The University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Haslam College of Business recognized the accomplishments of three alumni and one corporation during its ninth annual Alumni Awards Gala on Nov. 3.

Approximately 400 alumni, faculty, staff and friends of the college attended the gala, which included a reception, silent auction, dinner and awards presentation.

Proceeds from the sponsorships and silent auction benefited the College Fund, which allows Haslam administrators to allocate dollars toward areas of greatest need, including student and faculty support.

The award recipients included:

Michael D. Greene (’01, ‘10) received the 2017 Outstanding Young Alum Award. A finance and philosophy major, Greene worked in banking before obtaining his MBA at Haslam and becoming a commercial property affiliate broker at Wood Properties Inc. In 2016, Greene created the David L. Greene, MD, Memorial MBA Fellowship Endowment in honor of his late father.

Shelly Sun (’92) was honored as the 2017 Entrepreneur of the Year. Sun is an accounting major who started BrightStar Care, a Chicago-based premium healthcare company focusing on home care for homebound patients and medical staffing. The venture quickly expanded through franchising now in more than 300 markets producing $400 million in revenue each year.

Chris Kinney (’81) was honored as the 2017 Distinguished Alum. A seasoned investment banker, Kinney served the City of Knoxville as senior director of finance for three years before starting a New York-based investment management business. Today, SteelRiver Infrastructure Partners has offices in New York and San Francisco, California, and their companies are located in 23 US states.

Citizens Bank was recognized as the 2017 Outstanding Corporate Partner for its consistent, decades-long support to the college through the LaPorte Torch Fund, Bloomberg terminals and endowment for eight partial scholarships.

The college has more than 4,200 undergraduates and 400 graduate students. Greater than 20 percent of UT’s undergraduates come from the Haslam College of Business. In 2014, the college became the university’s first named college after a historic $50 million gift from the family of James A. Haslam II (’52). Haslam is a former vice chair of the UT Board of Trustees and a UT Distinguished Alumnus. A former Vol football captain, he founded the company now known as Pilot Flying J.

More information about each recipient can be found on the college’s alumni and giving website. For more information on the Journey to the Top 25 campaign, visit https://haslam.utk.edu/journey.