October 28, 2019

Every year at Homecoming, Susquehanna’s Alumni Association presents awards to outstanding members of its community in achievement, leadership, service, service to Susquehanna and to a recent alumnus.

This year’s award winners are:

Tim Murray ’93

Alumni Award: Achievement

Murray became chief executive officer of Aluminum Bahrain in October 2012. Aluminum Bahrain, or more commonly called Alba, is one of the largest producers of aluminum in the world and contributes roughly 10 percent of the GDP of Bahrain.

As CEO, Murray was instrumental in the transformation of Alba’s safety culture through the implementation of the “ZERO Accident Principles.” For his dedication and contributions to safety, health and environment, he was recognized as a 2017 “CEO Who Gets It” by the U.S. National Safety Council. In 2015, he was recognized among the Top 100 CEOs in the Gulf Cooperation Council.

Murray retired in July 2019, after a 12-year career with Alba. He remains with the company as an advisor to Alba’s board chairman. Murray currently chairs St. Christopher’s School in Bahrain, which is considered one of the top international schools in the Middle East.

An active Sigmund Weis School of Business alumnus, he has hosted Susquehanna students in Bahrain, and previously welcomed students in Naples, Italy, while working for ARC Automotive. Murray has also been a SWSB guest lecturer and executive in residence, and has provided internship opportunities for Susquehanna students.

Murray graduated from Susquehanna in 1993 with a degree in accounting and subsequently earned an MBA from Vanderbilt University in 2003. He has completed executive management courses at Chicago Graduate School of Business and Wharton Business School.

Heidi Heikenfeld ’00

Alumni Award: Leadership

Heikenfeld represents a small minority within the investment community, one of only 9% of portfolio managers who’s also a woman.

For more than 18 years, she worked with OppenheimerFunds. Beginning in 2013, Heikenfeld oversaw OppenheimerFunds’ fast-growing Emerging Markets Innovators Fund as senior portfolio manager, looking to identify and invest in small- and mid-cap emerging market companies that have the potential for transformational growth.

In 2017, Heikenfeld spoke at the Forbes Under 30 Summit, which brings together some of the brightest young entrepreneurs, business leaders and pop culture stars. Heikenfeld also spoke at the 2017 Forbes Women’s Summit where she shared how she was able to beat the odds and carve out a successful career, and how she now uses her power and influence to improve the lives of women in emerging economies.

Her travels have taken her to six continents and 73 countries — but Heikenfeld’s first international trip followed her junior year at Susquehanna, and “it sparked a passion for learning about the world.” She now spends at least 30% of her year overseas, and has invested in over 30 international markets.

Heikenfeld graduated from Susquehanna University in 2000 with a degree in business economics. She is a CFA charter holder and earned her MBA from Oxford University in 2004.

Kara DiCamillo ’99

Alumni Award: Service

DiCamillo is the director of public relations for 6 Square Design and Communications in Newport, Rhode Island, where she creates and executes public relations programs and campaigns for various social impact and mission-based clients.

DiCamillo is an active advocate for healthy oceans, land conservation and environmental awareness, and possesses a deep knowledge of sustainability. Through this passion, she volunteers with several organizations whose missions are dedicated to safeguarding our natural resources. She is a board member of Clean Ocean Access, which aims to eliminate marine debris, improve coastal water quality and protect and preserve shoreline access, and is a communications consultant for World Oceans Day, a global day of ocean celebration and collaboration for a better future. Recently, she helped launch Strawless by the Sea, an initiative to eliminate plastic straws and address plastic pollution in Newport area waters and beaches.

DiCamillo is member of the City of Newport’s Energy and Environment Commission and serves on the Development Committee of the Norman Bird Sanctuary near Newport. Additionally, she organizes the Newport chapter of Green Drinks, which hosts monthly networking and social gatherings for those interested in the environmental industry.

In 2016, DiCamillo was recognized in Newport Life Magazine as a Top 10 Groundbreaker for her community involvement.

DiCamillo graduated from Susquehanna in 1999 with a degree in communications and a concentration in public relations. 

Patrick McElroy ’07

Alumni Award: Service to Susquehanna

McElroy has remained as active a member of the Susquehanna University community as an alumnus as when he was as a student.

Since 2014, McElroy has served as a board member and special assistant of Susquehanna’s Alumni Chapter of Philadelphia. He has sat on the advisory council to Susquehanna University’s Board of Trustees since 2018.

While a student, McElroy was a re-founding and executive council member of the Iota-Beta Chapter of Tau Kappa Epsilon. He continues to be involved with Tau Kappa Epsilon’s national organization and has served as Susquehanna’s TKE Alumni Association president and chapter advisor.

Tau Kappa Epsilon has recognized McElroy with several awards for his service, including the 2015 Key Leader Award, 2013 Volunteer of the Year and 2013 Top 30 Under 30 for commitment and financial support of undergraduate scholarships. McElroy was also highlighted in TKE’s magazine, The Teke, in 2012 and 2015 for his volunteerism and continued commitment to the fraternity and his undergraduate chapter.

Each year, McElroy participates in the St. Jude’s Walk/Run of Central PA to End Childhood Cancer with fellow Susquehanna TKE alumni. For four consecutive years, the team has been the event’s top fundraiser, with more than $25,000 raised in 2018 alone.

McElroy served on the Sigmund Weis School of Business Advisory Council from 2014-15, and was a co-facilitator of a three-part series on personal finance lessons for graduating seniors in 2014.

Currently, McElroy is a senior financial analyst for Financial Research Associates, where he provides litigation support through forensic accounting and business valuation services.

McElroy graduated from Susquehanna in 2007 with a degree in accounting.

Sabin Mulepati ’08

Alumni Award: Outstanding Young Alumnus

Mulepati ’08 is the principal scientist of protein engineering at Intellia Therapeutics, Inc. in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Intellia Therapeutics is a genome-editing company, whose mission is to develop gene-editing treatments that can positively transform the lives of people living with severe and life-threatening diseases.

Prior to joining Intellia, Mulepati served as a postdoctoral Howard Hughes Medical Institute Fellow of the Jane Coffin Childs Memorial Fund at Harvard University where he studied changes in the three-dimensional structure of DNA in the nucleus of a cell and the consequences of those changes.

Mulepati co-authored research that was the cover story in a September 2014 issue of Science, and was the lead author of the journal article examining the bacterial CRISPR immune system’s reaction to foreign DNA. His joint research, which was funded by the National Institute of Health, has potential applications in genome editing, antibiotic development and disease fighting.

Mulepati graduated from Susquehanna in 2008 with a degree in biochemistry before earning a Ph.D. in biophysics from Johns Hopkins University in 2014.