Kathy Gallagher was awarded the NACCU–PERSONA Professional Development Award due to the tireless effort she has put into enhancing card services at Villanova University, as well as the assistance she has offered colleagues at other universities. She doesn’t shy away from new projects and responsibilities, but rather actively seeks out new ways to better meet the needs of her customers: Villanova’s student body. She is the very definition of an “engaged user” of campus card technology by repeatedly assisting her vendor in developing new applications for the systems and is always happy to share her experiences and lessons learned with other universities.

In a recent conversation, Kathy laughed while asking, “Who would have thought, of all the career choices out there, my passion would end up being this little piece of plastic?”

Kathy began her career at Villanova in 1992 as a part-time employee responsible for creating photo IDs. She was offered a full-time position when the university implemented its first card-based access control system. Kathy was immediately tasked with quickly learning and managing the system.

She took over operations of the Wildcard Office in 1996 and began to grow the card program beyond an ID and access card. She was promoted to Assistant Director of the Wildcard Office in 1998, then to Director in 2006. Her staff consists of one other full-time employee and four students. Kathy has overseen the progress of Villanova’s campus card system and managed its growth into many new areas, including a successful off-campus merchant program, process improvement and paper waste reduction, improvement of the student orientation process, implementation of smart card technology for laundry, vending, and copies, and cost reduction of the campus card program.

Kathy has written or provided interviews for several published articles related to the campus card industry. In the October 2007 issue of On-Campus Hospitality magazine, Kathy was interviewed about the success of the Wildcard program. She also authored an article for the CBORD customer newsletter UserNews in the summer of 2006, and has been interviewed for several articles published in Villanova’s campus newspaper, The Villanovan. She has presented at the NACCU conference, and at CBORD and Diebold user group conferences. She served on the former Diebold User Group Board of Directors and currently serves on the CBORD Strategy Council. Kathy and her team have received multiple awards from Villanova University for the successes achieved with the Wildcard program, and received the Above and Beyond Award from CBORD.

Jeanine Brooks has served as Action Card Director for The University of Alabama’s identification and debit card program from its beginnings more than twelve years ago. The Action Card office directs a variety of campus card applications including POS, vending, self managed off-campus debit program, facilities and event access, laundry, web, print management, copying, video imaging, wireless, and bookstore, as well as, over 30 customized campus applications and interfaces.

Jeanine currently serves on the NACCU Board of Directors. She chairs the NACCU Membership Committee, is Co-Chair for the 2007 NACCU Conference Committee and is a member of the NACCU Education Committee. She is a member of the Blackboard Idea Exchange Steering Committee. Jeanine has been a member of the Blackboard Transaction System Users Advisory Board. She has presented at NACCU, NACAS, NACAS South, the Blackboard Users Conference and ACUTA. Previously, Jeanine served as Assistant Director for Business Administration for the University’s Telecommunication Department and has been with the University for 20 years. She began her career as a loan officer in the credit card division of a local bank.

In 2005, Jeanine was awarded UA’s Virgil Parks McKinley Employee Award recognizing enterprising employees who contribute to UA’s mission of teaching, research and service. Under her leadership, the Action Card office has received a number of honors. In 2000, the Action Card Office was awarded UA’s Sam S. May Commitment to Service Award which recognizes teams who have demonstrated exceptional customer service. In 2003 and 2004, the office won the NACCU’s Best Marketing Award and in 2004 received the Best Card Design.

Matthew Drummond is the Director of the DukeCard Office. He began his career at Duke as the Project Manager in April of 2002. Before coming to Duke, he was the Program Administrator for the Tiger 1 Card Office at Clemson University for five years.
Matthew started as a student worker for the Tiger 1 Card Office in 1994 and became the Graduate Assistant and later the Program Administrator before leaving for Duke. During his time at Clemson, where he received his B.A. and M.Ed., Matthew was also in charge of Clemson’s Procurement Card program before taking over the Tiger 1 Card Office.

At Clemson, Matthew was instrumental in adding services such as an On-line Card Office for web deposits, upgrading aging connectivity equipment, and introducing web statements. He continued this trend at Duke where he was project lead for implementing print services, assisting in the development of real-time transaction processing using handheld devices, and providing self-service technology to streamline processes.

Matthew has been awarded the Auxiliary Services Outstanding Manager of the Year and the Duke University Teamwork Award.
Matthew has presented at many national and regional conferences including the Blackboard User’s Conference, NACCU, NACAS, Sequoia Retail System User’s Group Meeting, and SACUBO. He has been a member of the Blackboard Transaction System User Advisory Board, the Blackboard Transaction System Product Advisory Board, and the Pharos Systems Customer Advisory Board.

NACCU - PERSONA Award Winner 2005
Brenda L. Hovden

Brenda L. Hovden is the Director of Card Services at Creighton University in Omaha, Nebraska.  Taking the leadership role of the One Card Program in August 1997, she has expanded the application beyond the original board-dining program.  Today, the program includes snack, beverage and laundry vending, a campus-wide print solution, parking/door access, activities/privilege attendance, off campus retail and a banking relationship. Students use wireless readers for meals, retail, activity transactions and the web for managing their accounts online as well as traditional delivery methods.

Brenda serves as a member of Creighton’s Integrated Campus Solutions Leadership Team, a group responsible for the strategic planning that integrates all campus enterprise systems. She actively participates in NACCU, NACUFS, NACUBO, and NACAS and has been a member of the Blackboard User’s Board - Commerce Suite since 2002.

She started her career in the industry in the Dining Services Department of Luther College in Decorah, Iowa when they implemented their first system in 1991.

NACCU - PERSONA Award Winner 2004
Eugene McKenna

Eugene McKenna serves as the General Manager of Auxiliary Services at the Waterford Institute of Technology in Ireland.  In this position, Eugene has managed and directed the rapid expansion of the student services unit at the Institute since 1999.  Prior to becoming General Manager, he was a Lecturer in Engineering.  Eugene has been at Waterford since 1979.

As a part of his responsibilities in Auxiliary Services, Eugene managed and directed the successful implementation of the WITCard at the Institute, which brought the first ID card of its kind to a college campus in Ireland.  WIT has become a showcase site in the campus card industry.  The card program at WIT has helped many others in the pursuit of implementing and developing a card system for their campus.  Eugene’s success in card technology development, particularly with the pioneering of new applications, has been widely recognized.

In 2002, Eugene organized a European Card Conference, attended by over 300 guests from Europe and the United States and 40 exhibitors.  Since then he has been instrumental in the creation of the European Campus Card Association, formed to provide learning and networking opportunities for universities and colleges across Europe.

Homer Tedder is the Director of Technical Services for the Card Application Technology Center (C.A.T.C.) at Florida State University.  Homer is responsible for both hardware and software services for the FSUCard Center and the CATC, and serves as an advisor to other universities regarding ID Card issues.  
With a background in mainframe and PC applications, he was one of the founding team members of the Card Application Technology Center.  He has been with Florida State University for 25 years, and has been working in the ID Card applications development area since 1990.  He has been involved in all aspects of ID Card applications, from design, development, testing, and implementation.  
From 1994 to date,  he has assisted or coordinated the ID card integration / implementation strategies for over 125 institutions across the country.  His efforts in defining and developing new strategies and technologies for ID Card systems has helped refine basic university applications such as Banking, Library, Dining, Security and Photo Class Rosters from stand-alone systems to card based integrated technologies.  
Recently, his team developed some new card based applications that utilize palm devices to verify enrollment/employment status for university functions.  Homer is a graduate of Florida State University with a Bachelor’s degree in Business Management.

Deb is currently the Assistant College Center Director at Mesa State College in Grand Junction, Colorado.
She has been at MSC since July 1995. Since 1997, she has been devoted to marketing and developing the MSC campus ID program.  The original card system was introduced to the campus in the fall of 1995.  In January 2001 MSC implemented their 2^nd card system building off of what had been started in 1995. The card has gained acceptance across campus and the number of applications associated with the card has increased to include the addition of several meal plan options, the ability to use the card in the bookstore as well as other venues on campus including the library, Outdoor Program, the business office and recreation center. The system also includes door access in the residence halls, campus offices and classrooms.  As the card system continues to grow, the ID program is challenged to keep up with the needs of the campus community.  
Deb graduated from the University of Denver with a BSBA in Management.

Cindy Vetter currently is the Director of the UNC Card program at the University of Northern Colorado, and started the program 12 years ago. Cindy came to the University from Norwest Banks (now Wells Fargo) where she served in the role of operations manager, bankcard manager, and internal control analyst. She has 22 years of banking experience with an emphasis in procedures and audit controls. Cindy is a graduate of Midwest Business College, and has served as a trainer and conversion speaker for 26 banking locations throughout Colorado. Besides her current job as director of the card program at UNC, Cindy is also in her sixth year as Chair of the Board of Directors of the National Association of Campus Card Users (NACCU). Cindy has done consulting and advising for numerous schools starting up card programs, and has served in an advisory capacity for numerous businesses looking for information on card uses. Cindy has presented at the Colorado Student Loan Program Conference, the National Student Loan Association conference, National Conference for Bursars, the Card Application Technology Center, and NACCU.

Joe Pietrantoni has 39 years of operations management experience both in industry and university settings.  As a former manager for General Electric corporations, Joe worked on the manned space programs of Mercury, Gemini, Apollo, and United States Defense systems.  His university experience includes serving as a physical plan administrator and for the past 20 years, has developed the Auxiliary Services program at Duke. Several of his programs have received acknowledgment in national publications for their service sensitivity and cost effectiveness.  He has conducted workshops on several of the programs in addition to conducting special sessions at national meetings of college and university organizations.  He is a consultant both for industry and colleges and universities.