Alumni Notes

We love to feature updates from our Indiana Tech alumni. Did you get a new job? Were you promoted? Did you retire? Maybe you’re celebrating a special anniversary, wedding or welcoming a child to your family. We want to celebrate you! Email alumni notes you wish to share to mjbrown@indianatech.edu and you can see them featured in the magazine!

All’s fair in love and lacrosse

Carlos and Alexa Matta (Winter)—2016 Indiana Tech graduates and former Warrior lacrosse players—aren’t exactly using their degrees, but they are using their time at Tech, the lessons they learned in and out of the classroom, and their experiences on and off the lacrosse field to build lives in their dream careers.

Introduced to one another by criminal justice classmates and lacrosse teammates, Carlos and Alexa were engaged on the home lacrosse field in April 2016 and were married a short time later. After graduation the two spent three years on the golden coasts of California, traveling, coaching and taking in frequent trips to the beach. She, a paralegal with Weitz & Luxenberg, P. C. in Los Angeles, and he, an aerospace engineer assistant at Stravsys, decided it was time to return to the Midwest to be closer to friends and family.

In preparation for returning home, they both noticed that Lourdes (Sylvania, Ohio) and Siena Heights (Adrian, Michigan) had openings for fulltime lacrosse coaches. Both applied, thinking, “How little the chances.” Not long after, each heard back with offers from the respective schools. Both accepted—Alexa is now the head women’s lacrosse coach at Siena Heights University and Carlos is the assistant men’s lacrosse coach at Lourdes. While they won’t be competing against one another directly, they both agree it will be tough playing against Indiana Tech, their alma mater.

A funny note of coincidence—Carlos proposed to Alexa following the final home game of her college career. The Warriors’ opponent that evening was Siena Heights.

Ashley Benvenuti: Adjusting to new role at ABB

It is never easy pulling up stakes and leaving a place one has called home for so long. After eight years in Fort Wayne, alumna Ashley Benvenuti recently took a step back from her duties as Indiana Tech Alumni Board president and a step out into a new world to establish roots in her new role at ABB Electrical in Jonesboro, Arkansas.

Ashley graduated from Indiana Tech with a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration concentrating in human resources in 2015 and completed her MBA from Tech in 2017. Her new role with ABB as Human Resources Business Partner allows her to oversee 350 employees in a company of more than 150,000 stretched worldwide. She was drawn to the company for the growth opportunities, focus training and the ability to strategize and execute in her position.

While she doesn’t love the Arkansas heat, she does enjoy the warmth of southern hospitality throughout. She’s stated that everyone is incredibly welcoming so long as “you cheer for the right football team and can name the church you attend.” She looks to return to the Alumni Board in the future.

In addition:

• Rashaam Hill, B.S. in Accounting, 2018, became a staff accountant at Sweetwater in Fort Wayne.

• Emily Streahle, B.S. in Mechanical Engineering, 2016, was promoted to malaria coordinator at Peace Corps.

• Koran Saines, B.S. in Business AdministrationHuman Resources, 2003, was re-elected to his seat as a Loudoun County Virginia Supervisor in the Tuesday, Nov. 5, election.

Keep us connected! Your stories are what make Indiana Tech proud—and we want to hear from you! Share your successes, update your information, learn about the Alumni Association and find ways to connect with your peers, friends and faculty members on our website at Alumni.IndianaTech.edu. You can also email your updates to Alumni@IndianaTech.edu.

Making a Difference: Blaise Alexander

Blaise Alexander’s latest investment is less about his personal or professional growth, and more about giving Indiana Tech students an opportunity to achieve their own.

36 ith assistance from a generous donation, a dozen Indiana Tech students spent the 2019 fall semester in Florence, Italy, allowing for the entire city to serve as their classroom. While there, students immersed themselves in art, music, architecture, history and more. “You can’t explain it: it’s indescribable what one takes away from it. Travel changes you and everyone around you,” said Mr. Alexander as he reflected on the impact traveling abroad has had and continues to have on him. Now, an immensely successful owner of Chevrolet dealerships in Pennsylvania, Mr. Alexander reflected on his own experiences with international travel, and he has high hopes that the students on this “truly once-in-a-lifetime opportunity” will have their eyes opened to the world and their potential impact in it. “You can learn so much about yourself, people and the world just by visiting someplace else. People are different everywhere. Travel opens us up to an entirely different world,” Mr. Alexander said. His own travels have taken him all across Europe, to countries like France, Italy, Switzerland, the Czech Republic and numerous others. And, each time he takes something new away from his travels. Whether it be the cuisine, the accessibility of virtually anything and any place or simply the ancient or historic feel of a place, he appreciates it all. W As for the reason Mr. Alexander chose Italy as the destination for his participation, he shared that he was first introduced to the birthplace of Leonardo da Vinci by his wife, Gabriela, and was simply amazed by it all. “It was like a throwback to a simpler time,” he said. “The pacing is slower and so much more relaxed than here in America. People are quiet, but incredibly friendly.” When asked why he felt inspired to give so generously to make this study-abroad opportunity possible, he stated very openly, “Because I could— because I wanted to do something for the place I spent four great years.” Mr. Alexander attended Indiana Tech, but he endured a severe skull fracture while participating in intramurals that prevented him from obtaining his undergraduate degree. “I might not have graduated from Tech, but I got an education here. It wasn’t about getting that piece of paper at the end; my education was about more than that.” The “more” for Mr. Alexander was learning about responsibility, management and independence—concepts he hopes the students will better understand after studying abroad in Italy.

You can learn so much about yourself, people and the world just by visiting someplace else... “

Former Indiana Tech student and active friend of the university, Blaise Alexander, is a successful owner of Chevrolet dealerships in Pennsylvania.

Travel opens us

— BLAISE ALEXANDER up to an entirely different world. “

READ ABOUT STUDENTS WHO HAVE TRAVELED TO FLORENCE THANKS TO MR. ALEXANDER’S GENEROSITY