Meadows, Priscilla

Class of '87
Dove Seven Solutions, Inc., Vice President - Finance

Priscilla Robinson Meadows received her BS in business administration from UNC-Greensboro, a Duke MBA, and is a CPA in inactive status. Meadows began working for GTE (now Verizon) in July 1977 as a staff auditor in Durham, North Carolina. She performed jobs of increasing responsibility in finance in the areas of toll processing, rate case preparation, budgeting/outlook, management education, project management, and process re-engineering. Priscilla moved to Dallas, Texas, in 1996 to assume the position of Director-Finance Training and Communications. She retired from Verizon after twenty-five years in February 2003. She continues to work in finance as minority owner of a small construction firm, DoveSeven Solutions, Inc. She has shared her business experience in motivational talks to numerous organizations including the National Black MBA Association, Leaders of Tomorrow, (LEAD), National Eagle Leadership Initiative (NELI), American Association of University Women, Verizon, Frito-Lay, and the Bryant Gumbel Scholarship Program. She is now very happy to serve the Fuqua Alumni Council to promote the continued success of Duke and its business programs.

More >>

Paleokrassas, Nicolas

Class of '05
Wells Fargo & Company, Senior Project Manager

More >>

Parekh, Jai

Class of '08
Brar-Parekh Eye Associates & Star-x Clinical Research, Managing Partner & President

Jai G. Parekh, MD, MBA, is a 2008 graduate of Fuqua's Weekend Executive MBA/HSM program. He is a board-certified ophthalmologist/corneal transplant surgeon practicing in the New Jersey/New York area. He is a managing partner at Brar-Parekh Eye Associates, a 40-year-old clinical practice, and Co-Founder/President of the newly formed Star-x Clinical Research LLC, a research think tank. Jai is also Chief of Cornea & Medical Director of the Research Institute at St. Joseph's Regional HealthCare System in New Jersey, where he was recently chosen to serve on the Hospital's Board of Trustees. He is Assistant Professor of Ophthalmology at the New York Eye & Ear Infirmary, a world-renowned eye hospital, where he did his cornea and refractive surgery fellowship several years ago. In Boston, Jai completed medical school and training in both internal medicine and ophthalmology where he served as chief resident in both specialties. He has been privileged to train at many hospitals affiliated with several medical schools including Boston, Brown, Tufts, and Harvard Universities. Jai is well-published and lectures at various national and international meetings; he is a key opinion leader within the pharmaceutical industry as well. In fact, he was recently named the only ophthalmologist in the country to serve on the prestigious Society of Academic Medicine Board. Jai's interests include ocular surface diseases, entrepreneurship, practice/disease management, charitable healthcare, and philanthropy. Jai resides in New Jersey with his wife of 16 years and three children.

More >>

Piaker, Steve

Class of '86
CCP Equity Partners, Managing Partner

Steve Piaker has worked in the private equity industry for twenty years and currently serves as Managing Partner for CCP Equity Partners, a Connecticut-based private equity firm focused on the financial services and healthcare services sectors. The firm has been a leading investor in high growth areas within these sectors including electronic payments, business process outsourcing, alternative energy brokerage, specialty finance, managed care, and disease and care management. Piaker, in his capacity as a private equity partner, has served on over fifteen corporate boards including a number of public companies. In addition to investment monitoring and corporate governance, Piaker spends considerable time working with management and other board members on strategy development and execution, management recruitment and development, operational excellence and mergers and acquisitions. Prior to joining CCP in 1994, Piaker was Senior Vice President of Conseco’s Private Capital Group and previous to that he served as Vice President and a founding member of GE Capital’s financial institutions team within the Corporate Finance Group. During his tenure with GE Capital, Piaker and his colleagues completed five leveraged buyout transactions in the financial services sector and worked on a number of strategic acquisitions for the parent company. Following his graduation from Fuqua, Piaker began his career with Chase Manhattan Bank. Piaker and his wife Randi reside in West Hartford, CT. They have two daughters, Rachel and Lindsay, and a golden retriever and toy poodle.

More >>

Popper, Jeff

Class of '93
Hasbro Inc., Sr. Director of Marketing, Global Brand Strategy & Marketing

Jeff Popper is a Senior Director of Global Brand Strategy & Marketing at Hasbro, Inc. He has been at Hasbro since 2001, leading beloved toy brands including Star Wars, Nerf and Play-Doh. From 2006-2008, he worked in International Marketing, heading up Preschool and Girls marketing with responsibility for all business outside North America. He is currently leading the Arts & Crafts business.

Prior to joining Hasbro, Popper spent nearly seven years at household products company Reckitt Benckiser, holding positions of increasing responsibility in marketing and new product development on such familiar brands as Lysol and Resolve.

In addition to the Duke MBA, Popper holds a BA in Economics from Vassar College. He resides in Medfield, MA, with his wife of 15 years, Alyson, and two young sons. Outside of work, he enjoys running, coaching youth sports, and is a wine enthusiast.

More >>

Rickabaugh, Yvonne P.

Class of '89
St. Jude Medical Inc., Technical Business and Education Consultant

Yvonne Rickabaugh’s current focus is on strategic marketing and sales of medical technology. She founded Capricorn Consulting, LLC, a firm that currently assists high tech medical companies with marketing, sales and business growth issues. At this time, Rickabaugh is also employed by St. Jude Medical Corporation as a Technical Business and Education Consultant. St. Jude manufactures and sells pacemakers and implantable defibrillators (ICDs). In 1989, she joined Guidant Corporation (Boston Scientific) and worked in a variety of positions. She has also spent several years assisting physicians with pacemaker and ICD implantation surgery, FDA clinical trials and patient management. Prior to attending Fuqua, Rickabaugh served as an officer in the U.S. Air Force. Her first assignment was to the Air Force Institute of Technology in Dayton, Ohio where she received her BS in Aeronautical Engineering. Captain Rickabaugh also served as a combat information systems officer as well as a research project manager at NASA- Ames and at Arnold Engineering Development Center, TN. Rickabaugh received a BS in Chemistry from Pennsylvania State University. She currently lives in Winston Salem, NC with her husband and two teenage sons. Rickabaugh is an active real estate investor and maintains a NC real estate license. Rickabaugh currently serves on the Duke Heart Board. She also started the Fuqua Alumni Club of the Triad.

More >>

Roberts, Gloria

Class of '00
Fedex, Vice President, Service Experience

Gloria J. Roberts is Staff Vice President of service experience leadership at FedEx Corporation, a $30B global transportation service provider. She joined FedEx Corporation in 2004 where she is working to improve the service and customer experience by leveraging multiple feedback channels, process improvement, and performance measurement. In her prior positions at GE, she held a broad variety of positions with increasing responsibility, including customer management, six-sigma quality, business development, acquisition integration and general management. As well as The Duke MBA, she holds a JD from the University of Pennsylvania. Roberts is a Brooks Museum Trustee and on the board of Friends for Life Corporation. She is a life member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc, a member of the American Society for Quality Inc, and is a Certified Quality Leader. Roberts recently received a 2007, FedEx Corporate Five Star award for development of a service quality index which internally measures critical experience touch points that drive FedEx customer loyalty. In July 2007 she was named to the National Black MBA Magazine’s 2007 list of Top 50 under 50.

More >>

Ross, Lyle

Class of '08
Goldman Sachs & Company, Associate

A 2008 graduate of the Daytime MBA program, Lyle works as an Associate for Goldman, Sachs & Company in the Private Wealth Management Division. A Durham native and lifelong Duke athletics fan, Lyle graduated from Washington & Lee University in 1999 with a BA in English. Prior to business school Lyle worked as an analyst for a boutique investor relations firm in San Francisco and as a fundraising officer in the Development Office at Stanford University. At Fuqua, Lyle served as a student representative to the Board of Visitors, an Executive Fellow, Alumni Relations Fellow, Admissions Ambassador, and as a cabinet member for the Social Impact Club. Lyle and his wife, Lizzie, live in San Francisco, CA.

More >>

Scanlon, Jonathan

Class of '94
Winston Partners Group, LLC, Managing Director

Jon Scanlon is one of the two Co-Portfolio Managers for Winston Partners’ hedge fund-of-funds business. He also oversees the research process and fund operations. Prior to joining Winston, Jon worked for Duke Management Company where he led the team managing all of Duke University’s investments in hedge funds and traditional public equity strategies. Previously, he was with Merck & Co., Inc., for several years, including two years in Merck’s pension investments group. Prior to Fuqua, he began his career at Mellon Bank. Jon received a BA from the University of Pittsburgh, where he graduated magna cum laude. He is married to Rebecca Fish (Weekend Executive MBA 2000), and they have three young children.

More >>

Shefferman, Jesse

Class of '07
Barclays Capital, Associate

Jesse Shefferman is an Associate in the Investment Banking division of Barclays Capital in New York City.  Jesse is a member of the Healthcare Investment Banking group where he provides advisory services for a number of companies in the healthcare services, medical device and specialty pharma sectors.  He has worked on a number of mergers and acquisition transactions as well as equity and debt financings for Barclays Capital's Healthcare clients.  Jesse joined Lehman Brothers, whose investment banking unit was later acquired by Barclays Capital, after receiving his MBA from Duke University's Fuqua School of Business in 2007.

Prior to business school, Jesse worked in European Equities Sales for Cazenove & Co, Commerzbank and Citigroup in New York and Boston where his coverage efforts focused on value-oriented hedge funds.  Prior to this, Jesse was an equity research analyst with Citigroup in London covering the Oilfiend Services sector. Jesse's career began in 1997 as a Research Associate with Credit Suisse First Boston in Houston, TX, where Jesse worked in the Oilfield Services research group. Jesse graduated from Gordon College in Wenham, MA, in 1997 with a degree in Accounting.

More >>