Class of 2010/11

Scott Carr ’85 (marketing)

Scott Carr is a managing director for Northwestern Mutual Financial Network in Schaumburg, IL. During a college internship with the company Carr became a licensed financial representative and qualified as 8th out of 1200 interns nationally for his production level. Upon graduation he moved to the Chicago suburbs and became at top producer for Northwestern earning top 10 honors nationally in each of his first 3 years.

At age 25, Scott opened The Carr Group, a scratch District Network Office. Today it has 50 producers, 40 support staff, generating $6 million in insurance premiums and $3 million of investment commissions with $600 million of assets under management. The Carr Group has consistently been a top performing office in production and in the development of new financial representatives nationally for the past 15 years.

The mission of The Carr Group is “To create an environment that challenges people to grow and develop personally, professionally and financially.” That has translated into five individuals becoming managing directors and two developing into managing partners under Scott’s tutelage.  Leading by example, Carr has provided significant service within Northwestern Mutual. In 2009 and 2010 he was the president of the National Board of Directors for the Managing Directors Association.

The Carr Group was instrumental in the formation of The Professional Sales Institute (PSI) at Illinois State University and was one of its originating corporate sponsors. Scott is a frequent guest speaker for sales classes and actively hires financial representatives from the college.

Carr resides in Long Grove and has been married to Beth for 25 years. They have two children Megan 19 and Matt 17.

Michael E. Keane '77 (accounting)

Michael E. Keane is executive vice president and CFO of Clipper Windpower, Inc., and also serves on the company’s board of directors. The company designs advanced wind turbines, manufactures the 2.5 MW Liberty wind turbine, and develops wind power generating projects. Keane oversees multiple functions within the company including global finance and accounting, investor relations, information technology, internal audit, and corporate planning. In 2009, Clipper had 477 Liberty wind turbines installed and operating at 18 generating sites and revenues exceeding $744 million.

Before joining Clipper, Keane was corporate vice president and CFO of Computer Sciences Corporation (CSC), a fortune 200 company. He served as senior vice president and CFO of UNOVA Inc. for eight years following the spin-off of UNOVA from Western Atlas, Inc., where he held the same positions since 1996. Prior to that Keane was assistant treasurer and director of pensions and insurance at Litton, a predecessor to UNOVA. Keane began his career as a certified public accountant in the Chicago office of Price Waterhouse.

Michael serves as a member of the board of directors of City of Hope and MRV Communications, Inc. He is chairman of the audit committee of MRV.  Keane was a member and audit committee chairman of the Zixcorp board of directors from 1998 to 2006, and served on the advisory boards for FM Global and Savi Technology, Inc. He has an M.B.A. from the Anderson Graduate School of Management at UCLA.

Miron Marcotte '85 (accounting)

Miron Marcotte is a managing director with Protiviti Inc., a global business consulting and internal audit firm where he is responsible for all aspects of the firm’s operations in the Minneapolis-St. Paul.   Prior to relocating to Minnesota in 2008, Marcotte was global leader for a supply chain consulting practice in Protiviti’s Chicago Office. 

Before assisting in the founding of Protiviti in 2002, Marcotte spent 17 years in the Chicago Office of Arthur Andersen, where he progressed to an assurance and business advisory partner responsible for various audit, financial consulting, and outsourcing activities across a wide array of companies and industries.   His career with Arthur Andersen began with an internship he obtained his senior year at Illinois State University.

Since graduation, Marcotte has remained connected to his alma mater.  He was the founding president of the Chicago West Alumni Chapter and participated for more than a decade on the Department of Accounting Advisory Council. Marcotte was also involved in the establishment of the Arthur Andersen Distinguished Professor Endowment Fund for the Department of Accounting. 

Marcotte has a passion for mentoring and developing others and is involved in a number of activities and organizations which support those priorities. Miron enjoys golf and has completed more than two dozen marathons. He, his wife Anne, and daughter Nicole share their lives with three horses, three dogs and cat.

Jeff Stempora '95 (M.B.A.)

Jeff Stempora is CEO and board member of the Evogi Group, a collection of companies focused on providing commercial and consumer global telematics technology and information based products and services to the insurance, automotive, and finance industries. Through this role Stempora serves as CEO of the individual companies - MileKeeper, FleetDaddy, and NavSeeker.

Previously he founded the Stempora Group, a consulting firm specializing in executive coaching, mentoring, and organizational and strategy development within the financial services and insurance industries. Prior to that Stempora was senior vice president, CIO and board member of the Erie Insurance Group where he was responsible for the transformation of Erie’s strategy, information technology, infrastructure services, products, and business processes critical to the company’s turnaround.

Prior roles held by Stempora include executive vice president, chief administrative officer and global head of strategy at Citigroup, assistant vice president at State Farm Insurance Companies, assistant vice president at CNA Financial, and executive account manager at Hewlett-Packard. He served as chairman of the Executive Committee for Risk and Security of the Financial Services Roundtable, BITS in Washington, DC and was directly involved in the recovery of the financial markets during and after the attacks of September 11. In addition to that role, he was appointed to a special presidential task force to address the risks of and develop controls for the US financial services critical infrastructure.

Jeff serves on a number of boards within startup and established companies and is active with community youth groups.

Keith Wakeman '86 (marketing)

Keith Wakeman is CEO and co-founder of Gene Smart Wellness, a preventative health care company dedicated to pioneering proven new scalable approaches to improve the health and well-being of America through its innovative Community Wellness and Personal Nutrition Diagnostics businesses. As a social entrepreneur, general manager and business strategist, Keith has extensive experience creating and growing market-led businesses in the health, wellness, food and nutrition industries.

Wakeman spent over 20 years leading businesses, brands, new ventures, innovation, and sales for top tier companies. He was head of Innovation for the $2 billion Kellogg’s Snacks Division and led new ventures for both the $9 billion Kellogg Company and the $2 billion Keebler Company. He also led brand teams and held various sales and trade marketing roles at Nabisco, Leaf, and Procter & Gamble. Keith has developed and launched new businesses and products generating over $1 billion in annual revenue and has a proven record of growing brands through consumer insights, brand strategy, and strong execution.

In addition to Gene Smart Wellness, Wakeman serves as advisor or board member for several entrepreneurial organizations including Lenny’s Real Beef Company, a startup with a scalable model to bring branded, healthy, grass-fed fresh beef to mainstream America; big Boing, a brand innovation and launch company with strong interest in the power of play, health and sustainability; a startup functional beverage company; and Gene Smart Compassion, a non-profit that provides impoverished and malnourished children in Africa a brighter future.

Keith has an M.B.A. from the University of Illinois at Chicago in Marketing and Finance.