Three University of Wisconsin Oshkosh College of Business alumni and emeritus faculty will be honored by the College of Business Alumni Association for their outstanding contributions to the community during a dinner March 6 at the Fox Cities Performing Arts Center in Appleton, Wis.
Honorees include Tom Belot, BBA ’73 and MBA ’78, retired president and CEO of Vollrath in Sheboygan; Ronald Marks, emeritus professor of marketing at UW Oshkosh; and Rebecca Nash, MBA ’02, MSIS ’05, senior vice president of service operations at Ameriprise Auto & Home Insurance.
Tom Belot served as President and CEO of the Vollrath Company, a global manufacturer of food service utensils and equipment from 1989 to 2009. He joined the company in 1978 and served as director of management systems, chief financial officer and president of the Vollrath Refrigeration subsidiary.
Belot serves or has served on the boards of Firstar-Sheboygan, EnzoPac Corporation, The U.S. Bank Championship in Milwaukee (a PGA Tour event), General Housewares Corporation, R.W. Smith Company (San Diego, Calif.), the Vollrath Company, WPS Health Insurance and the John Michael Kohler Arts Center. He testified as an expert witness on steel tariffs before the United States Senate Finance Committee and has been a lecturer for Marquette University and the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
He is a member of the Endowment Trust Board of the Sheboygan County YMCA and the Sheboygan County Salvation Army Capital Campaign and is president of the Sheboygan County United Way. He also served as chairman of the Walk for Juvenile Diabetes, chairman of the Sheboygan County United Way Campaign and president of the Youth Theatre Company.
Ronald Marks received his Ph.D. from the University of Missouri-Columbia. He was a devoted marketing professor in UW Oshkosh’s College of Business from 1974 until he retired in 2006. Previously, he worked in sales for Superior Surgical Company and Burroughs Corporation.
Marks served as associate dean for undergraduate programs and external relations and marketing team leader. He also served on the University’s Commission for Academic Affairs and the Graduate Council. His book, “Personal Selling,” has been published in several languages.
Since 2003, Rebecca Nash has served as the senior vice president of service operations for Ameriprise Auto & Home Insurance. She began her career as a programmer/analyst for Wausau Insurance Companies and then Fort Howard Corporation before joining Ameriprise in 1987 as a senior programmer/analyst. She advanced to manager of customer service, manager of budgeting, director of corporate financial analysis, director of systems development and vice president-project management.
Nash has made significant contributions to her community, employer and to UW Oshkosh. As a member of the UW Oshkosh MBA Program Advisory Board, she helped establish the board’s first scholarship and secured a sponsorship from her company for the MBA Center in Green Bay.
She serves on the Board of Directors for the Greater Green Bay Habitat for Humanity. In 2006, she created a company-wide program to involve employees. Under her leadership, more than 100 Ameriprise Auto & Home employees have volunteered their time each year, and four homes have been built with Ameriprise sponsorship for families in Green Bay.
Pictured, from left, are Tom Belot, Ronald Marks and Rebecca Nash.