ALUMNI AWARDS

Dylan Bathurst - Young Alumni Award

Young Alumni Award honoree and Kansas native from Talmage, Dylan Bathurst earned his bachelor’s in information networking and telecommunications from FHSU in 2009 and has been recognized in the information technology industry for his proficiency in web design and work as a software engineer.

Bathurst moved up the ranks at Zappos Family of Companies as a front-end developer building website code to improve user functionality.

He went on to co-found a company, Rumgr, an online garage sale application for buying and selling used products. The app earned recognition on CBS and local newspapers and was accepted into the Apple App Store, an achievement allowing wide distribution for iPhone users to download the app for free. While co-managing the new business, in an effort to support other budding entrepreneurs, he also became an organizer for Startup Weekend Las Vegas to secure sponsorships, recruit judges, and plan the overall event. In developing Rumgr, Bathurst created web development solutions for businesses and built a premium product that was then acquired by eBay.

Bathurst expanded his knowledge in the IT industry as a software engineer with Close5, Upright Metrics and Purse before his current role as Senior Staff Engineer with Blockchain.com in San Francisco, the world’s leading software platform to transact internet commerce. The company deals in trading and processing digital coins and works to accelerate the adoption of crypto currency. As a member of Blockchain staff, Bathurst works to design, build, and maintain systems to securely move digital funds as the company ushers in the future of finance.

Mark Bannister, former dean of FHSU’s Robbins College of Business and Entrepreneurship, affirmed “Dylan is a bright and diligent Informatics graduate from Chapman High School, who has vigorously and creatively put his skills to work as an entrepreneur.”

Regan Ochs Reif - Young Alumni Award

Regan Ochs Reif is a 2013 alumna with a bachelor’s in organizational leadership. She has progressed through her career into her current position as Strategic Marketing Manager with The University of Kansas Health System in Great Bend.

Reif began her career immediately following graduation from Fort Hays State at Adams, Brown, Beran & Ball, Chtd. in Great Bend as a Human Resources/Marketing Associate and quickly advanced to Marketing/Executive Administrator and then Chief Operations Officer. Described as a visionary leader and mentor to many, she earned the respect of her colleagues by focusing on the firm’s strategic planning and operations. She played a pivotal role in the firm’s recruitment, human resources, and marketing efforts. Reif then worked at Wheatland Electric Cooperative, Inc. as a Member Services & Key Accounts Manager before moving to her current position. Recognizing her leadership and service to the community, the Great Bend Chamber of Commerce presented her with the 2016 NextGen Leader-of the-Year award.

As she did throughout her years as a college student, Reif continues to be active in community organizations and civic leadership. She serves as a member of the FHSU Leadership Studies Advisory Board; a mentor for the Voss Advanced Leadership Undergraduate Experience (VALUE) at Fort Hays State University; an executive board member and volunteer for the United Way of Central Kansas; a current board member and past ambassador for the Great Bend Chamber of Commerce; and volunteer and past chairperson for Barton County Young Professionals, along with being active in other area groups.

The words of Dr. Glenn Growe, FHSU assistant professor of accounting, in a 2013 letter of support for Reif’s Torch Award nomination, accurately predicted her future impact: “Her commitment to achieving excellence and her stellar work ethic will help those she leads to achieve success.”

Josh Dreher – Nita M. Landrum Award

The Nita M. Landrum Award winner for 2021, Josh Dreher, Hays, is dedicated to serving the Hays community through volunteerism. Dreher is a 2009 graduate of Fort Hays State University, earning his Bachelor of Business Administration in management while working at Bank of Hays throughout college as a teller, which, upon earning his degree and gaining more experience, developed into his current career as Senior Vice President and Commercial Lending Officer at Bank of Hays.

Dreher has continued to serve the university by volunteering for the FHSU Community Campaign fundraising team as both a member of several teams and as a team captain. He served as a coach for the 2018 FHSU Robbins College of Business and Entrepreneurship’s annual Kansas Startup weekend.

He also has worked closely with the FHSU Small Business Development Center.

His community outreach memberships include The United Way of Ellis County, where he served six years on the board, Hays Rotary Club, ARC Park fundraisers, Paint-a-Thon for low-income families in partnership with Tigers in Service, Hays High School technical education advisory committee, Hays Larks board, Big Brothers Big Sisters telethon, Fort Hays Municipal Golf Course advisory committee, Heartland Community Foundation, and Leadership Hays.

Dreher demonstrated his commitment to serving as an ambassador for Fort Hays State University and bettering the community of Hays through his many areas of volunteerism. Sandy Jacobs, executive director of the Heartland Foundation, noted that he “clearly understands the importance of quality of life issues…. He is not a ‘resumebuilding’ board member, but one who takes his role seriously and dedicates himself to the betterment of our organization, Fort Hays State University, and his community as a whole.” As Brandon Prough, Bank of Hays senior vice president, concluded, “Josh has a heart for giving back.”

Mary Schreiber Porterfield – Distinguished Service Award

The Distinguished Service Award winner is Mary Schreiber Porterfield ’68, ’68, ’77. Her primary passion has always been to bring the world closer to Kansas. Throughout her career as a Spanish teacher for 46 years in the Goodland school district, Porterfield was also a volunteer for AFS Intercultural Programs. For more than 40 years, she welcomed many students to her home for short and year-long visits. From her school, 17 students studied abroad, and the school community welcomed over 100 students from various countries around the world.

Porterfield taught grades 4-12 not only the language, but also the culture and customs of each country. From 1992- 2014, her classroom was linked to the Peace Corps’ World Wise School Project. In 1998, her classroom was the only U.S. classroom to participate in a project with the World Bank and the World Links Latin American Initiative.

Porterfield received the Kansas Foreign Language Teacher-of-the-Year Award in 1987 and was a finalist for the Kansas Teacher of the Year the same year and again in 1993. In 1995, she attended the Goals 2000 National Teacher Forum in Washington, D.C., as one of two teacher representatives from Kansas. In 1999, she was recognized as one of the seven Kansas Master Teachers of the Year.

Porterfield served as the chair of AFS-USA Intercultural Programs Board of Directors and the president of Kansas Paraguay Partners of the Americas. Through her travels, she built many lifetime relationships and opportunities to share her knowledge of other cultures with family, friends, and her community.

Protecting survivors of domestic and sexual violence is also a primary concern for Porterfield. She currently serves on the board for Options Domestic and Sexual Violence Services and has helped establish safe homes for victims and their families. Once retired, she has also branched out to volunteer at local museums and the county historical society.

Dave Fate – Alumni Achievement Award

Dave Fate, a native Kansan from rural Belleville, graduated in 1983 with a bachelor’s in finance and went on to a remarkable career in the commercial finance industry. Currently, he is the Chief Executive Officer at Stonebriar Commercial Finance, a company he founded in 2015 which has become the largest independent commercial finance and leasing company in the United States. He began his career in 1983 as a credit analyst with CIT in Wichita. ITT Capital Finance soon lured Fate to the Plano, Texas, area where he quickly assumed key leadership roles, first with ITT and then as a co-founder of two commercial finance and leasing companies. Transamerica Equipment Finance grew into a $3.2 billion business before it was sold, after which AIG Commercial Asset Finance built a $3.5 billion portfolio.

Fate currently leads a team of 47 professionals at Stonebriar, ranked No. 1 by the finance and leasing industry’s leading trade journal in numerous areas. In 2018, Fate was selected for the Monitor’s inaugural MVP award, and Goldman Sachs recognized him as one of 2020’s 100 most intriguing entrepreneurs.

Fate has demonstrated the importance of community, education, and helping others. He often mentors and promotes qualified young employees into leadership roles in the industry. One of his favorite projects, First Tee, is an initiative to raise financial support, teach life skills, and provide educational opportunities for at-risk youth through golf. He has been a strong Equipment Leasing and Finance Association (ELFA) industry advocate during his career through many service roles. He is actively involved in the ELFA’s Emerging Talent and Women’s Counsel initiatives designed to attract, hire, and encourage a diverse pool of current and future leaders with the same opportunities he experienced.

Dr. John Kim – Alumni Achievement Award

Upon graduating from Fort Hays State in 1977 with a master’s in chemistry, John Kim had no idea he would one day build an international company.

Through hard work and determination to make a better life, Kim left his poor farming village in South Korea to earn a degree in ceramic engineering rather than enlist in the South Korean army. He traveled to California, where he worked to save enough money to continue his education. Before his visa expired, he found his one opportunity at Fort Hays State University. After his first year as a graduate student, he almost dropped out for financial reasons. But thanks to the support of his advisor, the department chair, and the woman who provided him room and board, he persevered and graduated, then earned his PhD in chemistry at the University of Kansas. Kim went on to have an outstanding career teaching college-level chemistry before working in the industry and founding Unidex in 1990.

Unidex offers a complete line of coilers, formers, wire benders, grinders, and special-purpose machinery for producing springs, wire forms, and metal stampings. The company is a supplier of custom-designed, flexible packaging solutions for pharmaceutical and chemical industries. Unidex has extensive import and export experience, producing on three different continents. Kim won the 1998 U.S. Small Business Administration Award as Illinois Small Business Exporter of the Year.

Kim is described as a “pillar” of the Rotary Club of Chicagoland-Korean Northbrook and served as its president from 2015-2016 and as the longtime chair of the scholarship committee. He also was the champion and grants manager for a major project providing vocational training and employment for individuals with intellectual and developmental challenges. Kim is a member of the International Network of Korean Entrepreneurs and holds a U.S. Patent for a flexible packaging in 2005 and magnetic belt issued in 1996.

Col. (Ret.) Jerry Stecklein – Alumni Achievement Award

Hays area native Jerry Stecklein graduated in 1965 with a degree in business administration. Following graduation, he volunteered to serve in the U.S. Air Force, was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant, and graduated from the USAF Undergraduate Pilot Training program.

Stecklein’s first assignment was as a flight instructor in the Cessna T-37B jet trainer, teaching USAF Academy, College/University USAF ROTC and Officer Training School graduates, and allied student pilots from NATO countries. He also was an academic instructor and spearheaded an awareness campaign of the inhumane conditions captured USAF and Navy airmen endured in Vietnam prison camps. Stecklein was then assigned to Udorn Royal Thai AFB, Thailand, in 1971. He flew 173 combat missions over Vietnam and Laos and earned four awards of the Distinguished Flying Cross and 14 USAF Air Medals.

Upon returning to the United States, Stecklein was tasked with transitioning USAF flight training from traditional aircraft flights to flight simulators. He later served on the front lines of the Cold War as the commander of an aerial reconnaissance squadron in Germany. Stecklein finished his career as a wing commander responsible for training more than 400 Air Force pilots a year and then as the Deputy Director of Operations at Randolph Air Force Base in San Antonio.

After retiring, Stecklein worked for a large defense contractor in the late 1990s. While serving as the company’s Director of Engineering Support, he realized a significant need for automated tools to assist flight training managers. Stecklein, together with three partners, started Talon Systems, LLC, to meet that aviation training industry need.

Under Stecklein’s leadership, Talon Systems is now the premier cloud-based provider of flight training management, aircraft maintenance management, and safety management systems, serving nearly 100 universities and colleges and commercial flight training academies and schools in the U.S. and many other countries. The widespread use of Talon Systems’ products has improved flight training and pilot quality, resulting in advancements in overall flight safety.