Lori (Jones) Carmichael ’86
Lori Carmichael grew up on a farm near St. Francis. She knew she wanted
to attend a small school, and BSU was a great fit for her. She graduated with an accounting degree before joining
the Internal Revenue
Service as a revenue agent. She became a group manager in 2000 and was involved in the hiring and training of new revenue agents. Her responsibilities included resolving a variety of issues facing taxpayers, representatives and the IRS
organization.
In 2008, the IRS chose Carmichael to be a technical advisor to the small-business,
self-employed Midwest-area exam director. As the technical advisor, she oversaw and supported staffing, operational reviews and
a myriad of other tasks for a 10-state area.
In 2009, Carmichael was accepted to the Senior Management Readiness Program, and in 2012 she was selected as a senior manager. She now manages eight groups of revenue agents located primarily in Wisconsin and northern Michigan.
Throughout her career, Carmichael has mentored her employees and challenged them to develop their skills, confidence and professionalism as they pursue careers throughout the IRS organization.
Kirk Gregg ’81
Kirk Gregg has served as Corning Incorporated’s chief administrative officer since 2002. He oversees human resources, information technology, procurement and transportation, aviation, community affairs, government affairs, business services and corporate security.
Gregg graduated cum laude from Bemidji State with a bachelor’s degree in psychology and minors in economics and business administration. He attended the University of Minnesota for a master’s degree in industrial relations (a/b/d) and is a Sloan Fellow from M.I.T.’s Sloan School of Management.
Gregg joined Corning in 1993 as director of executive compensation. He was then named vice president of executive resources and employee benefits and later senior vice president, administration. Previously he held various roles of increasing responsibility at General Dynamics Corporation.
Prior to Corning, Gregg was corporate director, key management programs, for General Dynamics Corporation. He was responsible for executive compensation and benefits, executive development and recruiting. He previously held positions at the operating-unit level in labor relations, salaried compensation, human resource information systems, organizational training and development, and information technology.
Robert Krowech ’72
Robert Krowech founded Eden Prairie-based Heat Recovery System Technology (HRST), Inc. in 1998 and remains CEO.
After growing up on a dairy farm near Roseau, he began at BSU in 1964 but was not motivated. He received a postcard from an uncle who was working at a steel mill in Gary, Ind. Krowech moved there and worked as a materials tester. He was drafted into the Vietnam War and attended training in Georgia. He re-enrolled at BSU much more motivated and got degrees in math and physics in 1972. Continuing his studies, he earned a master’s degree in mechanical engineering in 1974 from the University of Minnesota.
Krowech started HRST to provide superior boiler engineering and on-site power plant technical service. According to a 2013 profile in Twin Cities Business magazine, he applied a unique approach to motivating and compensating employees as his business grew. According to the company’s website, “Rather than offer lucrative salaries to attract people, our company relies on profit sharing, and to have profits, we need to work hard and smart, and have loyal clients.”
The magazine article also highlighted Krowech’s success as a competitive body builder and power lifter. He has won the over-50 Mr. Minnesota bodybuilding contest twice – often defeating much younger participants. He has set state, national and world records in powerlifting.
Dr. Christopher Waller ’81
Dr. Christopher Waller, senior vice president and director of research at the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, earned a bachelor’s degree from Bemidji State followed by a master’s (1984) and a Ph.D. (1985) in economics from Washington State University.
Waller began his career as part of the economics faculty at Indiana University. At the University of Kentucky, he served as a professor and C.M. Gatton Chair of Monetary Economics. He went on to become a professor and Gilbert F. Schaefer Chair of Economics at the University of Notre Dame, where he served as a research fellow with the Nanovic Institute for European Studies and the Kellogg Institute for International Studies. Other academic assignments included visiting professorships at the University of Bonn, Germany; University of Canterbury, New Zealand; Kiev-Mohyla National University, Ukraine; and the University of Mannheim, Germany. Waller’s work has been published in a variety of scholarly journals such as the American Economic Review and the Quarterly Journal of Economics.
Dr. Robert Ley, one of Waller’s professor’s at BSU underscores the impressive nature of Waller’s accomplishments as well as the contributions he makes to the field and his community. “Most economists would agree he has helped in important ways to advance our understanding of monetary and financial economics, as well as effectiveness of monetary policy,” Ley said.