Management and Business Outstanding Service Award Winners
Ellen K. Hannan ’78
Outstanding Service Award
May 14, 2008
Ellen Hannan ’78 is one of the most highly regarded oil and gas analysts in the nation.
Twice recognized as an “all-star” analyst by both the Wall Street Journal and Reuters, she was named among the top three analysts in the oil, gas, and consumable fuels
industry by Forbes.com in 2006, and has appeared for the last three years as a runner-up in the Institutional Investor survey.
The business major earned an MBA at Pace University and launched her career as an
equity analyst at Bessemer Trust, following several years at Texaco Inc., where she
honed her analytical skills. She then spent four years covering the upstream oil and
gas sector with Prudential Securities. In 1998, Bear Stearns & Co. recruited Ellen
for a position as managing director and senior energy analyst.
Ellen credits her Skidmore experience with refining her ability to think critically
and write concisely, both invaluable skills in her professional life. Moreover, the
broad liberal arts curriculum exposed her to diverse disciplines beyond business,
encouraging her to “view the world in an infinite number of shades of gray.”
Ellen’s commitment to sharing her success has mirrored her remarkable career. A longtime
mentor to students in the Department of Management and Business, she provides similar
guidance to alumni working in the finance industry. While serving as a class agent,
she was tapped by the Alumni Association Board of Directors to join its awards committee.
Her passion for helping students and young alumni navigate the world of career building
did not go unnoticed. When the position of chair of career and professional development
became available on the AABD in 2004, she was the unanimous choice. Partnering with
the Office of Career Services, she planned Wall Street Walk and other networking events
and brought alumni working in a variety of fields back to campus for career panels.
She offered the full support of the board to an emerging networking group, the Skidmore
Business Network, which has since established chapters across the country. Ellen is
currently a member of the Council of 100, a group of alumni who help chart the growth
of Skidmore’s endowment.
Ellen’s work on behalf of Skidmore gives her the opportunity to network and connect
with classmates, faculty, staff and students. “They are all engaging and it is a very
rewarding effort. We have so many diverse, fascinating alumni and we all share a common
bond. And the students just keep getting better—more lively, intellectually curious,
and poised every year. More importantly, it is truly fun!” She is a strong advocate
of alumni involvement with the college. “As Skidmore continues to scale new heights
in the liberal arts learning community, we all benefit.” She adds, “Receiving this
service award is truly an honor. I can only hope my contributions are truly worthy
of it.”
Ellen also gives of her time and treasure to the Newton Country Day School of the
Sacred Heart in Massachusetts, where she is a member of the board of trustees and
chair of the Investment Committee..
Ellen and her husband, Kevin Monahan, live in Old Greenwich, Connecticut.
Ken Freirich ’90
Outstanding Service Award
May 11, 2005
Ken Freirich ’90 is the founder and former CEO of TransLocal Health Corp., a leading
multimedia health information provider to the pharmaceutical and healthcare industries.
The business major credits his Skidmore experience, both in and out of the classroom,
for laying the foundation of his career as an entrepreneur and corporate executive.
The seeds of that career were planted when, as a sophomore, Freirich queried mentor
and Wall Street executive Nic Platt ’76 about a summer job. The request elicited an unexpected response. Platt advised his
protégé to start his own business, bartend—do something entirely removed from finance.
“If I did what Nic asked,” muses Freirich, “he promised that he would find me a job
after graduation. If I didn’t, he told me not to come back.” That summer Freirich
launched the Saratoga Entertainment and Discount Guide, which he financed by collected advertising revenue from local businesses over an
eight-day period. The publication, which later became The Collegian Magazine, was distributed twice annually to over 35 colleges in three states.
The experience was “a defining moment” in Freirich’s life. His entrepreneurial and
corporate goals were bolstered by business faculty members Jim Settal and Marty Canavan
and guided by finance VP Karl Broekhuizen and director of Career Services Mike Profita.
Although he always intended to be involved with business, Freirich insists that the
breath of his liberal arts education has proven to be “invaluable.”
Freirich leveraged his entrepreneurial publishing efforts at Skidmore as a foray into
the corporate world and joined the leading medical publisher, Medical Economic, owned by Thomson. In a short period of time, Freirich was running magazines and
custom communications businesses. He was also selected by the top management at Thomson
to join thirty-six others worldwide for a two-year executive MBA certificate program
at Columbia University. By 1997, Freirich was VP for sales and marketing for InteliHealth,
a joint venture between Aetna U.S. Healthcare and Johns Hopkins and leading consumer
and professional health content, technology and e-commerce provider. After becoming
the firm’s president in 1999 and a successful exit in 2000, Freirich was reporting
to the chairman of Aetna and president of Aetna U.S. Healthcare. He left in 2001 to
start TransLocal Health Corp., a global multimedia health information business headquartered
in Springhouse, Pa. As CEO, he presided over the firm’s remarkable development into
a leading provider of information and resources for patients, physicians, and the
pharmaceutical industry worldwide.
While Freirich labored to achieve his professional goals, he was also building a roster
of volunteer roles. As a two-term member-at-large of the Alumni Association Board
of Directors, he helped chart the future of the College’s technological infrastructure.
He also created and implemented the Class Council, an initiative that connects class
officers to the alumni board and college. Chair of his 10th reunion in 2000, Freirich
is currently serving his second term as class president. As president of the Philadelphia
Alumni Club for the past five years, he created a leadership structure that is a model
for other clubs around the country. Freirich has also implemented robust career networking
and innovative social events. He continues to be a dynamic presence at Friends of
the Presidents dinners, scholarship benefits, and alumni leadership workshops.
Freirich chooses to volunteer because of his firm belief that much of his professional
success can be attributed to the “transformative” years he spent at Skidmore. “I am
extremely grateful for the opportunity to have attended one of the finest institutions
in the country. Skidmore offers every student a wealth of resources, both inside and
out of the classroom. If you are motivated and take advantage of all that Skidmore
has to offer, truly extraordinary things can happen.”
For Freirich, one of those extraordinary things occurred just two years ago, when
the former drummer for campus band Strawberry Jam realized a long-held dream of performing
with rock and roll legends at the House of Blues in Los Angeles—cheered on by fellow
board members.
He lives in the Philadelphia suburbs with wife Stephanie, a Saratoga County native
and instructional technologist who was recently elected to public office. The couple
serves a number of local nonprofit organizations as board members and volunteers.
“I am honored and humbled to receive this award,” concludes Freirich. “Skidmore has
been and will always be a very big part of my life. It’s been a pleasure to give back
to Skidmore, an institution that has given so much to me.”