WEST LAFAYETTE – On April 17, 2026, Purdue University’s Mitch Daniels School of Business hosted its “Legacies and Leaders” event at the Purdue Memorial Union, honoring distinguished alumni and expressing gratitude to the donors who help advance the school’s mission. The celebration brought together students, alumni, faculty and friends of the Daniels School for an evening of recognition and reflection.
The evening began with remarks from Diego Legoas, a junior in accounting and finance, who welcomed attendees, and the school’s Dr. Samuel R. Allen Dean Jim Bullard, who highlighted the importance of leadership, innovation and service to the school’s community. Jennifer Liu, a 1998 Purdue graduate and the 2025 recipient of the Daniels School’s Distinguished Service Award, presented this year’s slate of honorees:
Business Leadership Award: Michael R. “Mike” Berghoff
Mike Berghoff has spent his career building things that last — companies, teams and institutions. As founder, president and CEO of Lenex Steel, Berghoff has helped shape some of the Midwest’s most significant construction projects while also playing a transformative role in higher education leadership and governance.
While building Lenex Steel into a regional industry leader, Berghoff also committed himself to public service and higher education. In 2009, he joined the Purdue University Board of Trustees, beginning a 15-year tenure that included nine years as board chair from 2015 to 2024. During this period, Purdue experienced significant institutional growth, expanding research activity, infrastructure and national recognition while maintaining its long-standing tuition freeze.
Burton D. Morgan Entrepreneurship Award: Dave Manly
For more than four decades, Dave Manly has helped turn innovative ideas into beloved consumer brands. From revolutionizing the way people drink coffee to helping build household names in automotive security and boating, Manly has spent his career shaping products that millions of people use every day.
One of his most significant achievements came at Keurig, where he played a key role in helping transform the company from a startup into the leading single-serve coffee maker brand in North America. Manly also left his mark at LoJack, where innovative marketing helped make the stolen-vehicle recovery system a household name, and at Boston Whaler, where strategic consumer marketing helped double sales for the iconic boat brand.
Distinguished Alumni Award: Gail F. Farnsley
When Gail F. Farnsley, who earned her master’s from Purdue’s business school in 1997, reflects on her career in technology leadership, one theme stands out: the people who helped her see possibilities she hadn’t yet imagined for herself.
“As a female, immigrant, and first-generation college student, no one expected me to go to college, much less get a master’s degree or become a corporate vice president,” she says. “Throughout my career I have always been mindful of the people who helped me along the way.”
Today, Farnsley is a retired IT executive, advisor and advocate for women in technology whose career has spanned major corporations, global leadership roles and higher education. Her professional journey includes leadership positions at companies such as Georgia-Pacific and Cummins, as well as serving as vice president and CIO of Cummins’ global IT organization. She later joined Gartner as vice president and executive partner, where she advised CIOs and executive teams as a trusted strategic advisor.
Distinguished Service Award: Don MacKay
For Don MacKay, Purdue has always been more than a university. It’s a lifelong connection that began long before he stepped onto campus and continues today through his dedication to supporting the next generation of students.
Over the course of his career, MacKay held leadership roles with major companies including Xerox Corporation, Montgomery Ward and Circuit City before joining Sears Holdings. During his 19 years with Sears, he served as Director of Business Integration and Director of Pricing for the company’s Home Services division.
John S. Day Distinguished Alumni Academic Service Award: Jeffrey J. Reuer
Jeffrey J. Reuer has spent his career shaping how scholars and executives understand strategy, but his path began with a spark of curiosity ignited at Purdue University. Today, as a Distinguished Professor and the Blake Family Endowed Chair in Strategic Management and Governance at the Daniels School, he is recognized globally for his research, teaching and leadership in the field.
A prolific contributor to his field, Reuer has published extensively and authored or edited 11 books. His achievements have earned him numerous honors, including being named a Fellow of the Strategic Management Society. “Becoming a Fellow is a meaningful recognition of impact by one’s peers around the world,” he says.
Young Alumni Award: Chandra Chittineni
Chandra Chittineni’s career path is not the product of a carefully engineered plan, but rather a series of bold decisions guided by curiosity. That instinct – to explore, to question and to step into the unknown – has taken him from mechanical engineering in India to consulting, from Purdue to leadership roles in fintech. After graduating from Purdue, Chittineni joined Capital One’s highly selective Leadership Development Program, where he spent three years working across credit risk, analytics and technology transformation. The experience helped him build a versatile skill set at the intersection of strategy, data and execution.
In 2025, he made another leap – this time into the startup world – joining Yendo as director of credit risk strategy. The move reflected the same philosophy that has guided his journey from the start: growth lies just beyond comfort.
