Clarkson names two executives to board of trustees
Thursday, November 05, 2009, 5:44pm
Clarkson University has named the former president and owner of Southern Heat Exchanger Corporation and the president of Novatek Communications and to its board of trustees.
Both are Clarkson graduates
John M. Brilbeck, former president and owner of Southern Heat Exchanger Corporation, Tuscaloosa, Ala., will serve on the finance & budget, institutional advancement, and academic affairs committees.
Amy E. Castronova, president and CEO of Novatek Communications, Inc., will serve on the marketing and student affairs committees. Novatek is a technical documentation and training company in Rochester, that energizes information with technical writers, instructional designers, developers, programmers and editors.
Brilbeck earned a bachelor of science degree in industrial distribution from Clarkson in 1968 and a master of business administration degree from Syracuse University in 1971.
From 1985 to 2000, Brilbeck directed Southern Heat Exchanger Corporation’s 600 percent growth in sales and 1200 percent growth in profit from 1981. He increased the plant size three times and implemented innovative cost reductions programs in manufacturing and engineering, while establishing a strong market presence needed to increase market share. At the time the company was sold to Harbor Group in 1998, it was the third largest supplier of shell and tube heat exchangers in the United States and was debt-free.
Brilbeck started his business career at Carrier Corporation in 1968, achieving several management positions before moving to Southern Heat Exchanger in 1981.
Brilbeck was a member of the executive committee for Regions Bank, president’s cabinet and president’s national advisory committee for the University of Alabama, and a member of boards of directors of Regions Bank, the West Alabama Chamber of Commerce, the Holy Spirit School Foundation, the American Sports Medical Institute, Heat Transfer Research Inc., and the Shelton State Community College Foundation. He is past president of the Tubular Exchanges Manufacturers Association and is also a member of many community committees and fund-raising campaigns.
Originally from Syracuse, Brilbeck resides with his wife, Pamela, in Naples, Fla.
Castronova earned a bachelor of science degree in interdisciplinary engineering and management from Clarkson in 2004. She was president of Delta Zeta sorority, a member of the women’s club hockey team, and a member of Phalanx, Clarkson’s highest honorary society.
As an undergraduate, Castronova interned at the Center for Optics Manufacturing at the University of Rochester’s Laser Lab for Energetics before purchasing Novatek in 2003.
She serves on Clarkson’s Alumni Council and on the admissions committee as a liaison to the Rochester area. This summer, Clarkson honored Castronova with both the Woodstock Award and the Charles S. Ehrlich ’56 Alumni Admission Award.
Castronova was the 2008 recipient of the Young Entrepreneur Champion of the Year awards at the district, state, and regional levels from the U.S. Small Business Association.
In 2007, the Rochester Women Presidents Organization named her a Rising Star and she received the Society for Technical Communication Presidents Award.
In 2006, Castronova was named an Up and Coming Business Woman in Rochester and her company was named a Patriotic Employer by the Department of Defense.
She is a member of the international Women Presidents Organization and Entrepreneurs Organization.
Castronova resides in Rochester.
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