Business and Industry Advisory Council
Members
Rupendra Jain
Rupendra Jain is Director at NTT DATA Service headquartered in Plano, TX. He lives in Bloomington, IL and manages IT delivery services to a large Insurance account in the region. He has been working in IT industry for 22 years, and has been in leadership roles for 10 years. He graduated in 1995 from Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee India and completed his Diploma in Business Finance in 1996. He also attended executive education program at eCornell University. He has completed PMP, ITIL, CSM, SAFe, TOGAF, AWS Cloud and Machine Learning Certifications. He is a member of Business and Industry Advisory Council (BIAC) and Illinois State BIAC Cyber Security subcommittee.
Becca Johnson
Becca Johnson is a Project Manager with NTT Data currently placed in Enterprise Architecture at State Farm. Becca graduated from Illinois College with a Bachelor of Arts in Mathematics. She later earned an M.B.A. from Illinois State University. Becca was formerly involved with Intern recruiting at Country Financial. She taught IT Project Management at the graduate level for 2 semesters and has been a guest lecturer for IT classes at ISU. Becca held several volunteer positions for the local Komen for the Cure Affiliate. She was a recipient of the Community Service Award at Country Financial in 2009.
Derek Krut
Derek Krut is a Technology Manager at State Farm with oversight of iOS and Android platform capabilities and direction; and a manager dedicated to the State Farm flagship native application. During his 18-year career in the IT field, he has focused on leading and designing many enterprise solutions as an IT Architect, and a full stack developer on multiple platforms and cloud solutions. Derek graduated from cum laude from Illinois State University with a Bachelor’s of Science in Applied Computer Science in 2001. Prior to attending ISU, he served 5 years in the United States Marine Corps.
Emilie McDowell
Emilie McDowell is a Data Analyst at State Farm. After beginning her career working with data marts and in the data warehousing environment, she now focuses her time on designing and developing analytics solutions in the big data ecosystem. Passionate about data and the endless opportunities, for the last 2 years she has researched and designed multiple solutions in Hadoop to provide advanced analytics capabilities for business areas within State Farm. In addition, Emilie enjoys continuous learning and continuing to refine her skillsets while also growing and mentoring others.
John Petrillo
John Petrillo is the President of White Oak Technology Group. John graduated summa cum laude as a University Honors Scholar from Illinois State University with a Bachelor of Science degree in Applied Computer Science and Mathematics. He has additional certifications in Application Development, Database Administration, and Project Management. John has served on the ISU IT Business and Industry Advisory Council since 2010.
Jeff Ricketts
Jeff Ricketts is responsible for Customer Implementation and Support at Early Warning Services, a leading Financial Technology (FinTech) company. Jeff received his Bachelor of Science degree in Applied Computer Science from Illinois State University. He has over 30 years experience leading software engineering and customer service organizations in a variety of industries including financial services, telecommunications, insurance and management consulting. Technology specializations include information security / identity management, telecommunications and contact center management, and business intelligence. He has been active with the School of IT’s Business and Industry Advisory Council (BIAC) since 2011, including terms as Chair and Vice-Chair. He has also received recognition from ISU (School of IT’s Distinguished Alumni, and College of Applied Science and Technology’s Hall of Fame). Jeff and his family reside in the Chicago area.
Lance Rogers
Lance Rogers is an Information Technology (IT) Manager at Caterpillar. Lance graduated magna cum laude as a Robert G. Bone Scholar and Presidential Scholar from Illinois State University with a Bachelor of Science in Applied Computer Science and French. He later earned an M.B.A. from Bradley University. Lance is a former Chair and Vice-Chair of the ISU IT Business and Industry Advisory Council. He has been an active Caterpillar recruiter at ISU, regularly serves as a guest lecturer for IT classes, and also teaches a 3 credit-hour graduate IT class each spring. He is a PMI-certified Program and Project Management Professional (PgMP®, PMP®) and an IMA-certified Management Accountant (CMA®). In 2012, he was inducted into the ISU Applied Science and Technology Alumni Hall of Fame. In 2011, he was selected as the ISU School of IT Distinguished Alum.
Elias Sahyouni
Elias Sahyouni is a Cyber Security Analyst at COUNTRY Financial. Elias graduated from Eastern Illinois University with a Bachelor of Science in Business, Management Information Systems. Elias has been involved with the Business and Industry Advisory Council since 2011 when he first attended as a guest (non-participant). He is currently the Cyber Security sub-committee chair on the BIAC. At COUNTRY Financial, Elias is also a member of the IT Intern Recruiting Team. Elias helped with the Illinois State University Association of IT Professionals (AITP) chapter for several years as the Twin City Chapter education director – where the goal is to help develop key skills of the IT professionals at the university.
Olga Zhornitsky
Olga Zhornitsky is a Manager of IT Campus Programs at Discover. Olga graduated from Loyola University with a Bachelor of Business Administration and a Major in Human Resource Management (HRM). She also holds two Masters from Keller Graduate School of Management, an MBA and an MSHR with a concentration in International Business. Olga manages an expanding and successful campus recruiting program. In addition to traditional internships, she developed a new campus direct hire program and created connection/development opportunities for college hires. Olga is a frequent recruiter at ISU and actively participates in university events such as career fairs, mock interviews, panel discussions, and classroom presentations. She focuses on building relationships with faculty and students with the goal of helping students establish a solid career path in IT. Olga also serves as a member of the ISU IT Business and Industry Advisory Council and is chair of the Data Engineering Subcommittee for the Advisory Council.