Early Career Achievement Awards 2025 - 2026 Award Recipients
The Early Career Achievement Awards celebrate outstanding young alumni who have demonstrated innovative and responsible professional leadership and the potential for future distinction. The pool of nominees was especially strong this year and the College extends its congratulations to all those under consideration for their successes. We are proud of you and appreciate all you do that enhances our reputation for excellence. They return to campus to receive their award and share advice with current students through panel discussions during Homecoming Celebrations.
The Early Career Achievement Awards will be presented at a public reception in the Caterpillar Auditorium during Homecoming 2024 on Friday - September 27, 2024, in the State Farm Hall of Business from 3:15 - 4:30 pm. Please invite family, friends, former faculty, and colleagues to join us and help celebrate your success. A short reception immediately following a brief presentation celebrating their early career success.
Here is a brief look at the winners of the 2024-2025 College of Business Early Career Achievement Awards (ECAA).
Briana Allen '17
Insurance
Bri currently works as a Broker Director at AIG, where she manages relationships with brokers for the Great Lakes Regions. She spent 6 years in Large and Complex Casualty Borking at WTW and McGill and Partners prior to this role.
Bri is a graduate of the WTW Graduate Development Program, where she received expanded training opportunities across the industry. Prior to joining WTW, she spent time in the London market as well as the E&S market where she was able to learn about complex risks in North America and different geographies.
Bri continues to contribute outside of her position at AIG, currently serving as the Emerging Leaders Chair for the Chicago NAAIA chapter and sitting on the Emerging Leaders Council for NAAIA National, Co-Chair for the Chicago Chapter of Young Risk Professionals and sits on the RISE strategic planning committee
Virgil Caval '20
Marketing | Advanced Marketing Analytics
Virgel is a Senior Product Manager at Hulu, where he drives innovation in the core app experience, focused on helping millions of Hulu subscribers discover and enjoy their favorite TV shows and movies inside the app.
A 2020 graduate of Illinois State University with a degree in Advanced Marketing Analytics, Virgel built career in the video streaming industry, with impactful Product Management roles at HBO Max, Disney+, and Hulu. His expertise lies in crafting user-centric features that elevate the streaming experience.
Beyond his professional achievements, Virgel is passionate about mentoring, actively guiding college students and recent graduates in securing their first jobs and navigating the product management career path. In his downtime, he enjoys traveling to coastal destinations, savoring margaritas or wine with his fiancée, or building apps as side projects.
Jacob Clapsaddle '13
Human Resource Management
Jake Clapsaddle is currently a Human Resources Business Partner with National Heritage Academies in Grand Rapids, MI. Jake plays a critical role in ensuring that the educators he supports have the resources and HR consultation needed to ensure the students NHA serves receive a quality education. Throughout his career he has served in different roles including leading a MFG. site as an HR manager through the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Jake is a 2013 graduate of the Illinois State College of Business with a bachelor’s degree in human resource management. During his time at ISU, Jake was a member of ISU SHRM in addition to serving the ISU football team as a student equipment manager.
Outside of work, Jake has served the Fremont community since 2021 as a varsity assistant football coach. In his free time, Jake spends time with his family and studying the game of football. Jake is currently married to his wonderful wife, Sarah, and has three children.
Kevin Delisi '17
Finance
Kevin Delisi is a member of Houlihan Lokey’s Transaction Advisory Services practice. He focuses on providing buyside and sellside financial due diligence and advisory services to both private equity and corporate clients across a variety of sectors, including the industrials, business services, and retail sectors.
Kevin has a diverse array of experience, including participating in numerous acquisition and divestiture transactions with deal sizes ranging from $10 million to $1.5 billion in enterprise value. His transaction due diligence experience covers a wide range of M&A issues, including quality of earnings, networking capital, net indebtedness, strategic value drivers, operational synergies, and purchase agreement support. Prior to joining Houlihan Lokey, Kevin was a Senior Associate in PwC’s audit practice, focusing on private equity/financial service clients.
Kevin is married to his wife Katje and they're expecting their first child in November 2025.
April Fornero '16
Business Administration
April Fornero is the Director of Heartland Community College (HCC) Pontiac. Within that role, she oversees day-to-day operations of the Pontiac campus. In addition, she is developing and implementing strategic and operational plans for HCC Pontiac. April has worked for HCC since 2016 when she started as an intern in the Continuing Education (CE) Department. After her internship, she started full-time as an Analyst responsible for scheduling and managing non-credit courses.
Over the years, she has taken on different leadership positions within the CE. First, as the Associate Director of CE Programming where she supervised and supported the program analysts. Then, she served as Director, CE Programming and Scheduling taking on more strategic responsibility for departmental initiatives.
April returned to ISU in fall of 2019 to obtain her MBA (Master of Business Administration) graduating in May of 2021. In 2023, she had the opportunity to lead the Pontiac campus as Director.
Dalton Manci '18
Business Information Systems
Dalton Manci is a Global Program Manager with a proven track record of leading cross-functional initiatives and scaling global support operations. At Meta, he drives knowledge strategy and Gen AI integration across a network of 8,000+ agents, improving response accuracy, reducing case handling time, and boosting customer satisfaction. His leadership has supported key programs like Meta Verified, enabling global support for over a million creators and driving new revenue growth.
Previously a Technical Product Owner at Discover Financial Services, Dalton brings deep experience in agile product delivery, data-driven strategy, and stakeholder alignment.
Dalton holds a Master’s in Strategic Brand Communication from the University of Illinois and a Bachelor’s in Business Information Systems from Illinois State University. Based in Chicago, Dalton also leads Meta’s Veterans Employee Resource Group site chapter, fostering mentorship, community, and professional development.
Annelise Mool '18
Financial Accounting
Annelise Mool earned a bachelor's degree in accounting from Illinois State University as a Presidential Scholar and Delta Sigma Pi Key recipient, awarded to the graduating student with the highest cumulative academic average. She also attended ISU for her master's degree in accounting, serving as a Graduate Assistant.
After passing the CPA exam, Annelise moved to Florida to join The Walt Disney Company where she gained valuable enterprise-wide experience through rotations in Shared Services, Financial Reporting, Lease Accounting, and International Tax. In 2021, Annelise joined Walt Disney Imagineering Finance, which supports the ideation, design, and construction of theme park and cruise line projects. In her current role as Mgr-Finance, Annelise is responsible for forecast consolidations, critical planning processes, and executive leadership communication. She enjoys working with a wide variety of partners and seeing growth in her direct reports.
Jeff Nichols '17
Marketing | Professional Sales
Jeff is currently an account executive at Writer, a generative AI company. He manages the full sales cycle—from prospecting and needs assessment to negotiation, closing, and account management—serving a diverse client portfolio. Jeff is known for his consultative approach and ability to align cross-functional teams to deliver tailored solutions that drive business impact.
Previously, Jeff held roles at MuleSoft, Salesforce and Gartner, gaining expertise in digital transformation and customer success, while consistently earning top performance awards. He holds a B.S. in Marketing - from Illinois State University and is pursuing an M.S. in Health Informatics at the University of Illinois, Chicago.
Jeff and his wife, Sabrina, reside in New York City and are expecting their first child in December. He is active in community mentorship and supports local initiatives, reflecting his commitment to professional excellence and personal growth.
Holly Peterson '14
Entrepreneurship/Small Business Management
Holly is a Client Success & Dance professional with over a decade of experience in tech and the arts. She currently serves as a Customer Success Manager at Edge, a fast-growing startup where she helps clients boost engagement and retention. Since graduating from ISU in 2014 with a degree in Business Management, Entrepreneurship concentration, and a minor in Dance Performance, Holly has built a career supporting startups in scaling Customer Success teams and fostering creative spaces to express freely.
Outside of tech, Holly has been a dance instructor and coach at Off the Ground Dance Studio for seven years and regularly teaches masterclasses across the Midwest. She has also coached at Dominican University and toured as a guest artist and judge with the Activate Your Artistry Dance Convention. Based in Chicago, Holly balances her professional career with creative passion and community involvement, crediting Illinois State for shaping her into the dynamic leader she is today.
Molly Reinhardt '19
Integrated Marketing Communications
Molly Reinhardt is the Director of Sales Development at BigCommerce, a leading ecommerce platform, where she leads three Sales Development teams focused on driving pipeline and growth across multiple segments. Since joining the company over five years ago as an SDR, Molly has built a proven track record of advancing sales strategy, developing high-performing teams, and mentoring early-career talent. Her leadership style blends empathy with accountability, and she’s known for creating inclusive, results-driven environments that foster career development and strong team culture.
Molly's journey from individual contributor to department head reflects her commitment to growth, for both herself and those she leads. She has played a pivotal role in evolving the sales development function at BigCommerce, championing data-driven process improvements, cross-functional collaboration, and strategic outreach initiatives.
Outside of work, Molly lives in Austin, Texas, with her wife Kendall and their two children Eleanor & Conrad. They enjoy exploring the Hill Country, visiting family in Northern Illinois, and supporting their local community through education-focused volunteer work. Molly is passionate about building pathways for women and LGBTQ+ professionals in tech sales and continues to be an advocate for equitable representation in leadership.
Michaela Spreier '20
B.S./M.P.A.
Michaela Spreier is a Global Mobility Services Manager at KPMG in Chicago, IL, where she excels in leading discussions on U.S. tax implications for international assignees and manages global service delivery for a diverse client base. Her expertise was further enhanced during a three-month assignment in Germany, where she worked on the U.S. individual income tax team, assisting high net worth individuals with U.S. ties.
This international experience broadened her perspective on global tax issues, allowing her to provide comprehensive tax advice. Outside of KPMG, Michaela is actively involved in KPMG's Family for Literacy as an Associate Board Member, contributing to fundraising and event coordination. She also enjoys coming back to ISU to speak to students.
As a proud dog owner, she looks forward to advancing her career and mentoring staff while enjoying travel, spending time with her family, and raising her mini bernedoodle, Molly.
Anthony Thompson '17
Organizational Leadership
Tony Thompson is a Senior HR M&A Consultant at Salesforce, where he leads the design and delivery of various global HR programs and technology systems supporting Salesforce’s M&A integrations. His work delivers impactful and thoughtful programs to ensure acquired employees feel welcomed and prepared, while accelerating Salesforce’s innovation and talent strategies.
Since joining the M&A team in 2020, he has supported the successful integration of 16 acquisitions across 14 countries, representing over 3,500 employees, and will soon support more than 5,000 additional employees in Salesforce’s largest acquisition to date.
Tony began his career at Cintas Corporation, where he completed the Management Training Program focused on operations management. He later led additional projects in recruiting, team leadership, and M&A integration, laying the foundation for his pivot to HR and his current role.