Staff Report

COLUMBIA -- The University of South Carolina Darla Moore School of Business honored seven business executives Friday at the school’s 15th annual Business Leadership Dinner and Awards program.

Recipients of the 2010 Distinguished Alumni Awards are Nicole Ringenberg of St. Louis, Mo.; Emory W. Rushton of Arlington, Va., and Beaufort; Kent Satterfield of Greenville; and Robert H. Turner of Columbia. The Distinguished Young Alumni are Tito Echiburu of Seven Fields, Pa., and Ioana Tudor of Minneapolis, Minn. Michael R. Brenan of Columbia will receive the Distinguished Service Award.

Ringenberg, who earned a master of international business studies degree from the Moore school in 1985, is vice president and controller of Monsanto Co., a multinational agricultural biotechnology company. During her more than 24 years with Monsanto, she has worked in key management roles, including the lead of global commercial finance and operations, commercial lead for the Asia Pacific business based in Singapore and general auditor.

Rushton is managing director of Promontory Financial Group LLC in Washington, D.C. He joined Promontory in 2008 after serving more than 40 years with the U.S. Treasury in its Office of the Comptroller of the Currency. A native of Beaufort, Rushton graduated with a bachelor of science degree from the Moore school in 1965.

Satterfield is chief operating officer of Dixon Hughes PLLC, a top 20 U.S. accounting firm and the largest accounting firm headquartered in Greenville. In addition to being a CPA, Satterfield is a certified financial planner and a personal financial specialist. He is a graduate of Leadership Greenville and the Furman University Liberal Arts Leadership Program.

Turner is chief executive officer of Pac-West Telecomm Inc., a whole communication infrastructure services company. As CEO, Turner also is board member of Pac-West. Launching his career with AT&T, Turner went on to serve in chief executive roles in several telecom firms and founded Turner Telecom Holding Group LLC.

Echiburu is director of managerial reporting for the Performance Coatings Division and finance director for the Architectural Coatings International Division for PPG Industries Inc., positions he has held since 2009. A native of Santiago, Chile, Echiburu began his career with PPG Industries using his graduate studies in finance and Portuguese by working as a senior internal auditor in Brazil, Venezuela, Mexico and Portugal.

Tudor is vice president of business development for the corn and soybeans business unit of Minnesota-based Syngenta Seeds Inc., an agribusiness company with sales of more than $11 billion. She worked for Zeneca Agrochemicals, which merged with Novartis to form Syngenta, and relocated to Basel, Switzerland. She moved back to the U.S. in 2004 to lead Syngenta’s corn and soybeans biotech program.

Brenan is president of BB&T of South Carolina and responsible for banking operations in South Carolina, a position he has held since 1998. He is past chairman of and currently serves on the University of South Carolina Business Partnership Foundation board of trustees. In addition to working with the BPF, Brenan is former chairman of the board of directors for the S.C. Bankers Association, United Way of the Midlands and the S.C. Independent Colleges and Universities.

The program was held at The Medallion Center in Southeast Columbia.

Published April 19, 2010