Smeal Outstanding Volunteer Award
The Smeal Outstanding Volunteer Award honors alumni who serve as a volunteer with the Smeal Alumni Society Board and who attend the board meetings with minimum absences, maintain involvement with his or her task force in between board meetings, offer new ideas to their task force, and volunteer to assist the college in other capacities such as mentoring and recruiting.
2012 Award Recipient: Clare Frissora ’87 Finance
Frissora is chief executive officer of Business Forward Strategies LLC, and is a highly motivated, dedicated professional who is passionate about helping companies grow, compete and succeed. She has 25 years of experience, with more than a decade of top management expertise at GE (General Electric). She created Business Forward Strategies LLC in 2008, to help companies identify market strategies, advance competitive advantage and sustain profitable business growth. The company provides consulting and training services in the areas of market assessments, strategy development and product/market management. Frissora brings an enterprise-wide perspective to all client programs. Clients include companies in diverse segments such as private equity, health care, manufacturing and sports. Prior to establishing Business Forward Strategies, Frissora’s career at General Electric spanned five businesses: GE Aerospace, GE Capital, GE Lighting, GE Financial Assurance and GE Plastics. The diversity of her roles enabled direct experience in finance, supply chain, product management, marketing and business development. Frissora earned a bachelor’s degree in finance from Penn State in 1987 in the Schreyer’s Honors College and an executive Masters of Business Administration degree from Case Western Reserve’s Weatherhead School of Management in 1998.
