Four honored with College’s Distinguished Engineering Alumnus Award
The College bestowed the Distinguished Engineering Alumnus Award on four deserving graduates during a ceremony on Friday, Oct. 30.
Dr. Michael Creed, Elin Gabriel, General Raymond Odierno and Jeffrey Williams were honored during a ceremony at the Park Alumni Center on NC State’s Centennial Campus.
The award honors alumni whose accomplishments further their field and reflect favorably on the University.
Dr. Michael W. Creed earned a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering in 1973 and a master’s degree in engineering in 1984 from NC State. He went on to earn a Ph.D. in urban planning from UNC-Chapel Hill.
Creed is a co-founder of McKim & Creed, an engineering, planning and surveying firm. He has retired from his position as CEO of the company but continues to serve as chairman of the board.
Creed and his company have provided vital financial support for NC State and the Department of Civil, Construction, and Environmental Engineering (CCEE), including funds to provide internship opportunities for NC State students at McKim & Creed. He was one of the original members of the CCEE advisory board and served three years as chair of the department’s Zia Distinguished Lecture Series.
Elin E. Gabriel earned a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from NC State in 1985. She went on to earn an MBA from the College of William & Mary.
Gabriel is vice president of global operations for H.B. Fuller, a $2.1 billion global corporation that focuses on adhesives, sealants and other similar specialty chemicals. She currently serves as an executive officer of the company with direct responsibility for manufacturing plants in the United States, Latin America, Europe and Asia.
She is a member of the university’s Wallace Carl Riddick Society and created the Elin E. Gabriel Scholarship in Chemical Engineering. Gabriel has also given of her time, speaking to senior design students in the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering.
General Raymond T. Odierno earned a master’s degree in nuclear engineering in 1986 from NC State. He is also a graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point, Army War College and Naval War College.
He was Chief of Staff of the U.S. Army from 2011 to 2015. During more than 38 years of service, he has commanded units at every echelon, from platoon to theater, with duty in Germany, Albania, Kuwait, Iraq and the United States. After his assignments with U.S. Army Europe and at Fort Bragg, NC, Odierno served as a commander during deployment for Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm. He later served as a commander during Operation Iraqi Freedom and in subsequent operations in Iraq.
Jeffrey E. Williams earned a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering in 1985 from NC State. He later earned an MBA from Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business.
Williams worked for IBM from 1985 to 1998 and joined Apple in 1998 as head of worldwide procurement. Williams was named Apple’s chief operating officer in December 2015.
Williams has been a generous supporter of NC State, providing funding for the Caldwell Fellows program’s Center for Creative Leadership and hosting students from the Engineering Entrepreneurs Program and the university-wide Entrepreneurship Initiative for visits to Apple’s headquarters during their trips to California.
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