May 2016 Convocation

This May saw another cohort of students graduate from the College of Business -- the first graduating class of the College's second 100 years. A gallery of photos from the ceremonies can be found on Facebook. Gina Wilson, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of TIAA, spoke at the undergraduate and graduate ceremonies. Wilson oversees financial management, planning, reporting, actuarial, tax and accounting as well as investment management for the TIAA General Account, business effectiveness, strategic sourcing and corporate services for the organization. Wilson has more than 30 years’ experience in financial services. Before joining TIAA, Wilson served as executive vice president and chief financial officer at Wyndham Worldwide, responsible for the company's financial and technology groups. Gina Wilson Previously, she served as Cendant’s executive vice president and chief accounting officer. Wilson has also served as corporate controller at MetLife and worked in life insurance operations at Transamerica Corporation. Earlier in her career, Wilson served multinational and regional clients in financial services and not-for-profit organizations as an audit partner at Deloitte. A graduate of the University of Illinois-Champaign College of Business, Wilson holds a BA and MAS in accounting. Cathy Wallace, Chief Risk Officer for State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company, spoke at the MBA ceremony. With more than 32 years of experience within the insurance industry, she leads the Enterprise Risk Management, Compliance, and Information Security areas. She coordinates with State Farm business-area risk owners to identify, report, and measure significant risks while evaluating the processes in place to manage these risks. She joined State Farm in 1983 and has served in a variety of executive leadership positions including Operations Vice President, Finance Vice President, and Assistant Vice President of Planning and Analysis. In 2012, she assumed her current role of Chief Risk Officer. Cathy Wallace Wallace represents State Farm through multiple industry affiliations including the North American CRO Council, Incorporated; director of the Board of the Illinois Insurance Guaranty Fund; and member of the University of Illinois College of Business Dean’s Advisory Council. She is a past board member of both DaVinci Reinsurance and TopLayer Reinsurance Companies and a past director of WTVP Public Television. She earned a bachelor of science degree in accountancy and a master of business administration from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She holds certified public accountant (CPA) and Chartered Life Underwriter (CLU) designations. Norma Lauder, Retired Director of the MS Tax Program, spoke at the MS Tax ceremony on May 1 at the University Club of Chicago. She has spent her entire career in the field of taxation. Prior to becoming the director of the program in 2005, she was the Senior Vice President, Director of Taxes for Discover Financial Services and prior to that spent 18 years as the Senior Vice President, Director of Taxes for Bank One (now part of JPMorgan Chase) and its predecessor companies (First Chicago and First Chicago NBD). During that time, she was responsible for the worldwide corporate tax position of the companies, including tax policy, tax compliance, tax controversy, and tax accounting. Prior to joining First Chicago, she was the Vice President of Taxes at Beatrice Companies, Inc., and prior to that she was a Tax Partner at Arthur Andersen in Chicago where she served a broad base of large, multinational corporations. Norma Lauder Lauder is a member and former chair of the Dean’s Business Council of the University of Illinois’ College of Business, a Section Coach for Business 101 and a member of the Board of Advisors for the Illinois MS Tax Program. In addition to her involvement with the University of Illinois, she has served on a number of boards and committees throughout her career, including the University of Chicago Law School’s Annual Federal Tax Conference Planning Committee, the Bank Tax Institute Planning Committee, the Tax Council, and the Financial Executive International’s Committee on Tax. Lauder has spoken frequently on tax issues relating to the financial services industry and has served as both a member and chair of the American Banker’s Association Tax Committee, where she represented the industry before various government agencies, including testifying before Congress. She is also a Leadership Greater Chicago Alumna and a charter board member of the Women’s Business Development Center. Lauder has a BS in accountancy from the University of Illinois, an MS in taxation from DePaul University, and is a CPA. She is a member of the American Institute of CPAs, the Illinois CPA Society, and the Tax Executives Institute.