Each year, the Georgia Tech College of Engineering (CoE) recognizes, with an invitation-only induction ceremony, select alumni who have contributed to the profession, advanced in their careers, and enhanced the lives of others both personally and professionally. These outstanding alumni are reviewed by committees within each of the eight schools within the College and are formally submitted for selection.

This year, the CoE inducted six alumni from the Stewart School of Industrial & Systems Engineering (ISyE) on April 8, 2017: Alan L. Dorris, Elaine Ho Johns, John David Ratliff, Michael E. Tennenbaum, Maurice A. Trebuchon, and Annie McKay Walker.

Council of Outstanding Young Engineering Alumni

The Council of Outstanding Young Engineering Alumni Award recognizes future leaders from the CoE. They are on the “fast track,” having advanced rapidly within their organizations through their outstanding professional achievements.

Anne McKay Walker (BSIE 02), Vice President, Divisional Merchandise Manager, Over The Counter, Walmart Stores, Inc.

Walker received a bachelor’s degree in industrial and systems engineering from Georgia Tech in 2002. She serves as vice president of over-the-counter merchandising for Walmart US. She began her career with Walmart in 2002 as an industrial engineer, and after spending two years with the Store Engineering team, she supported the replenishment division in several capacities.

Walker’s latest role in replenishment was serving as senior director of replenishment for the General Merchandise division. In 2012, she transitioned from Replenishment to vice president for merchandise execution, and she became responsible for developing and implementing strategies that support and drive the merchant strategy through to store execution. Walker sits on the ISyE Advisory Board.

Academy of Distinguished Engineering Alumni

The Academy of Distinguished Engineering Alumni honors highly placed executives who are actively involved in engineering, management, industry, academia, or government.

Elaine Ho Johns (BSIE 85), President and CEO, EnerVision, Inc.

Johns holds a bachelor’s degree in industrial and systems engineering from Georgia Tech. She is president and CEO of EnerVision, where she leads the company's nationwide consulting and business development efforts. She has more than 30 years of consulting experience in areas including strategic planning, power supply planning, utility rates, marketing, and economic analysis.

She is one of the founders of EnerVision, started its power supply business line, and currently leads its management consulting business line. Johns’ affiliations include the Council on Industrial and Systems Engineering, the Georgia Tech College of Engineering External Advisory Board, the ISyE Advisory Board, the Institute of Industrial Engineers, and the Women’s Energy Network — Greater Atlanta Chapter.

John David Ratliff (BSIE 81), CEO, Covance Drug Development

Ratliff earned his bachelor’s degree in industrial and systems engineering from Georgia Tech in 1981, and he received his MBA from Duke University in 1985. He currently serves as CEO of Covance Drug Development, the world’s most comprehensive drug development company and the only provider of full-spectrum drug development services from early-stage research to regulatory approval and beyond. Previously, Ratliff was president and CEO of HUYA Bioscience International. His health care industry experience also includes almost 10 years at Quintiles, the world’s largest provider of product development and integrated health care services, where he served as chief financial officer before becoming president and chief operating officer.

Prior roles throughout his career include CFO at Acterna and positions of increasing responsibility during his 19-year tenure at IBM. Ratliff supports entrepreneurial endeavors such as Remarque Systems, a provider of risk-based monitoring software solutions; Undercover Colors, a drug-detection consumer product line; and T3D Therapeutics, Inc., a clinical stage drug development company engaged in the development of a new orally administered treatment for Alzheimer’s disease.

Maurice A. Trebuchon (BSIE 86), Partner, PwC Consulting and IBM Global Business Services (retired)

Trebuchon earned his bachelor’s degree in industrial engineering from Georgia Tech in 1986. He enjoyed a 28-year career in management consulting and business leadership, serving as a partner first with PwC Consulting and later IBM Global Business Services. With a deep background in supply chain management, strategy, and operational consulting, he has served in multiple North America leadership roles including retail industry leader, business analytics & optimization service line leader, and supply chain service line leader.

During his career, Trebuchon has primarily focused on assisting industry-leading clients in achieving business transformation via development of strategies, operational designs, leverage of information technology, and organizational change adoption. Today, he is the Edenfield executive in residence at ISyE, a member of the ISyE Advisory Board, and an advisor for Senior Design.

Engineering Hall of Fame

Individuals who are inducted into the CoE Hall of Fame have made meritorious engineering and/or managerial contributions over the course of very distinguished professional careers.

Alan L. Dorris (BSIE 70, MSIE 72, Ph.D. IE 74), Founder and Principal Consultant, Dorris and Associates International LLC

Dorris received his bachelor’s degree in industrial engineering from Georgia Tech in 1970.  He subsequently received a master’s degree and a doctoral degree in industrial engineering, also from Tech, in 1972 and 1974, respectively. Upon finishing graduate school, he started an academic career by accepting a position as assistant professor of industrial engineering at the University of Oklahoma in Norman. At OU he taught a variety of industrial engineering courses and conducted research sponsored by the U.S. Department of Transportation in transportation safety. Drawing on his Georgia Tech training in human factors engineering and ergonomics, he conducted some of the initial research into human responses to precautionary information and the motivation of safe behavior as a component of systems.

In 1978, Dorris accepted a management position with the JI Case Company in Racine, Wis., where his responsibilities focused on the safety of users of agricultural and construction equipment. In 1982 Dorris and his wife, Patsy, started a consulting company that grew to become Dorris and Associates International LLC (DAI). Over the past 35 years, DAI has provided management advice, product-design guidance, accident analysis, and litigation support to companies, governmental agencies, and law firms in the application of behavioral science findings to product design. An emeritus member of the ISyE Advisory Board and the Georgia Tech Alumni Association Board of Trustees, Dorris is a recipient of the Georgia Tech’s Academy of Distinguished Engineering Alumni Award.

Michael E. Tennenbaum (BSIE 58, Hon. Ph.D. 16), Chairman, Caribbean Capital & Consultancy Corp.

Tennenbaum graduated from Georgia Tech in 1958 with a bachelor’s degree in industrial engineering, and he received an honorary doctorate in 2016. He also holds an MBA from Harvard Business School.

He is the founder of Caribbean Capital & Consultancy Corp., a Puerto Rico-based private merchant bank that seeks to make active investments. Previously, he co-founded Tennenbaum Capital Partners, a leading specialty credit investor. Prior to TCP, he managed various departments of a major investment bank.

Tennenbaum is a member of the Smithsonian Institution National Board and a member of its Investment Committee, and he is founder of the Tennenbaum Marine Observatories. He founded the Tennenbaum Interdisciplinary Center at the Neuropsychiatric Institute at UCLA, where he established the Michael E. Tennenbaum Family Endowed Chair in Creativity Research. He is a former member of the Secretary of the Navy Advisory Panel and a recipient of the Department of Defense Distinguished Civilian Service Award. He also has been a vice chairman of the Board of Governors of the Boys & Girls Clubs of America and was chairman of its Investment Committee; he is now a life member of its Board of Governors. He is founder of the Tennenbaum Institute for Enterprise Transformation.

He is an emeritus member of the Georgia Tech Advisory Board and the Georgia Tech Foundation Board of Trustees, where he was chairman of its Investment Committee. Tennenbaum is a member of the Academy of Distinguished Engineering Alumni of Georgia Tech’s CoE.