2009 Alumni Award Recipients

- The Wilbur Parker Distinguished Alumni 2009 Award Recipient
Jeffery J. Weaver '86, MBA '90 - Samuel C. Johnson Distinguished Service 2009 Award Recipient
J. Roger O'Neil, MBA '61 - Robert J. Swieringa Young Alumni Service 2009 Award Recipient
Sarah Brubacher, MBA '99
The Wilbur Parker Distinguished Alumni Award Recipient
Jeffery J. Weaver '86, MBA '90

Jeff Weaver is executive vice president and group head of credit portfolio management at KeyCorp, where he is responsible for the development and implementation of economic capital optimization strategies for KeyCorp's $50 billion wholesale credit portfolio.
Weaver has held positions of increasing responsibility at the Bank of New York, J.P. Morgan, and Citicorp Investment Bank. In 1992, Weaver joined TD Securities, where he was managing director and regional portfolio manager for the U.S., Europe and Australia loan books in New York, N.Y. While at TD Securities, he was responsible for establishing the portfolio-level risk levels for the firm and the application of structured credit derivative hedging strategies on $10 billion in assets in the U.S. and U.K. Before assuming this role, he was managing director and head of transactions of corporate finance and select industries. Prior to joining TD Securities in 1992, Weaver worked for the Bank of New York in its trade and multinational banking division.
Weaver chairs the Cornell University Alumni Trustees Nomination Committee, and is a member of the Cornell University and Johnson School Advisory Councils. He formerly served as a director-at-large of the Cornell Alumni Federation. Weaver earned his BA in economics and government from Cornell University, and earned his MBA in finance from the Johnson School.
Established in 2003 in honor of Wilbur Parker '50, MBA '50, the Johnson School's first African-American graduate, the Wilbur Parker Distinguished Alumni Award recognizes alumni who demonstrate outstanding professional achievement, commitment to their community, and who embody the Johnson School's shared values of mutual respect, collaboration, integrity and trust, pride and accountability, professionalism and investment in self.
Samuel C. Johnson Distinguished Service 2009 Award Recipient
J. Roger O'Neil, MBA '61

Roger O'Neil has been involved in the oil industry for 40 years, first at Mobil Corporation, where he held a number of international positions in the U.S., Asia, and Europe, and eventually became chairman of Mobil Oil Company Limited, London. He subsequently joined Statoil, the Norwegian national oil company, where he was a member of the executive board. Following his time at Statoil, O'Neil has continued to be active in energy-related activities as a board member of public companies in the U.K., Singapore, and Norway. He also served as a consultant to the World Bank and as a senior oil and gas advisor for Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein in London.
Currently a member of the Johnson School's Advisory Council and of the Johnson School Club of the United Kingdom, O'Neil has a long history of deep involvement with both the Johnson School and Cornell University. A key volunteer for Johnson School activities in Europe, for many years he served as chair of the Johnson School European Advisory Board, and played a key role in organizing the annual European alumni symposia. He has also shared his expertise, experience, and perspective with the Johnson School community as a visiting speaker, focusing on the challenges confronting international business. Because of his strong affinity for Cornell, O'Neil has also served on the Cornell University Council and the Cornell Alumni Federation.
"Roger has provided exceptional guidance to alumni leaders in the U.K. and Europe," said Tim Takacs, MBA '99, current president of the Johnson School Club of the United Kingdom, in his nomination of O'Neil for this award. Among the many accomplishments he cited, Takacs credited O'Neil with reigniting an alumni club in Europe, which had slipped. "He has a unique ability to organize, motivate, and encourage involvement," said Takacs. "He provides guidance in a region where there is not as strong a cultural connection between universities and alumni."
Takacs' praise of O'Neil carries particular weight given that the Johnson School Club of the United Kingdom was named 2009 recipient of the Henry P. Renard '54, MBA '55 Regional Alumni Club of the Year Award.
Robert J. Swieringa Young Alumni Service 2009 Award Recipient
Sarah Brubacher, MBA '99

Sarah Brubacher, director of top seller account management at eBay (a company she joined five years ago), has held a number of alumni leadership positions since finishing business school.
In 1999, when she moved to Boston to work for Andersen Consulting (now Accenture), she was asked to take on the position of president of the Johnson School Club of Boston (1999-2003). During her tenure, the club established an advisory board, a schedule of regular, monthly happy hours, and a quarterly speaker series. While at Accenture, Brubacher acted as sponsor and organizer for the Cornell University recruiting team - ensuring that Johnson School students were in the consideration set for hiring both interns and full-time positions. She was also an active participant in Johnson School recruiting - interviewing and recommending potential candidates for Admissions.
In 2003, Brubacher moved to San Francisco to join a partnership between Accenture and eBay called Connection-to-eBay (2003-2004). Once out West, Brubacher was asked to become president of the Johnson School Club of the Bay Area (2003-2007). Again, she established an advisory board, happy hours, and (occasional) speaker series - as she had done in Boston - and she also began running the popular Bay Area Predictions dinner, now in its 15th year. She stepped down from that position in 2007.
Brubacher first came to Ithaca in 1994 as part of an undergraduate recruiting team for her then employer, Chubb amp;& Son. She agreed to sit on the Cornell University recruiting team as long as the Chubb team agreed to eat at a restaurant Brubacher had heard was in Ithaca - the Moosewood. She was so impressed with the campus, the students she interviewed, and the restaurant, that when she applied to business school, Cornell was at the top of her list.
Once at Cornell, Brubacher threw herself into both the coursework and the myriad opportunities to become involved at the Johnson School. Brubacher was elected to the Student-Faculty Council (student government), and was asked to run the Club Council. She joined many intramural sports teams - volleyball, indoor and outdoor soccer, inner tube water polo, and of course, the Frozen Assets Ice Hockey team. Inspired by the a capella groups of the undergraduate university, Brubacher "re-founded" a defunct business school a capella singing group called the "Sound Investments." She also convinced the editor of Cornell Business, the school newspaper, that the paper needed a food writer, a post she held both years at Cornell. In her second year, Brubacher was awarded one of five Alfred J. Fried Fellowships for her service to the school. Brubacher was elected president of her class in 1999 - a position she still holds today.

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