 2024.
Amazon serves as a corporate partner with the Haslam Business Analytics Forum and is a member of Haslam’s Advanced Supply Chain Collaborative. Haslam students often go on site visits to Amazon facilities, and company leaders are frequent guest speakers in Haslam classes. The e-commerce and cloud storage provider leader has brought on Haslam students as interns and hired several alumni, particularly from the business analytics and statistics and supply chain programs. Amazon and Haslam leaders appreciate the mutually beneficial relationship they have formed.
2024 Outstanding Young Alum Award – Nikhil Morar (HCB, ’19)
Nikhil Morar, the manager of business analytics and strategy for the Los Angeles Lakers, has the job of his dreams. High-level and fast-paced, his position includes working with the Lakers’ business analytics team in pre-game preparation and post-game data analysis for 82 professional regular season basketball games. The business analytics department collaborates with revenue-generating departments on large data analyses to optimize processes and provide objective recommendations that inform the organization’s important business decisions.
With the Lakers, Morar participates in volunteer events, and is especially keen on those that enable him to encourage young people to achieve their goals. While still early in his career, Morar is also giving back to his alma mater through service on the Haslam Young Alumni Board. Further, he has served as a teaching assistant for three Haslam courses and mentored several students.
More details about the gala and the awardees will appear in the Volume 15, Issue 2 of Haslam Magazine.
Top photo, L-R: Nikhil Morar, Jock Weaver, Holly Sullivan, vice president of worldwide economic development at Amazon, Scott Roe
CONTACT:
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Scott McNutt, senior business writer/publicist, rmcnutt4@utk.edu
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