Early Career Achievement Awards 2021 - 2022 Award Recipients

Mira Andreeva '12

Insurance

Mira Andreeva graduated in 2012 with a Bachelor of Science in Insurance. Mira works for The Hartford as a Director of Middle and Large Commercial Sales & Distribution, responsible for driving strategic growth with top partners by creating sales execution strategies and working closely with the field organization to achieve sales excellence. Prior to The Hartford, Mira spent time in broker engagement at AIG and on the broker and underwriting side. She is driven by her passion for engagement, relationships, and sales.

Outside of work, making a positive impact within the insurance industry is a key priority to Mira. She is on the Associate Board for the Insurance Industry Charitable Foundation, engaging in community service events and fundraising for local charities. Mira is also the co-leader for the Mental Health Committee for Dive in Americans 2021.

Mira is originally from Sofia, Bulgaria and immigrated to the US at the age of eight. She met her partner, Paul Timmermann, at Illinois State University and they live in Chicago with their Golden Retriever, Reggie, named after Illinois State University 's mascot! Outside of work, family, volunteering, and traveling are Mira's passions. Her love for travel has translated to her visiting 28 countries and 31 states.

Abby Devore '13

B.S./M.P.A.

Abby is a 2013 graduate of Illinois State University. She is currently a manager in the tax and accounting services department at Sikich (formerly Heinold Banwart).

She enjoys going to sporting events and spending time with her husband, Deven and children, Emma and Max.

Dan Eastman '10

B.S./M.P.A.

Dan Eastman grew up in Skokie Illinois and graduated from Illinois State University in 2010 with a Bachelor of Science/Master of Professional Accountancy. He began his career in corporate tax at State Farm Insurance and later joined a US tax inventory consulting team with Deloitte in Chicago.

As his career progressed with Deloitte, Dan accepted an opportunity to join the Deloitte hedge fund and private equity fund tax practice in the Cayman Islands in December of 2013. While at Deloitte Cayman, he honed his expertise in the investment management industry, international tax laws and regulations, and Cayman Islands regulatory environment.

After an 8-year career with Deloitte, Dan joined the High Net Worth Financing Team in the Caribbean for RBC Cayman. He is responsible for developing financial and credit-based strategies for clients in Cayman, Bahamas, Barbados, and Trinidad. In addition, he serves as an independent director for a Cayman domiciled investment fund and is both a Certified Public Accountant and Chartered Financial Analyst.

Dan has lived in the Cayman Islands since 2013 with his fiancé Regan. They are avid golfers and enjoy the Caribbean lifestyle relative to their hometowns (Skokie, IL and Ancaster, ON).

Brandon French '08

B.S./M.P.A.

Brandon French is a Certified Public Accountant and a Miller, Cooper & Co., Ltd. partner. He devotes significant time to Miller Cooper's real estate practice. He began full-time employment with Miller, Cooper & Co., Ltd. in 2008 after graduating Summa Cum Laude from Illinois State University with his Bachelor of Science / Master of Professional Accountancy degrees.

Brandon has assisted clients in numerous real estate arenas, including commercial, development, residential and retail real estate engagements. He also provides accounting services and consulting to various real estate operating companies, including U.S. GAAP, IFRS, and tax basis real estate expertise. Brandon also serves numerous businesses in other diverse industries, including staffing service providers, asset-based lenders and lessors, manufacturing and distributors, construction contractors and private equity firms, with specific experience in group audits.

He currently resides in Downers Grove, Illinois, a western suburb of Chicago, and he enjoys spending time with his wife Stephanie and their son Everett. The family is expecting a new addition in November this year.

Ryan Hamlin '14

Integrated Marketing Communications

Ryan Hamlin began his career with Leo Burnett as an Assistant Account Executive - handling the day-to-day report keeping, ad quality control, among other entry level duties for the General Motors account (Buick, GMC, and Cadillac brands specifically). Ryan climbed his way through a couple of other junior-level roles before becoming an Account Supervisor where he managed some of the largest market accounts in the country (balancing budgets, allocating marketing resources, and ultimately leading the go-to-market strategy for clients).

Upon being promoted to his current role as Account Director, Ryan now supports the executive clients for the Buick and GMC brands in the North Central Region and the HQ team in Detroit. Leo Burnett works with the brand leads to determine budget allocation, product launch initiatives, and work to grow market share across the Region and ultimately the country. With the production of electric vehicles starting to ramp up, it's quite an exciting time in the automotive industry - both from a brand perspective but also with the competition changing rapidly!

Aside from work life, Ryan is married to his high school sweetheart Katie and they have a dog named Dakota who has quite the unique personality to keep them occupied! Ryan is an avid golfer, fitness enthusiast, and enjoys concert-going and exploring craft breweries.

Illinois State University is such a special place to him, so he is honored and ecstatic to be selected to receive such an award for Early Career Achievement. Ryan looks forward to what the remainder of his career holds and hopes to bring more Redbirds into the advertising world to continue to expand that Illinois State University footprint. Roll Birds!

Miles Major '12

B.S./M.P.A.

Miles Major grew up in Crystal Lake, Illinois and graduated from Illinois State University with a Bachelor of Science and Master of Professional Accountancy in 2012. After graduation, Miles joined KPMG LLP's ("KPMG's") audit practice in Chicago, Illinois as an Audit Associate where he remains today and serves as an Audit Senior Manager.

In his current role at KPMG, Miles is responsible for leading both public and private company audits in the firm's Consumer and Industrial Markets Audit Practice. Over the years, Miles has earned the trust, confidence and respect of his clients, supervisors, subordinates, and colleagues, while expanding on a solid foundation of technical accounting, auditing, financial reporting, relationship building, and interpersonal skills he obtained at Illinois State University. Miles is a Certified Public Accountant, Certified Fraud Examiner, Member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) and Illinois State CPA Society.

Outside of his professional career, Miles enjoys spending time with his beautiful wife Jen, who also graduated from Illinois State University, and their three-year-old twins Liam and Logan.

Kayla Morse '16

Human Resources

While Kayla was attending Illinois State University, she held an HR internship at BorgWarner in Dixon, IL. After graduating, she interned at Southwest Airlines in their Campus department. She then went on to pursue her master’s degree in Human Resources and Industrial Relations at the University of Illinois. She interned with PepsiCo (Frito-Lay) in the summer of 2017 and stayed with the company ever since.

She's held multiple roles such as Human Resources Representative in Houston, TX, HR Associate Manager in Vancouver, WA, and now is currently the Senior HR Manager at the Frito-Lay facility in Modesto, California.

Jared Sanders '10

Entrepreneurship

Since graduating from Illinois State University, Jared quickly developed in his career to serving as a trusted executive for numerous corporations. With a background in Telecommunications, Sporting Goods, Technology, and Security; he has focused much of his career on researching, planning, and implementing enterprise-wide development programs aimed at increasing profitability at all levels of the organization.

Rapidly advancing to Director of Integration & Development for Midwest Underground Technology, Inc. (MUTI), Jared led a three-year period of exceptional growth that culminated in a 200% increase in the employee base and a 50% increase to EBITDA. During this time, he also led the post-merger integration of five new businesses into the company portfolio.

In other capacities, Jared has served as Director of Human Resources to a national services contractor operating in the lower 48 states of the U.S., Vice President of Strategy & Business Development for a national security solutions provider, and currently as President of D1 Networks.

Throughout his career, Jared has provided benefit to both goods and services organizations in the areas of financial planning & analysis, business information systems, sales forecasting & development, business operations, and international supply chain development. He and his wife currently reside in Illinois with their two children, and enjoy traveling, playing golf, and attending sporting events with their kids.

Amber Schaumburg '13

Professional Sales

Amber Schaumburg graduated from Illinois State University in 2013 and moved to Chicago to start her career as an Account Coordinator with News America Marketing. During her 5 years with News America, Amber was promoted to Account Associate, Account Director, and Sr. Account Director where she was responsible for a $13 million dollar territory calling on major CPG clients such as ConAgra Foods, Reynolds, Subway, and Shell Oil all helping to sell a suite of marketing solutions to reach their objectives.

After her time at News America, Amber was eager to shift into a role that gave her experience in the ever growing social and digital industry. For the last 3.5 years, Amber has worked at Pinterest where she has held two different roles within the sales organization. Currently, Amber is a Partner Manager where she manages a $6 million dollar portfolio across major beverage clients like Keurig Dr Pepper & Molson Coors. Previous to her current role, Amber was an Account Manager at Pinterest where she supported an $11 million dollar territory working with Tyson and Hormel Foods.

Amber currently lives in the Wicker Park neighborhood in Chicago with her husband Ryan Schaumburg (an Illinois State alumni) and their Mini Goldendoodle, Theo.

Cassie Shaw '14

Integrated Marketing Communications

After graduating from Illinois State University, Cassie hit the ground running with her career. She's held jobs solely in marketing, having previously led a team of project managers as well as been a brand manager for companies within hospitality, education, and healthcare while living in San Diego, CA for a couple of years.

Now, living closer to home in St. Louis, MO with her wonderful husband Tyler, Cassie currently works in the beverage industry at Anheuser-Busch as part of the Corporate Communications team. She leads and manages all things social and digital for the Anheuser-Busch brand, for instance handling what gets posted to Facebook and Instagram with her biggest accomplishment to date being a part of their 2020 Super Bowl ad.

Cassie is an avid traveler, enjoys playing board games with family and friends, and will attend any Broadway show or live sporting event. She is grateful for this recognition and the impact that ISU has made on her life.

Kyle Sherman '12

Organizational Leadership, International Business

Coming out of school Kyle really didn't know what he wanted to do but he found an industry that he enjoyed learning about. Kyle started in the Automotive Industry in advertising sales at CARS.COM. He started in inside sales and developed himself quickly into a strategic outside sales rep.

During his tenure Kyle was awarded the Presidents Club Award twice before departing to his current employer. Kyle has stayed in the industry but has moved to the Remarking wholesale / Auction side of the business, where he found fast success. Now Kyle is Managing Wholesale for the IL Chicagoland Market for BackLotCars, a KAR Global company.

Mary Surprenant '11

Business Teacher Education

After graduation, Mary Surprenant began her career as a Business Education Teacher back home in Vermilion County, IL. She soon met her loving husband, Auston, and two wonderful step kiddos, Haley, and Tyler. Together, they purchased a real estate company in Danville, IL. She left teaching to pursue their dream of building a real estate company.

During this time, she became even more passionate about her community. She has spent many hours volunteering and growing from her leadership roles in local organizations such as Balloons Over Vermilion, Festival of Trees, Danville Sunrise Rotary, Danville Noon Kiwanis, Danville Area Board of Realtors, and the United Way of Danville Area Campaign. She currently sits on the Vermilion Advantage Board, is an elected member of the Vermilion County Board, and has also recently been recognized for the Central Illinois Business Magazines Forty under 40 award.

As the current President and CEO of United Way of Danville Area, Inc. she is responsible for driving community impact through fundraising and advocacy. She works closely with donors and community decision makers to best understand the needs of those in her service area, both in Illinois and Indiana. She aspires to one day continue her civil service at the State and National Level as an elected government official.