Mr. Rox Bailey is the Chairman and CEO of Classic Coffee Concepts, Inc., located in Charlotte, North Carolina. Classic Coffee Concepts is a multi-faceted niche marketer that engages in design, development, manufacture, international sales, and distribution of commercial coffee makers, coffee products, and directly related allied products. Mr. Bailey recently led the Management Team buyout of the Joint Venture Investors Sunbeam, Inc., and S&D Coffee, Inc. Mr. Bailey was inducted into the College of Business Hall of Fame in 1989. He has served on the College's External Advisory Board since 1998 and is currently the Board's Vice Chair.

Emeritus Member

Mr. Davids is the President and Editor of McD Media, a publishing company based in Downers Grove, Illinois. He serves as the publisher and editor of The Landscape Buyer and Condo Lifestyles Magazines. He is a member of the Advisory Board of the Chicago Gateway Green Committee, the National Association of Real Estate Editors, and the chairman of the Night in Bloom Gala held at the Chicago Flower and Garden Show. Mr. Davids supports many civic and community groups such as the Special Olympics, the Near North Association of Condominiums, the Association of Condominium and Town Homes, and the Greater South Loop Association.

EAB Member since Fall 2004
Elected Board Chair, Spring 2007
Saluki Expo Committee Member
Past Chair (2007)

Steve Falat is the General Manager of River Radio of Southern Illinois and is the official Public Address Announcer for Southern Illinois University Athletics as well as the new Southern Illinois Miners independent professional baseball team in Marion. Steve is also a well-known Master of Ceremonies for University and Community events, including the annual WSIU Fantasy Auction and numerous athletic and charity fund raisers. In 1987 Steve earned his undergraduate degree in Radio & Television from Southern Illinois University Carbondale. He is a member of the SIU Alumni Association National Board of Directors, the SIU College of Business Marketing Department External Advisory Board, he is the 2008 President-elect of the Rotary Club of Carbondale and is also active in the Jackson County Stage Company. Steve and his wife Jolene are the parents of three daughters and live in Murphysboro.

EAB member since Spring 2007

Mr. Heakin founded North American Insights, a consumer interviewing service, in 2001 after a twenty seven year career as Vice President of Heakin Research, Inc. Heakin Research was generally considered to be one of the leading Marketing Research firms in America as the company was named as one of Chicago's Best Small Businesses in 1984,'85,'86,'87,'88, and '90 by the University of Illinois-Chicago. While at Heakin, John won the Marketing Research Association's President's Award for Service to the Industry in 1981, the MRA's highest honor at the time. At SIUC, Mr. Heakin has been an Executive in Residence, inducted into the College of Business Hall of Fame, served on the College of Business External Advisory Board, and became the inaugural Chair of the Marketing External Advisory Board. Mr. Heakin and his wife, Maureen are Distinguished Gold Patrons of the Rehn Society.

EAB Member since Fall 2004
Past Chair (Inception - 2005)

Mr. Helleny is the youngest member of the Marketing Advisory Board. He graduated from the SIUC College of Business with a double major in Marketing and MIS in 2001. After graduation he started Moneta Enterprises, LLC. Moneta is the parent company for Moneta ATM which sells and maintains ATM Machines in the Southern Illinois region, along with Moneta Management which owns and leases rental property, and CourtMoney.com. Additionally, Mr. Helleny works for Jim's Mobile Offices and performs management work with 7-H and 3-H, Inc.Outside of work he is the Secretary of the Herrin Bocce Club, the Chapter Advisor for Alpha Kappa Psi Professional Business Fraternity, a member of the Herrin Chamber of Commerce, and Business member of the Illinois Sheriff's Association.

EAB Member since Spring 2005
Mentor Committee Member

Mr. Karayiannis is the General Manager of Pinch Penny Pub and Copper Dragon Brewing Company, both of which are located in Carbondale, IL. Mr. Karayiannis held this position prior to receiving his marketing degree from SIUC, and resumed after graduation. He is a life-long resident of Carbondale and is one of the youngest members of the External Advisory Board. For this reason, Mr. Karayiannis feels that he brings a student-minded perspective to the position.

EAB Member since Fall 2004
Saluki Expo Committee Member

Mr. Klassen has been employed at Delta Dental of Missouri since 1998.  He serves not only as Vice President of Marketing and Sales, but also as an Officer in the Company.  He is responsible for all of Delta’s Marketing and Sales Initiatives as well as being directly responsible for the Marketing and Sales team involved in advertising, corporate communication, strategic marketing initiatives, new sales production, and client retention. Mr. Klassen is a member of the Better Business Bureau and is very involved in the St. Louis Community. Mr. Klassen completed SIU’s Flight School and became a licensed Flight Instructor in 1972.

EAB Member since Fall 2004
Elected Board Secretary, Spring 2007
Saluki Expo Committee Member

Ms. Mechler began as the Vice President of Sales and Marketing at the School Center in Carbondale in 2006. Prior to that Mary worked for The Southern Illinoisan from 1986 to 2006, holding various positions including, advertising sales rep, Advertising Manager, Direct Marketing Manager, and  Human Resources Manager. She was Director of Marketing from 1983 to 1985 for SouthernNet, a long distance telephone service, in Atlanta, GA. Ms. Mechler is the past president, and current member, of the Carbondale Chamber of Commerce, board member of Carbondale Community Arts, Inspiring Women board member, and board member of the Carbondale Convention & Tourism Bureau.

EAB Member since Fall 2004
Mentor Committee Member

Ms. Mitchell is currently the Director of Marketing at Pepsi MidAmerica. She has prepared for this roll by participating in grass roots marketing for Red Bull Energy Drink as a Promotions Manager. Christie has served on various marketing strategy task forces for both Pepsi and Red Bull.  She began her marketing career managing promotional events for companies such as Kmart and Coke, a job which took her to all states but one, Alaska. 

Christie holds a BA degree in Business from Southern Illinois University (1996) and a MBA from the University of Oklahoma (2001).  While attending Southern Illinois University, Christie was captain of the cheer team and received the honor of Marketing Student of the Year 1996.  On a personal note, Christie is glad to be home in Southern Illinois after a 10 year period of travel which included living in Oklahoma and Florida.  Her husband, Lt. Jonathan Mitchell is currently serving in Iraq as a Judge Advocate General for the US Navy.  They have two daughters Annie (4) and Grace (3).

J. Adaire Putnam is the Director of Corporate Communication for Kellogg Company. She is responsible for helping to deliver against Kellogg’s external corporate communications strategies to enhance the company’s reputation, including the Corporate Responsibility report and communications, Annual Meeting, nutrition communication programs, M&A activity and major organizational announcements. Prior to joining Kellogg in December 2008, Adaire ran her own professional moderating and facilitating firm helping companies including Kellogg develop consistent, compelling communication messages and conducting qualitative research.  Previously, Adaire was a Partner at Ketchum Public Relations and Director of the Midwest region. She was responsible for the overall quality of work the region delivered to clients, including Kellogg, Kodak, Kimberly-Clark, Wendy's, ConAgra Foods, and many others, on a daily basis. Prior to joining Ketchum, Adaire was the president and owner of MLC Limited, a marketing communications consulting firm. Before forming her own firm, Adaire served as the Director of Marketing and New Initiatives for a regional healthcare center where she established a Community Cancer Center affiliated with The University of Michigan. Adaire began her public relations career at Smith, Bucklin and Associates where she developed and implemented programs for several industry trade associations before moving to Edelman and Bloom public relations agencies. Adaire is an accredited member of the Public Relations Society of America. She earned a bachelor’s degree in speech communications from Southern Illinois University and a master’s of business administration from University of Notre Dame.

EAB Member since Fall 2004
Past Chair (2006)

Sigmund Saltz, President of Comiskey Research, has over thirty years of marketing and research experience.  Shortly after graduating from Southern Illinois University Carbondale in 1970, Sig joined the marketing department of Norwich-Eaton Products where he worked as an Assistant Product Manager on the company’s largest brand, Pepto-Bismol.  Since Norwich-Eaton, Mr. Saltz has held increasingly more responsible marketing positions with Armour-Swift-Eckrich, Land-O-Frost and Booth Seafood.  Mr. Saltz has taught marketing research at Oakton Community College in Des Plaines, IL, lectured on marketing and research at Columbia College-Chicago and is a past President of the Chicago Chapter of the Marketing Research Association.

EAB Member Fall 2006
New Member Orientation Programs Committee Member

Zachary Sapienza is the Education Advertising Manager for the Sun-Times News Group which consists of eight dailies and over 80 weekly newspapers. Their portfolio includes: The Chicago Sun-Times, Pioneer Press, Daily Southtown and Post-Tribune. He is responsible for coordinating, marketing and publishing over 25 educational supplements annually through out the Chicagoland area. Other responsibilities include: overseeing all education advertisers, price pointing, staff training and the creation of all marketing materials.

Zachary has both a B.S. in Organizational Speech Communication (1999) and a Master’s degree in Speech Communication/Public Relations (2005) from SIU. During his undergraduate tenure, he was a member of the SIU Debate Team who won the national championship in 1995. His individual awards in debate include taking 2nd speaker in the nation at Novice Nationals and 3rd speaker in the nation at JV Nationals. As a graduate student, he was the assistant debate coach for SIU coaching the novice and junior varsity teams and assisting in the recruitment of several prominent high school debaters from across the country.

EAB Member since Fall 2007

Irene Scerine graduated from SIU in 1989.  She started her career in Marketing and has worked as an Assistant Product Manager for Perrier Bottled Water Company where she handled the advertising and marketing for 5 different bottled water brands.  After Perrier, Irene worked for a small marketing incentive company and was responsible for the marketing /communications for travel incentive packages.  She then began her career in sales where she has worked for American Golf Corporation and Indian Lakes Resort, selling golf outings and corporate meetings.  Irene currently works as an Account Manager for Chicago Title Insurance Company and has been selling to real estate attorneys for close to 5 years.  Her true passion is sales, but she is grateful for her years of experience in Marketing and her experience at SIU.   She has lived in Orlando and Houston, but really enjoys living in the Chicago land area close to her family.  In Irene’s free time she enjoys playing golf and loves to cook!

EAB Member since Fall 2005

Mr. Seavey is a widely recognized consulting industry expert in print and print related services. He has in excess of 33 years of experience in the print industry and was actively involved in engineering, sales, human resources, marketing, manufacturing, customer service, pricing, and corporate strategic direction. As well as receiving his bachelor's degree in business administration from SIUC, Mr. Seavey has done graduate work in printing studies at the University of Michigan. He has been published in numerous periodicals, is active in various print organizations including Printing Industries of American and The National Association of Print Leadership, and is a member of The Print Industries of America National Digital Print Council.

EAB Member since Fall 2005

Mr. Siracusano is currently a Financial Advisor for PaineWebber in Naperville, IL. Before taking his current position, he worked for Edward Jones. Mr. Siracusano enjoys sharing his time and expertise with others. Recently, he was invited to speak to the College of Business Saluki Student Investment Fund. Additionally, Mr. Siracusano volunteers his time to the Wall Street Society, a Naperville Central High School group. While attending SIUC, he was a member of the diving team. He additionally holds the men's school record on the 1-meter and 3-meter boards.

EAB Member since Fall 2004
Elected Vice Chair, Spring 2007
Past Chair (2008)

Linda Stewart is a senior Marketing professional with expertise in Marketing Research, New Product Innovation and Branding. Her skills have been honed marketing some of the world’s most valued and recognizable brands over a more than 20 year corporate career with the Keebler and Kellogg consumer packaged goods companies, and with advertising agencies Ogilvy & Mather and DDB Needham. In her position as Vice President, Consumer Insights & Strategic Communications for the Kellogg Company, she led the 12-member Consumer Insights department and supported the consumer research and business insights information needs for Kellogg’s Snacks Division.  Linda has since moved on and is now a Strategic Marketing Consultant with The Russell Williams Group in Crete, Illinois. Linda is an accomplished lecturer and speaker, having served on the faculty of Washington University in St. Louis, and as a featured speaker on brand equity management and new product development for the American Marketing Association and the Advertising Research Foundation. Linda holds a BA degree in Psychology from Barnard College and MA and PhD degrees in Educational Psychology from Columbia University.

EAB Member since Fall 2005

Steven R. (Rudy) Vonachen is a 1965 graduate from the SIU School of Business.  After graduation from SIU, he joined his family business, Vonachen Service and Supply, where he held positions in Sales, Sales Management, and Vice-President of Sales/Marketing.  Vonachen Service and Supply grew from one location in Peoria, Illinois to five distribution centers in the Midwest.  In 1999, his company was acquired by a national distribution network, AmSan, in the paper and janitorial supply industry.  Since that time, Rudy held positions as Midwest Regional Sales/Marketing Director followed by Vice President of National Accounts.  He is a 1999 recipient of the SIU Hall of Fame College of Business and Administration.  In 2004, Rudy retired and became a consultant for AmSan.  He continues to be active in community affairs and enjoys time with his “SIU Buddies”.

EAB Member since Fall 2006