Second Group Inducted into COB Alumni Hall of Achievement

Governors State University’s College of Business (COB) took Business Week online this year, culminating in the second annual Alumni Hall of Achievement ceremony.

The inductees are all accomplished in their respective fields, employing their Governors State business degrees to advance technology and engineering in the marketplace and education. Committed to giving back to the next generation, the inductees expressed gratitude for their experience at the university.

“Nominees were reviewed and inductees selected by a group including College of Business faculty, staff and alumni,” said COB Dean Jun Zhao. “Candidates may be selected for either early-career, mid-career, or lifetime achievements.”

Beginning the virtual induction ceremony, Dr. Zhao explained that candidates were nominated by a community member, and then a committee evaluated personal and professional accomplishments to select the three new inductees.

Edward Hobson is Senior Manager of Business Intelligence & Analytics at Amazon, where he leads a team driving the transition to full automation through machine learning. Hobson earned a Bachelor of Arts in Business Administration/Finance from Governors State in 2011.

In a cutting-edge role at the university, Hobson is now serving as the chair of the advisory board for Supply Chain Innovation Center and Business Incubator.

During his nearly two decades working in the supply chain field, Hobson has held a number of roles at Fortune 500 companies. He started his career at UPS’s large Chicagoland Area Consolidation Hub, where he quickly rose to the leadership level.

From UPS, Hobson moved to Anixter and then Office Depot, where he earned the position of Senior Manager of Supply Chain Operations. Within this role, Hobson transformed process paths at his site with new volume forecasting methodologies.

He also became an ASQ Certified Six Sigma Green Belt and Black Belt, utilizing his knowledge to make sustainable process improvements while training new CSSGB leaders.

Joi Mondisa is a faculty member in Engineering Education at the University of Michigan, as well as an Assistant Professor in the Industrial & Operations Engineering Department.

She earned a Master of Business Administration degree from GSU, and a Bachelor of Science degree in General Engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Dr. Mondisa rounded out her education by earning two degrees from Purdue University, including a doctorate degree in Engineering Education and master’s degree in Industrial Engineering.

Mondisa is a recipient of the prestigious Early CAREER award from the National Science Foundation, where she also has served on review panels and as an educational consultant.

In her research, Mondisa examines learning experiences in engineering education, and how mentoring and interventions in STEM education affects underrepresented populations in higher education environments.

Mondisa has earned three awards from the University of Michigan — the Dr. Willie Hobbs Moore Aspire, Advance, Achieve Mentoring Award in 2018; the Creativity, Daring, and Innovation Award in 2019; and the MLK Spirit Award in 2020.

Previously, she also served as adjunct faculty in the Engineering Technology Program at Triton College in River Grove, Ill., for seven years.

Craig Schmidt is a former Vice President of Community and Economic Development at Prairie State College (PSC). He currently serves as Chairman of the Chicago Southland Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors, and as a member of the Homewood Area Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors.

Schmidt earned an associate degree in business administration from Lake Land College in Mattoon, Ill., a bachelor’s degree in Economics from Eastern Illinois University and a Master of Business Administration from Governors State.

In his role, Schmidt coordinates with local businesses, community organizations, state funding agencies and higher education institutions to lead workforce development efforts focused on increasing the talent pipeline of skilled workers in the manufacturing, transportation, supply chain and IT sectors.

Schmidt began his career at PSC in 1997, where he served as manager of the Community Instructional Center and then as Senior Director of Workforce Training and Services.

In 2005, he took a role leading education and training programs for Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association, before returning to PSC in 2014.

The virtual induction ceremony also included a closing keynote presentation to close out Business Week. Serial entrepreneur, author and venture capitalist Howard Tullman, General Managing Partner at G2T3V, LLC and Chicago High-Tech Investors, LLC. presented "Disruptive Innovation, Entrepreneurship, and the Future of Work," and discussed the gradual process of innovation and business development. Howard was former CEO of 1871, Chicago’s premium tech incubator and Executive Director of the Ed Kaplan Institute of IIT.

Watch Tullman’s presentation, the COB Hall of Achievement inductions, and all the Business Week presentations on GSU’s YouTube channel.