Four distinguished University of Nebraska-Lincoln alumni executives will share their perspectives on leadership and business success at the College of Business Administration spring Executive Insights panel from 4 to 6 p.m. April 13 in the Nebraska Union Auditorium, 1400 R St.
Hosted by the School of Accountancy and Department of Finance, the free event features a panel discussion and a question-and-answer session, followed by a networking reception at 5 p.m. All university students and the public are invited to attend. Kathy Farrell, interim dean and State Farm Professor of Finance, will facilitate the discussion.
“The Executive Insights series was inspired by discussions with our advisory board members about how they wanted to give back to our college community,” Farrell said. “Through collaboration of members from the Finance, School of Accountancy and Dean’s advisory boards, the series has brought respected C-Suite leaders to meet and have meaningful discussions with our community. In its third year, both students and professionals benefit from this tradition.”
The alumni executives are:
Andrea Gronenthal, 1991, 1992, is a partner, U.S. leader and tax performance advisory at Ernst and Young since 2014. After earning her bachelor’s degree and Master of Public Accountancy at Nebraska, she gained 25 years of experience in international, federal and state taxation, tax and business process, internal control and financial accounting. She assists corporations with developing strategies to enhance the performance of the tax function. She previously worked as managing director and practice leader for True Partners Consulting’s Tax Risk and Process Re-engineering Practice and national practice director-tax risk at Hudson Financial Solutions. Gronenthal focused on Fortune 500 and middle-market multinational companies, implementing effective tax risk management strategies and aligning corporate tax risk strategies with the overall business strategy and risk management of an organization.
Tom Henning, 1975, joined Assurity in 1990. He is chairman, president and chief executive officer of Assurity Life Insurance Company and president and chief executive officer of Assurity Group Inc. With more than 30 years of financial experience, he holds chartered life underwriter, chartered financial consultant and chartered financial analyst designations. An active leader in many civic organizations, Henning was chair of the Lincoln Chamber of Commerce and the University of Nebraska Foundation and co-chair of the Lincoln Partnership for Economic Development. A driving force behind Lincoln’s Vision 2015 group, he also is on several corporate boards, including Nelnet, Lincoln Industries and Great Western Bancorp. Henning earned a bachelor’s degree in agricultural economics from Nebraska and a graduate degree from Stonier Graduate School of Banking at Rutgers University. He also completed the Effective Management Program and Leadership Program at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and the Directors’ College executive education program at Stanford University.
Michael Johnson, 1981, joined Accenture, a global professional services and Fortune 500 company, as associate director in 2016. For more than 20 years, his primary focus included energy and business processes industries. Johnson, who earned his bachelor’s degree in accounting at Nebraska, also works with finance, manufacturing, retail and consumer packaged goods. Johnson was a general partner at Castle and Moat and a senior principal at Computer Science Corporation. He also worked as associate partner and business development manager at IBM and principal value engineering, director of business consulting and manager of pre-sales at SAP. He earned a master’s degree in finance from the College for Financial Planning in 2006.
Jane Miller is the chief operating officer and executive vice president for Gallup and is also a director, owner and leader in the privately held, employee-owned company. Named COO in 2000, her responsibilities include all operational aspects of the service organization, including the orchestration and execution of The Gallup Path globally. This includes assuring a best-practice workplace for employee and customer engagement and performance to drive loyalty and growth. Miller has been on numerous boards including director of the Gallup Board, chair of the Kiewit Foundation and chairman of the Knights of Aksarben. A graduate of the College of Education and Human Sciences at Nebraska, she also volunteered as a committee member at Creighton University and the Omaha Zoological Society Board.
To learn more and register for the event, click here.
