Dean's Leadership Council

Tony McGraw retired from Johnson Controls in May 2022 as the Vice President of Digital Service Transformation. In this role he leveraged partnerships with Global Products, Digital Technology and the Global Regions to drive digital services and sustainability solutions. Prior to this role, he served as Vice President and General Manager of the Security Solutions business where he led a team of 5,000 employees who provided innovative security technology and service solutions.

Tony’s 14-year tenure with Johnson Controls also included roles as Vice President of Centralized Customer Support & Delivery Optimization and Vice President and General Manager of the Western U.S. Region.

Prior to joining Johnson Controls, he spent 24 years with GE serving in his last position as the General Manager of Global Manufacturing and Service Operations for GE Homeland Protection.

Tony holds a BS from Syracuse University and an MBA from Columbia Business School. He was a member of the Board of Directors for the National Action Council for Minorities in Engineering. He is currently the Chair of the Dean’s Leadership Council of the College of Engineering and Computer Science at Syracuse University.

Muss is Vice President of Utility Strategy at CenterPoint Energy, a gas and electric utility that serves over six million customers in six states. In his role, Muss is responsible for setting the company’s direction for the future for its regulated businesses in collaboration with its stakeholders and in the context of the broader energy transition. Prior to joining CenterPoint Energy, Muss served as a management consultant to energy companies and stakeholders around the world, with a particular focus on North American utilities. Muss holds a BS in chemical engineering and a BA in international relations from Syracuse University and an MEng in Chemical Engineering from Cornell University. He resides in Houston, TX with his family.

Justin Blount is the Group President at Miller Electric Mfg. LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Illinois Tool Works Inc. (NYSE:  ITW).  ITW is a Fortune 200 global, diversified industrial manufacturer of value-added consumables and specialty equipment with related service business.  The company focuses on profitable growth and strong returns across worldwide platforms and businesses.  These businesses serve local customers and markets around the globe, with a significant presence in developed, as well as emerging markets.  ITW’s revenues totaled $14.5 billion in 2021 and ITW Welding’s portion of those revenues totaled $1.6 billion.

Justin joined ITW in 2016 as a VP/GM of the Welding Accessories and Cutting Division and then became the VP/GM of the Commercial Solutions Division in 2019.   Prior to joining ITW, Justin worked at DuPont for sixteen years and the Kohler Company for 5 years in various engineering, operations, customer facing and business management roles.  He earned a bachelor’s degree from Syracuse University and a master’s degree from University of Maryland, College Park – both in chemical engineering. 

Justin is a native of Washington, D.C., where his avid love for family and giving back to the community began. His community activities include supporting groups like United Way, STEM-related initiatives and Junior Achievement with the goal of making a difference every day. Justin is a member of the Executive Leadership Council (ELC), United Way Fox Cities Board, Imagine Fox Cities Coordinating Committee and Strong City’s Baltimore Adult Learning Center Board. Justin is also the executive sponsor for ITW African American Network employee resource group and is a member of the American Welding Society (AWS) serving on the AWS Foundation Board. 

Favorite Syracuse University Memory:  Being the class marshal during the ’93 graduation. I was sad that my time at Syracuse was coming to an end but proud of what I accomplished.

John co-founded Pointwise, a software firm involved in computational fluid dynamics, in Texas in 1994. The company’s software was used widely in the aerospace and defense market and was applied to  many aircraft and spacecraft flying today. After leading the company for 26 years and growing it into an international enterprise, he negotiated its acquisition by Cadence Design Systems located in Silicon Valley. He is now retired in Wisconsin with a small consulting company to share his experiences in business leadership, technology product marketing, and computational software.

John earned his undergraduate degree in mechanical/aerospace engineering from Syracuse in 1984 and a masters degree in aerospace engineering from the University of Texas at Arlington in 1990. He has served on the advisory board for the Dept. of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at Syracuse for many years and is a Fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics.

Mr. Gerstenberg was named Co-Chief Executive Officer and Co-President
in March 2023, after serving for eight years as the Company's Chief
Operating Officer. From 2010 to 2015 Mr. Gerstenberg held positions of
increasing responsibility including President of the Environmental,
Industrial & Field Services business, Vice President of Disposal Services
and Executive Vice President, Environmental Services. In that role, he
oversaw Field Services, Technical Services, Disposal Facilities,
Transportation and Sales for the Environmental Group. Mr. Gersten berg
joined Clean Harbors in 1989, serving in a variety of positions including
General Manager of the Natick, Baltimore, and Chicago facilities. He
stepped away from the organization briefly in 1997, serving as Vice
President of Operations for privately owned Pollution Control Industries
before returning to Clean Harbors in 1999.

Bill joined Google in 2010. For more than a decade he led engineering for mobile web advertising. Prior to Google, Bill worked at Synopsys as a principal engineer. Bill has also held positions at Synplicity, Intel, IBM, and GE. From 1987 to 1994, he was the vice president of IQE, Inc., a company that he founded as a student at Syracuse University. Bill is the author of 50 patents, numerous conference papers and co-authored a book on algorithms for designing and implementing computer chips.

Bill graduated from Syracuse University in 1988 with his BS in computer engineering (ECS) and BA in economics (A&S/Maxwell). He subsequently earned his  MS (1995) and a PhD (2005) in computer engineering. As a sophomore, Bill was elected as the undergraduate Student Government Comptroller and was responsible for allocating SU’s student activity fees.

Bill was the Engineering and Computer Science Convocation Speaker in 2013. He gave the 2011 Newhouse’s Eric Mower Advertising Forum lecture on the nascent mobile advertising industry. Bill is currently a member of the Dean’s Leadership Council for Engineering and Computer Science and the San Francisco Regional Council. Bill has served as a host for the ECS Silicon Valley Immersion program and the Syracuse University Mentors. He was previously a member of the SU’s National Alumni Board. 

Bill’s favorite Syracuse memories include Dr. Dan Pease’s operating systems class and Shantanu Ganguly’s microprocessor lab.

Dr. Krishna received his Ph.D. degree in computer engineering from Syracuse University in 2005. He has been with Intel Corporation since 1995 when he joined the company as a CAD engineer. The VLSI CAD and software engineering course by Dr. Roger Chen, Dr. Shu-Chi Chin, Dr Stabler, Dr. Oldfield and Dr. Fawcett paved the way for his career. Starting in 1995 with the Pentium MMX project and continuing to the current Xeon products, Dr. Krishna has contributed to many of Intel’s microprocess projects that have led the digitization of the world. 

Dr. Krishna is an established Digital Transformation leader focusing on large scale operations that support high performance microprocessor design. He is passionate about automation and creating systems that enable users to self-serve and be productive.

Outside of work, Dr. Krishna is passionate about reading, tennis, hiking and fitness. He recently started learning and practicing yoga.

Favorite Syracuse University Memory:

Student life and being part of the Cinema Student Group which screened movies before they released in movie theatres.

Dr. Magari received undergraduate degrees in mechanical and aerospace engineering, electrical engineering and his master’s degree and doctorate in aerospace engineering from Syracuse University. As a senior, he was selected as a Syracuse University Scholar and the most outstanding senior in the U.S. by the National Aerospace Engineering Honor Society. His graduate work at Syracuse focused on gas turbine heat transfer research involving the development of advanced thin-film heat transfer gauge arrays. After completing his doctorate, Patrick joined the Department of Engineering Science at Oxford University as an NSF/NATO Fellow. While at Oxford, his areas of interest included the experimental study of boundary-layer transition at simulated gas turbine conditions and the development of advanced instrumentation for boundary layer transition detection including large arrays of miniature hot-film gauges, high‑frequency response pressure transducers, and liquid crystals. Patrick has worked at NASA Glenn Research Center performing gas turbine research, the German DLR flight testing aircraft, and JDR Systems developing fighter aircraft weapon delivery systems.

Currently, Patrick is a Principal Engineer and the President of Creare, an engineering research and development firm located in Hanover, NH. Creare develops a wide variety of advanced technology for commercial and government applications including spacecraft hardware used on the Mars Curiosity rover and the Hubble Space Telescope, laser-based manufacturing inspection tools used to construct the Joint Strike Fighter (F-35) and advanced systems used for the launch and recovery of aircraft on Navy aircraft carriers. At Creare for 30 years, Patrick has led numerous projects ranging from small consulting efforts to large multimillion-dollar, multiyear development efforts. His work has included a broad spectrum of engineering analysis, prototype development, and testing. His general areas of interest include novel mechanical devices, instrumentation, bioengineering, fluid mechanics, aerodynamics, turbomachinery, materials processing, and cryogenic systems.

His work has included advanced power systems for underwater vehicles; nuclear power systems for spacecraft; novel bubble detection and sizing instrumentation for characterizing decompression sickness in divers and astronauts; innovative gas separation systems for military, aerospace, industrial, and medical applications; and cryogenic refrigerators for use in large high-temperature superconducting motors, generators, power transmission systems, and magnets. He has published over 75 engineering research papers and has over 20 U.S. patents in addition to many international patents. Patrick has flown over 1500 parabolas on NASA microgravity aircraft testing spacecraft hardware and conducting basic science experiments associated with multiphase flow and the physiology of the human eye in microgravity.

Patrick lives on a rural 200-acre New Hampshire property in a 250-year-old house with his wife, two sons and two dogs. In his spare time, he has been building a new house high up on his property with his own hands for 20 years—It’s almost done! Patrick and his wife are avid downhill skiers and enjoy summer weekends on the water at their lake house on a nearby lake.

Favorite SU Memory:

My favorite SU memory is when Syracuse upset Nebraska, then ranked #1 in 1984.

Patrick Murphy is founder and CEO of Celersys Technologies, an aerospace technology consultancy delivering technology solutions and services to commercial clients, the Department of Defense and civilian agencies. Prior to Celersys Technologies, Murphy was the president and chief executive officer for Axient LLC, a high-end technology and engineering firm with over 2,000 employees. Prior to that position, Murphy served as Millennium Engineering and Integration’s chief executive officer and led the company through multiple years of substantial growth, culminating in a strategic sale of the company in 2021 to help form Axient.

In 2014, Murphy was awarded the Greater Washington GovCon Award for Executive of the Year for his leadership in industry-leading growth and corporate transformation. He served as the chief operating officer, vice president for Corporate Operations and Analysis, vice president for Space Systems, and director for Engineering at Millennium spanning over 20 years and helping grow that business to 900 employees nationwide. He served as the chief engineer for the Missile Defense Agency’s Advanced Technology Program Executive Office portfolio providing technical leadership for all new missile defense technologies and concepts. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Aerospace Engineering from Syracuse University and a Master of Business Administration from The George Washington University.

Murphy is a native upstate New Yorker and currently resides in Arlington, VA with his wife Linda and dog, Maisie. He bleeds Orange with two of his children graduating from Syracuse University and currently serves on the College of Engineering and Computer Science Dean’s Leadership Council and the Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Department’s Advisory Board. He is lifelong learner and self-proclaimed geek with hobbies in pinball machine restoration, microprocessor programming, electrical device development, golfing and boating.

Rina Raman is the Vice President and General Manager of the Embedded Acceleration Division (in the Programmable Solutions Group) at Data Center and AI Group Intel Corporation. She leads a global team of system solutions engineering and business units focusing on Intel’s FPGA business across industrial, automotive, military, aerospace, broadcast, video and vision, test and measurement, consumer and medical, Artificial Intelligence, and Edge computing.

Rina joined Intel in 2017 and led the Customer Experience Organization responsible for digital, partner, and solutions teams and regional applications, factory applications, and technical program management. Prior to joining Intel, she led the applications and customer engineering team at the Samsung Strategy and Innovation Center since 2015. In addition, Rina spent 16 years in leadership positions at Xilinx Corp., culminating in her role as senior director of applications engineering and technical marketing. In that position, she was responsible for intellectual property and field-programmable gate array silicon technical marketing for the entire corporation.

Earlier in her career, Rina spent more than a decade in circuit design, including leadership roles at Quick Logic Corp. and Altera Corp. Rina holds a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from Syracuse University in New York. She has served as a founding member of the industrial advisory board for the computer engineering program at California Polytechnic State University since 2003 and previously served as the board’s chair and vice chair. She has been granted more than a dozen patents in circuit design. In 2005, the YWCA Silicon Valley chapter honored her with a Tribute to Women and Industry Award.

Rajesh A. Rao earned a master’s degree in manufacturing engineering from Syracuse University. Currently serving as a Partner and Principal at EY, Rajesh leads the Americas Supply Chain and Global Sustainability initiatives, specializing in transforming the supply chain and operations of TMT and CPG Retail companies. His expertise encompasses business and operations strategy, digital transformation, and sustainability in supply chains.

With over two decades of experience, Rajesh has held significant leadership roles, including Senior Partner at IBM Global Business Services, where he was instrumental in leveraging digital technologies to transform business operations and IT platforms. Before his tenure at IBM, he was a Director at i2 Technologies, driving strategic transformation in technology and manufacturing industries.

Rajesh’s commitment to excellence is further evidenced by his continuous pursuit of knowledge, evidenced by his completion of the Advanced Management Program at Harvard Business School and the Advanced Finance Program at The Wharton School. He is also actively involved in giving back to the community, serving as a Board Member for the Safety Club – Sahas Foundation.

As a thought leader and a dedicated Syracuse alumnus, Rajesh embodies the spirit of innovation and service. We are proud to nominate him to the Dean’s Advisory Council, confident that his insights and experiences will greatly contribute to our mission of advancing engineering and computer science education and research.

Latisha Rourke is a proven results oriented leader experienced in program management, capture management, customer relationships,  strategic planning, strategy development, and executing complex programs for Radar, Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASW), Mine Warfare (MW), Electronic Warfare (EW) / RF, Cyber and Intelligence Systems.  She has effectively built and retained high performance teams by hiring, developing and motivating skilled professionals. 

Favorite Syracuse University Memory: 

The many nights doing homework in the Carnegie Reading Room.  

Matt Sheridan is a seasoned engineer and technology leader with a passion for innovation and community service. He holds a bachelor’s degree in aerospace engineering from Syracuse University’s College of Engineering and Computer Science and a master’s degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Rhode Island. With over two decades of experience at PTC, Matt worked on cutting-edge solutions for discrete manufacturers, collaborating with industry giants like Lockheed Martin, NASA, and AGCO. His expertise in systems engineering, CAD, IoT, and Augmented Reality helped these companies streamline their product development processes.

Sharing his insights, Matt authored “Excellence in Sales Engineering,” a valuable resource for professionals in the field. Currently, he serves as a Senior Director of Solution Engineering at Bentley Systems, a global leader in infrastructure software. Beyond his professional pursuits, Matt is deeply committed to his community. He is an active board member of Better Lives RI, a nonprofit organization dedicated to combating hunger and homelessness.

Matt and his wife, Kelly, have been happily married for 28 years. They met at Syracuse University, where their daughter, Emma, graduated from the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs. Their younger daughter, Claire, is currently studying Biomechanical Engineering at Clemson University. A proud Syracuse alumni and proud Clemson Dad, Matt wears a lot of orange!

My parents immigrated to the US in the early 60’s so that their then unborn children could have the opportunity for a better life. They knew that opportunity began with education. That led me to Syracuse University, and I will always be grateful for that.

I received my BS in electrical engineering from Syracuse in 1989. Since then, I have gone on to complete four master’s degrees (computer science, MBA, organizational psychology, and organizational leadership) and have spent most of my career in the software industry. My focus is on helping customers improve their business through the use of technology. I enjoy giving back to my community and supporting my alma mater as much as I can.

In addition to my role on the DLC, I am a member of the Syracuse University Los Angeles Regional Council, I participate in admitted student events and support ECS by judging Launchpad events, conducting mock interviews, and providing mentorship to current and new ESC students.

I am also very proud to have established a scholarship in my parent’s name for ECS students. It is my hope that this scholarship will enable students to complete their studies and then go out and do something great in their community.

In my spare time I enjoy reading, studying history and leaders, and collecting old comic books. I have a collection of over 7,000 books dating back over 60 years. I also study and teach karate, which I began during my senior year at SU as a gym class.

Remember, Orange isn’t just our color. It’s our promise to leave the world better than we found it.

Favorite SU Memory:

Beating Georgetown in the Dome surrounded by my friends.

Priscilla Tyree Williams, P.E., is the City Construction Projects Administrator for the City of Raleigh.  She is responsible for the implementation of the City’s capital improvement program for all departments except Raleigh Water.  The Construction Management Division team includes architects and engineers who provide cradle-to-grave project development and management of vertical projects from the identification of building program needs through construction including the one-year post-construction warranty period.  Vertical projects under her responsibility include fire stations, office buildings, community centers, and Raleigh’s new city hall, a 420,000 SF, 20-story tower anticipated to be completed in 2026.  She earned a BS in civil engineering from Syracuse University and is a licensed professional engineer.  She also holds a MS in leadership and organizational change from Pfeiffer University.

Her community service affiliations include Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc., Sigma Tau Omega Chapter and Amanah AME Zion Church. She volunteers her time with the Ivy Community Service Foundation of Cary, Making Strides Against Breast Cancer – Executive Leadership Committee and English as a Second Language.  She enjoys arts activities and has served on boards for various arts organizations.  She lives in Raleigh with her husband, Melvin.

Favorite SU Memory:

My favorite memory at SU was when the Senior Class finished its planning project presentation in Link Hall and went to the new Sheraton Hotel on campus to celebrate.

Abdallah Yabroudi, a Syracuse University trustee, is an alumnus of the College of Engineering and Computer Science and serves as CEO and managing director of Dubai Contracting Company. Headquartered in Dubai with offices in Lebanon and Chile, DCC employs more than 6,500 people and has built some of the most prestigious commercial and residential projects in Dubai, including the Capricorn Tower, the World Trade Center Residence and the Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank.

Yabroudi is one of SU’s most generous and dedicated alumni. His 2008 gift to the College of Engineering and Computer Science to create the Abdallah H. Yabroudi Endowed Professorship is one of the largest in the school’s history. This gift enabled the college’s Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering to employ a faculty member to specialize in civil infrastructure with an emphasis on aspects of international engineering in the developing world.

As the leader of one of the major companies at the forefront of a period of explosive growth in Dubai, Mr. Yabroudi is also collaborating with SU to create one-of-a-kind opportunities for SU civil engineering students, such as the DCC internship program. And he brings his commitment to increasing the interest of Middle Eastern students in an education at SU as well as forming meaningful academic and business partnerships in that region of the world to his recent position as a member of the MENAT Regional Council.

Eugene Zhang is a Founding Partner of TSVC, a Silicon Valley-based venture capital firm  focused on building and scaling early-stage technology startups. Eugene’s investment focus is emerging technologies and FinTech, and he has led investments in over 70 startups including ZOOM, Quanergy, Lex Machina, Trusper, TrustGo, Carta, Gingko Bioworks, Gaatu, EquityZen, 17Zuoye and GigaDevice. He has also served on multiple boards including Gaatu and Tsing Hua Entrepreneur & Executive Club (TEEC).

Eugene has been working in the networking and computing industry for more than a decade in technical and management positions. As a member of the SMP server project at SUN Microsystem, he co-invented the industry’s first hardware testbench language, Vera, which is a part of today’s industry standard SystemVerilog.

Prior to TSVC, Eugene was the founder and CEO of Innospring, a global cross-border technology startup incubator. In 2002, Eugene founded JEDA Technologies, Inc., serving as President and CEO. JEDA specializes in next-generation system on a chip (SoC) design methodologies and provides electronic system level (ESL) verification automation products for leading edge SoC design companies.

Eugene holds a Master of Science in Computer Engineering from Syracuse University, and bachelor’s degree and a Master of Science in electrical engineering from Tsinghua University, Beijing.