2024 Cincinnati Business Achievement Awards celebrate Cincinnati business community, extolls co-op

More than 300 attendees gathered in the Cincinnati Music Hall ballroom to recognize this year’s awardees and applaud the Carl H. Lindner College of Business' most recent accomplishments.

Dean Marianne Lewis, PhD, kicked off the night’s festivities, acknowledging the titans of industry gathered in the room for the evening.

Throughout the night, Lewis touted the college’s growth made possible through the generosity of Lindner’s trusted partners. Recent achievements she highlighted included:

• Welcoming the largest, most diverse and academically accomplished first-year class in fall 2023.
• Conferring more than 2,600 undergraduate and graduate degrees over the course of the 2022-23 academic year.
• Raising the profile of the college with top-tier rankings for the full- and part-time MBA programs, climbing 58 spots nationally with Lindner’s online MBA program and becoming the No. 1-ranked online, public MBA program in Ohio.

The uncontested theme of the night was co-op, beginning with Lewis’ opening remarks and continuing throughout the awards presentation.

The awards presentation began with the student winners of the Carl H. Lindner Outstanding Junior Scholarship Award and the Heart of William J. Keating Jr. Leadership Award. 

Matt Santiago, Bus ’25, was bestowed with the Carl H. Lindner Outstanding Junior Scholarship, the longest standing scholarship that bears the Lindner name. Santiago achieves academic excellence while remaining involved in the Lindner, UC and Cincinnati communities, embodying the spirit of the award. He is president of the Student Alumni Council, a proud member of the Sigma Sigma Men’s Honorary and exemplifies the potential of co-op, having completed five co-op opportunities, with a sixth experience lined up at AllianceBernstein in Chicago as a private wealth management intern this summer.

Richy Richardson, Bus ’25, received recognition for his dedication to community involvement with the Heart of William J. Keating Jr. Leadership Award. Richardson epitomizes service learning and leadership — the central attributes of the Keating award — through his numerous commitments, including Campus YMCA, the Ohio Innocence Project and the Urbana Youth Center. Richardson continuously strives to learn from a diverse array of voices, earning him this year’s honor.

The Outstanding Young Alumni Award, which honors a Lindner alumnus who demonstrates innovation, creativity and success in their careers and a commitment to involvement with Lindner and UC, was bestowed upon Nicholas Puncer, Bus ’10, managing director Bahl & Gaynor, Inc. Puncer called out the many Lindner experiences — from co-op to study abroad — that shaped him into the well-rounded business problem solver he is today. 

Cintas Corporation received their second Business Partnership Award — the only company to ever be recognized twice with the honor — for its commitment to sustaining the college’s exceptional programs and provide growth opportunities for business students and graduates. Greg Eling, group vice president, accepted the award on behalf of the Cintas team.

Eling commended Lindner’s devotion to experiential learning and students’ ability to foster relationships in the Cincinnati business community.

“Between the experience-based learning that students receive and their connections to top business leaders, Lindner graduates are extremely well-prepared to contribute to our business community,” said Eling. “And that is what partnering with the university is all about.”

The night featured two Distinguished Service Awardees who have shown a profound dedication to the Lindner, UC and Cincinnati business communities: Mario San Marco, senior vice president, economic development for Western & Southern Financial Group, and Jerry Fritz, Bus ’73, former president, Kent Precision Foods Group.

Fritz stressed the importance of getting and remaining involved with Lindner and the university, and the many joys he has found in interacting with students and alumni. And San Marco acknowledged that although he is not an alumnus, he has still felt the power of Lindner, its students and its community through the UC Real Estate Center, where he serves as chair of the Board of Executive Advisors in Real Estate.