Awards Ceremony Honors Management Alumni
December 3, 2019
The St. John Fisher College School of Business honored alumni and faculty during the Excellence in Management Awards luncheon, held on Monday, Dec. 2.
Dr. Rama Yelkur, dean of the School, presented Cathy D’Amico ’78 with the Excellence in Management Award, the preeminent honor bestowed by the School. The award recognizes alumni who demonstrate leadership and managerial accomplishments in business, academia, or community-based organizations as well as dedication to the College.
D’Amico, who recently retired as the chief financial officer of Monro, Inc., helped lead the charge behind the sustainable growth of the company’s automotive aftermarket repair, as well as tire sales and service businesses.
Earlier in her career, D’Amico advanced through the ranks to senior audit manager at Price Waterhouse—spending 15 years working on a variety of engagements. In 1993, she joined Monro, Inc., as CFO, during what would become known as the beginning of the company’s rapid growth cycle. The Rochester-based public company has approximately 1,300 retail and franchise locations across the nation.
During her 23 years with Monro, the company grew from 189 company-operated locations with sales of $94 million in fiscal 1994, to 1,098 company-operated and 114 franchised locations with sales of more than $1 billion in fiscal 2017. In her role as CFO, she also oversaw the human resources, IT, legal, and risk management departments.
“Throughout her tenure, Cathy has been recognized as a balanced-perspective and responsible working leader for her tested, practical, and entrepreneurial approach to financial oversight,” said Yelkur. “Her portable equity is her knowledge and expertise in helping organizations meet the challenges of expansion while driving shareholder value and earnings growth. Additionally, her hands-on experience in acquisition and integration has made her a subject matter expert on due diligence, divestitures, partnerships, and alliances.”
Today, D’Amico serves as director of special projects working on select Monro initiatives. Outside of her work with Monro, she serves as a current board and finance committee member at Hope Hall, finance committee member at Jewish Community Center, recent past board and finance committee member at Bivona Child Advocacy Center, and recent past finance committee member at Young Women’s College Prep.
David Pritchard ’83, president and COO of Gorbel, Inc., was given the Dean’s Medal for Outstanding Service. The award honors the exemplary and sustained contributions of individuals in service to the College and the School of Business.
Upon graduating from Fisher in 1983, David began his management career in the automotive industry with Delco Products Division - General Motors, and then with ITT Automotive and Valeo through subsequent acquisitions. In 2008, he assumed the position of director of business development at Getinge Sourcing, LLC, and three years later, was named president of the company.
Pritchard joined Gorbel in September 2015 as vice president of operations, supporting the company in Fishers, New York and Pell City, Alabama. Most recently, he served as vice president – sales & customer experience, and this October, he was appointed as president and COO.
One of his proudest moments at Gorbel was leading the organization’s Learning and Agile Organization (L&AO) Strategic Objective and launching a four-year Continuous Improvement Roadmap, guiding activities from 2016 to 2019. This provided employees the opportunity to share their wisdom and experiences with other employees through collaborative activities. He is also very proud of the several accomplishments of the Gorbel team over the last year, including their recognition on the Rochester Top 100 for an 18th time (this year in the No. 53 spot), and receiving the Silver Award from the Greater Rochester Quality Council and the Rochester ETHIE Award, all of which tie to Gorbel’s company culture.
Pritchard was a member of the College’s inaugural Management Program Advisory Board, supporting the original accreditation process for the School of Business. He is a current board member of the Dean’s Leadership Council, a member of the Family Business Initiative Steering Committee, and a guest lecturer in the MBA program focusing on leadership. He recently completed a 12-year term as a member on the Board of Directors, Endowment, and Executive Committees at Holy Sepulchre Cemetery.
The School of Business presented Matt Delgado ’13, ’14 (MBA) with the Victor E. Salerno Award for American Enterprise. Created in 2013, the award honors Fisher graduates for their early career achievements, involvement in the community and the College, and potential for even greater success as their management careers mature.
For the last three years, Delgado has served as the talent development manager at Constellation Brands. He is involved with starting up a new talent partner role with Constellation’s sales and marketing teams to create and implement development strategies. Prior to becoming talent development manager, he served in the roles of senior recruiter and change manager. He spent his first two years in talent acquisition recruiting top talent for the company’s corporate functions, and later supported a global ERP implementation where he spent over a year performing change management work for the company’s beer operations team in Mexico.
In addition, he serves as an instructor in the School of Business, teaching career-planning courses for juniors and seniors majoring in management, marketing, and human resources management.
Through his work with various student clubs, his career planning courses, and Constellation Brands’ University Relations/Internship program, Delgado has been able to create visibility and a pipeline of talent into the company.
During the awards luncheon, the School also recognized three faculty members. The Faculty Excellence in Service Award was given to Dr. Mike Fedoryshyn, who recently retired after 30 years of service to the College as a professor in the Accounting Department. Ron Sicker, visiting assistant professor of practice, was given the Faculty Excellence in Teaching Award for Full-Time Faculty and Dr. Seyda Deligonul, professor of management, was the recipient of the Faculty Excellence in Research Award.