The annual award is presented to the most outstanding graduating Elon MBA student.
Elon MBA candidate Thomas Fitzgerald received the Richard H. Behrman Award on May 22 during a dinner celebrating the Elon MBA, M.S. in Management and M.S. in Accounting Class of 2019.
The annual award is named after Richard “Dick” Behrman, who served as the first director of the Elon MBA program. Elon MBA faculty members choose the winner based on academic excellence, contributions to the classroom environment through active participation, and demonstrated leadership in both program and community activities.
Fitzgerald is known for his thoughtful insights during class discussions and his strong academic performance.
“Tom excelled in using the perspectives he gained from his extensive work experience to improve the learning opportunities for every student in our classes,” said Robert Moorman, Frank S. Holt Jr. Professor of Business Leadership.
“Tom’s classroom demeanor was not overly enthusiastic or overeager, but you could tell he was deeply considering each idea. When he would finally comment, you saw his depth of thought and decisive treatment of the issued raised. It was a pleasure witnessing his class contributions because you knew they would help the entire class discover and discuss the most important class ideas.”
“Tom was very capable and self-reflective in his work and his assessments of team work,” added Jody Jones, adjunct assistant professor of management. “He operates with a bias for intentionality and focused effort that served him and his teams well. Tom showed care and awareness of how to work with different members of the class on group projects to facilitate learning for each person.”
Fitzgerald, principal at Schnabel Engineering, began the Elon MBA program in spring 2015. During his time in the program, he was a member of the winning Elon MBA case competition team, participated in the January 2018 global engagement experience to Asia, and was inducted into the honor societies Sigma Iota Epsilon, Phi Kappa Phi and Beta Gamma Sigma.
Fitzgerald earned a B.S. and M.S. in civil engineering from Rutgers University.
The dinner also recognized the students who were inducted into the Phi Kappa Phi, Beta Gamma Sigma and Sigma Iota Epsilon honor societies this academic year, and recipients of the Certified Management Accountant scholarships.
Previous Behrman Award recipients in attendance were Coleman Rich G’93 and Katharine Frazier G’17.