Five Georgia Tech School of Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) graduates were honored at the 2024 College of Engineering Alumni Awards Induction Ceremony on April 20.

The ceremony honors numerous graduates across the College’s eight schools each year.

Three ECE graduates, Rodney Adkins, Gary May, and Aleksander Slzam, were inducted into the College’s Hall of Fame, its highest honor. Nick Otto received the Council of Outstanding Young Engineering Alumni Award, and Joel Stenson was honored with the Academy of Distinguished Engineering Alumni Award.

The ceremony is a testament to the College's commitment to excellence and the remarkable achievements of its alumni. Read more about ECE honorees below. You can also read more about the 2024 Award Ceremony and view pictures.

Rodney Adkins

EE 1981, M.S. EE 1983, Hon. Ph.D. 2013

Chairman, Avnet Inc.

Rod has served as chairman of Avnet, Inc., since 2018. Avnet is one of the world’s largest distributors of electronic components and technology solutions.

Formerly, Rod was senior vice president of IBM from 2007 until 2014. In 33+ years with IBM, he held a number of operational and executive management roles spanning strategy, technology, systems, and supply chain.

Rod was inducted into the National Academy of Engineering in 2005. He serves on the board of directors for UPS, PayPal, Grainger, and Avnet. He is a member of the Executive Leadership Council and a trustee of Georgia Tech and Rollins College.

He previously served on the boards of PPL Corporation, Pitney Bowes, PeopleClick Inc., the Kappa Alpha Psi Foundation, and the Smithsonian National Board.

His life story is archived in The HistoryMakers Digital Archive, a virtual who’s who of the African American community. In addition to his Georgia Tech degrees, Rod earned a bachelor’s degree in physics from Rollins College.

Gary S. May

EE 1985, Hon. Ph.D. 2021

Chancellor, University of California, Davis

Gary leads the most comprehensive campus in the University of California system, with four colleges and six professional schools. His vision as UC Davis’ seventh chancellor is to lead the university to new heights in academic excellence, inclusion, public service, and upward mobility for students from all backgrounds. 

A prominent voice in higher education and former dean of the College, Gary is a member of the Boyer 2040 Commission, which was created by the Association for Undergraduate Education at Research Universities to design a blueprint for excellence and equity in undergraduate education at U.S. research universities.

He serves on the Association of Public and Land-Grant Universities Board of Directors, the Universities Research Association’s Council of Presidents, the American Council on

Education board, and the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities board. He is a member of the Task Force on Higher Education and Opportunity, a member of the National Academy of Engineering’s Committee on Racial Justice and Equity, a member of the Fulbright Scholar Advisory Board, and an advisor for the National Society of Black Engineers. He was selected as a Fellow of the American Society for Engineering Education in 2021.

Aleksander Szlam 

EE 1974, M.S. EE 1980

Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Melita International, Inc. (Virtual Co.)
Current ECE Advisory Board Member

Alek founded Melita International, Inc., in 1979. He and his wife, Halina, evolved it into a NASDAQ debt-free global leader. The company’s innovative solutions laid the foundation for the call center industry with installations in 45 countries. Initial innovations included Sprintel (notifying parents that a child is absent at school), CallerID, FoneFrame for customer care services, and others. The technologies forever changed ways people and businesses interact, laying the groundwork for today’s modern telephony and smartphones.

Alek was the driving force in establishing industry standards that included answer detection, predictive dialing, and intelligent call routing. His name is associated with more than 100 U.S. and international patents upon which call centers and mobile messaging are built today.

His honors include induction into the Call Center Hall of Fame, Inc. Magazine’s “Entrepreneur of the Year,” “Pioneer in the Industry” by Call Centers Magazine, and a lifetime achievement award by TMC and Customer Interaction Solutions publications. Additionally, Melita ascended Atlanta’s “Fast Tech 50” list of fastest growing, profitable companies.

Alek and Halina are ardent supporters of ECE scholarship programs, fellowship endowments, and The Hive Makerspace. He remains active with the School’s advisory board, lecturing, Mentor Jackets, and capstone design programs.

Alek and Halina live in Alpharetta, Georgia, and have two children and four grandchildren.

Joel Stenson

EE 1997

Senior Vice President, Operations Technology, UPS
Current ECE Advisory Board Member

Joel began his career with UPS as an intern in 1994, working in the Buildings and Systems Engineering function. His team holds global responsibility for UPS’ digital and physical technology solutions development and integration. They also own the design and development of UPS’ material handling systems, as well as the software required to support the company’s global operations technologies within its Transportation, Airline, Transborder, Final Mile, and Automotive business units.

Joel has participated in several UPS leadership development initiatives, including the company’s first Senior Leadership Development Program, which exposed a group of top leaders to companies around the world in an 18-month immersive cohort. Additionally, he has matriculated through the McKinsey Black Executive Leadership Program and Goizueta Business School’s Executive Perspectives Program at Emory University.

Joel currently serves on the ECE Advisory Board and on the boards of the National Action Council for Minorities in Engineering and the Mutual Alliance Restoring Community Hope Foundation.

Nick Otto

EE 2005

General Manager – Strategic Partnerships, IBM

As the head of global strategic partnerships, Nick is responsible for leading the largest and most strategic relationships in the IBM ecosystem.

His previous IBM experience includes serving as a partner in IBM Consulting focused on data and artificial intelligence. He also was a leader in IBM’s Corporate Strategy and Chief Analytics Office, driving the company’s internal transformation with a priority focus on sales execution.

His 15 years of cross-industry experience allows Nick to support clients on their transformation journeys. His passion is grounded in partnering with customers to understand and align corporate strategy imperatives to technology transformations. His experience with IBM Consulting, as well as internal IBM Corporate Strategy, spans multiple functional areas, including product, ecosystem, finance, sales, talent, and operations.

In addition to his electrical engineering degree from Tech, Nick holds an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University. He and his wife, Vickie (AE 2005), live in Milton, Georgia. They have two children, Jackson and Ansley.