Two Gies College of Business alumni have been honored by the Gies Business Alumni Association for their contributions to business and to the College. Jean Regan '76 was chosen for the Alumni Appreciation Award, and Doniel Sutton '96, '97, is this year's recipient of the Distinguished Alumnus Award. Their awards will be presented at the 2025 Gies College of Business Spring Luncheon on Tuesday, April 29, in Chicago. 

Alumni Appreciation Award
Jean Regan '76

Jean Regan directs the operational and financial activities of TranzAct, including Information Technology, Customer Service, Operations and Human Resources departments. As such, she leads our strategic initiatives, oversees new product development, and handles the financial aspects of the corporation.

TranzAct provides an array of logistic services to shippers, including Freight Audit & Payment, Managed Services (TMS), Transportation Sourcing Activities, Brokerage Services, Parcel Activities and Consulting. TranzAct is WBENC Certified (Women’s Business Enterprise National Council.)

Named a 2024 Chicago Titan for her exceptional leadership, vision, and passion, Jean has served on numerous Boards of Directors and Industry Advisory Committees including Northwestern University Transportation Center Business Advisory Committee and the University of Illinois College of Business Dean’s Business Council.

Jean currently sits on the board of a major U.S. insurance company and serves as the Audit Committee Chair. She is also a current member of Vistage and has been a member of the National Association of Corporate Directors (NACD), the National Association of Female Executives, and the National Association of Professional Women, which recognized her as the 2012/13 VIP Woman of the Year. She is a member of the AICPA, the Illinois CPA Society and is licensed by the State of Illinois as a Certified Public Accountant. Jean is also a founding member of and served on the Board of Directors for L3.

Prior to joining TranzAct, Jean was the Executive Vice President for a privately held lumber and hardware operation, overseeing operations, finances, and accounting. For the nine years prior, she was a Senior Manager at the big four public accounting firm KPMG. She has a B.S. in Accounting with high honors from the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana and a Masters of Management Degree with a Minor in Finance from Northwestern University. 

Distinguished Alumnus Award
Doniel Sutton '96, '97

Doniel is a values-driven human resources executive with more than 25 years of strategic and global human resources leadership experience at Fortune 100 and Fortune 500 companies including PayPal, Prudential, Bank of America, and Honeywell. Her career has been hallmarked by partnering with business executives to scale organizations, transform culture, implement new business models, and execute world-class people strategies.

Currently, Doniel serves as Chief People Officer for Pinterest, a Silicon Valley-based social media and image sharing platform that serves over a half-billion users globally. In this role, she leads all human resource functions including, talent management and development, total rewards, recruiting, HR technology, people operations and inclusion and diversity.

Prior to Pinterest, Doniel served as Chief People Officer for Alteryx, an industry-leading provider of data and analytics automation software. Doniel’s data-driven, collaborative and product management approach combined with a customer-first mindset has enabled her to strategically scale HR functions and build innovative, value-added employee experiences.

Doniel is a highly regarded and sought-after strategic HR thought leader with multiple features and accolades under her belt, including media coverage in Bloomberg, NY Times, CNBC, Profile Magazine and more. Among her many career achievements includes being recognized by Black Enterprise in 2017 as one of the 300 Most Powerful Executives in Corporate America and being awarded the 2018 American Business Award’s Bronze “Stevie” HR Executive of the Year. Most recently, Doniel was named as one of the Top 50 Women Leaders in SaaS in 2021 by The Software Report.

Doniel attended the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, earning a Bachelor of Science in Finance (1996) and MBA in Human Resources Management (1997).

In addition to her corporate work, Doniel serves as Independent Director for Ross Stores, Inc, Independent Director for Morningstar, Inc, Member of Executive Leadership Council (ELC), and Member of Gies Dean’s Business Council.