Pitt State honors alumni

Pittsburg State University will honor four alumni during PSU Homecoming activities on Saturday, Oct. 27. The award is presented by the PSU Alumni Association in recognition of professional and civic achievements. The Outstanding Alumni Award is named in honor of Dr. Kenneth K. Bateman, longtime director of the Alumni Association, who retired in 2004.

The Outstanding Alumni will be honored Friday, Oct. 26, during the annual Crimson and Gold Dinner in the Overman Student Center. (Tickets required) A public reception in honor of the award winners will be held at 5 p.m. in the Student Center.

On Saturday, the honorees will ride in the annual Homecoming parade, which begins at 9 a.m. in downtown Pittsburg. They will then be recognized on the football field at half-time of the football game in Carnie Smith Stadium.

Following are the 2007 Outstanding Alumni along with brief biographical sketches:

Kendall Gammon
Kendall R. Gammon is currently a free agent in the NFL, an author and a motivational and inspirational speaker. He is a co-owner of the Paradise Nursery and Midwestern distributor for Amerisciences.

Gammon earned a bachelor of science degree in education from PSU in 1992. At PSU he helped lead the Gorillas to the 1991 NCAA Division II National Championship title. Gammon’s NFL career began with the Pittsburgh Steelers, where he competed in Super Bowl XXX. Gammon was with the Steelers until 1996, when he joined the New Orleans Saints. From 2000 until 2006, Gammon served as the long snapper for the Kansas City Chiefs.

In addition to playing in Super Bowl XXX, Gammon was also selected for the 2005 Pro Bowl in Hawaii, the first long snapper to receive this honor. Gammon played 218 straight games in the NFL, a record for active players, and played in eight playoff games.

In 1995, Gammon published “Life’s a SNAP: Building Your Business and Personal Future.” He is currently working on a second book.

Gammon and his wife, Leslie, also a PSU graduate, live in Overland Park, Kan., with their sons Blaise and Drake.

Joy Khoo
Joy Saw Kim Khoo is a senior program assistant supporting the director of operations for the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

Khoo earned a bachelor of music degree from PSU in 1993 and an MBA from PSU in 1995.

Khoo began her career first as a forecast analyst and then as an assistant category manager for Manco in Avon, Ohio. There she assisted in the development of marketing plans for major U.S. retailers. From 1998 until 2001, she served as a senior consultant for Cap Gemini Ernst & Young in Chicago, where she managed worldwide sales and project management efforts for the Supply Chain Management business diagnostic tools.

In 2002, Khoo joined the U.S. Department of State as a community liaison officer in the U.S. Embassy in Jakarta, Indonesia. She served as a critical advocate responsible for the morale of Foreign Service Officers and their families. In 2003, Khoo moved to Washington, D.C., where she served as the executive assistant to the deputy assistant secretary for the Department of State’s Bureau of Diplomatic Security. She joined the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation in 2006.

Among her awards and honors, Khoo was recognized by Secretary Colin Powell as the Community Liaison Officer of the Year in 2003 for her dedication, energy and imagination in implementing an outstanding and effective program for the embassy. This distinguished award also noted her leadership and unflagging support for the embassy community in crisis during a six-month evacuation.

Khoo lives in Bellevue, Washington.

Vijay L. Shankar
Vijay L. Shankar is the Vice President for Consumer Division Sales for the Henkel Corporation in Avon, Ohio. As such, he leads the company's North American professional and consumer adhesives sales to global, national, and regional retailers and resellers.

Shankar received an MBA from Pittsburg State University in 1994. He received a bachelor of commerce degree with a concentration in accounting from Osmania University in Hyderbad, India, in 1990.

At PSU, Shankar was a member and President of the Students in Free Enterprise (SIFE) team and Vice President of the MBA Association. He joined Henkel Corp. upon graduation, serving first as a project analyst and then a market research analyst, responsible for analyzing customer data from Wal-Mart, the company's largest customer.

From 1998 until 2000, Shankar was Henkel's Director for Wal-Mart International, managing the company's partnership with Wal-Mart Canada and working closely with Henkel affiliates to manage Wal-Mart relationships in Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, Germany, the United Kingdom, China and Korea. In 2000, Shankar was named Vice President for Wal-Mart/Sam's Worldwide and became responsible for Henkel's North American professional and consumer adhesives business with Wal-Mart along with his global Wal-Mart responsibilities. He was named to his current position in 2007.

Shankar lives in Cleveland Heights, Ohio with his wife, Jill and three cats.

Steven E. Westfall
Steven E. Westfall is president and CEO of EaglePicher Technologies, LLC. As such he is responsible for overseeing 1,200 employees, seven diverse businesses and individual sites, including the company’s state-of-the-art semi-automated battery facility recently opened in Pittsburg. Westfall’s current responsibilities spread across multiple sites in Missouri; Oklahoma; Kansas; Germany; and Vancouver, British Columbia.

Westfall earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Pittsburg State University in 1989 and an MBA from Pittsburg State in 1990. Westfall joined EaglePicher in 1993 as a contract administrator in thermal operations. He has risen through the company over the years, serving as a business manager for product development, director of business operations for EaglePicher Technologies, vice president and general manager of EaglePicher Technolgies specialty materials business unit, president of EaglePicher Pharmaceutical Services, and executive vice president and COO. He was named to his current position in 2005.

Westfall is the chairman of the Diehl & EaglePicher Joint Venture committee in Nuremberg, Germany; is a member of the Missile Defense Agency Supplier Industry Council Committee; a member of the U.S. Space Supplier Council Committee; and a member of the National Defense Industrial Association.

Westfall lives in Joplin, Mo., with his wife, Nancy, and their sons, Jantzen and Jarrett.

---Pitt State---