Florida Tech’s Delta Mu Delta Honors Wesche, Payne

MELBOURNE, FLA.—The Florida Institute of Technology Nathan M. Bisk College of Business Epsilon Eta Chapter of Delta Mu Delta inducted 12 students at the 24th Annual Banquet and Induction Ceremony April 14. The event was held on campus. Delta Mu Delta is the national honor society in business administration.

Honored as Outstanding Business Leaders at the ceremony were community notables Holly Wesche and Stan Payne. Both are longtime supporters of the College of Business and the university.

Wesche represents the third generation of a noted jewelry family and owns Wesche Jewelers, located in Viera, Fla. Very active in the jewelry industry, she is a graduate of the Gemological Institute of America and holds the advanced title of Certified Gemologist, which is awarded by the American Gem Society. She is a past president of the Florida Jewelers Association and is a Jewelers Education Foundation Speaker. She currently serves on the Jewelers of America Board of Directors.

Also active in her community, Wesche has been on the Melbourne Regional Chamber of East Central Florida board for more than six years and was treasurer of the board in 2009. In 2008 she was named one of the 100 Most Influential Business Leaders in Brevard by SpaceCoast Business magazine. Wesche Jewelers has been a sponsor of Viera High School’s Academy of Business and Finance.

Payne, chief operating officer and chief executive officer of the Canaveral Port Authority, was appointed by Gov. Jeb Bush to the Seaport Security Standards Advisory Council in 2006. He sits on the Florida Transportation Plan 2060 Steering Committee, is the immediate past chairman of the Florida Ports Council and is currently chairman of the Florida Ports Financing Commission.

Active in community affairs, Payne serves on the board of directors of the United Way of Brevard, Cocoa Beach Area Chamber of Commerce, Central Florida Partnership, Maxwell C. King Center for the Performing Arts (executive committee), Brevard Nature Alliance, and the Cocoa Beach Air Show Host Committee.

The event celebrated the gifts of numerous donors who have made a lasting investment in the lives of students. They have funded scholarships and provided resources for making a difference in the programs the college offers.

Many university students received scholarships and other awards at the ceremony. They were Ryan E. Fitzpatrick, Major Mathew Earl Schramm Fellowship; Sebastian Moreno, John F. Calcagni Memorial Scholarship; John Fouchet, Joseph Caruso Family Scholarship; Megan Hubbard, Florida Tech Center for Ethics and Leadership Scholarship; Cory Bernstine and Donald Gabbard, W. Lansing & Isabelle Gleason Scholarship; Duong Thai Nguyen, Dr. Leonard D. Healy Scholarship; Gregory Scheidel, NorthStar Capital Scholarship; Ondrej Holy, Jarrett Van Pelt and Zhiyan Wang, William & Wendy Potter Scholarship; Renee Comfort and Mary Jordon, Barbara A. & William G. Roy Scholarship; Nadine Hanafi and Jarrett Van Pelt, Michael Scafati Scholarship; Tom Veltri and Stephen Prachaseri, Financial Executives Institute Scholarship; and Zach Potter, Financial Executives Institute Distinguished Achievement Award.

The inducted students were Samantha Anne Porter, Gregory John Scheidel, Emily J. Siggins, Casey Lynn Lademann, Allison Anne Pustay, Anika Renee Smith, Daniel Isaac Schoenberg, Jennifer Beth Reid, Nathan M. Tatro, Ann-Marie Helgestad and Matthew Flanagan.

Students must be in the upper 20 percent of their class to be eligible for Delta Mu Delta.

Delta Mu Delta was founded as a national organization in 1913 to provide recognition to outstanding students of business administration. Today there are more than 200 chapters of the society across the country and one international chapter. Among the several hundred thousand students who receive bachelor’s or master’s degrees in business each year, only about 5,000 students are elected annually to membership in the society.