Three inducted into Hamilton Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership Hall of Fame

BGSU alumni are honored at 10th annual event

From left, Ray Braun, dean of the College of Business Administration; David Stickler '83; Peggy Schmeltz '50, '70; Maribeth S. Rahe '70; and BGSU President Mary Ellen Mazey

Three Bowling Green State University alumni were inducted into the 2017 Hamilton Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership Hall of Fame on April 5 in the Lenhart Grand Ballroom at the Bowen-Thompson Student Union during Entrepreneurship Week. 

The College of Business Administration celebrated entrepreneurship throughout the week, dubbed E-Week. Alumni are invited back to campus each year to share their entrepreneurial journeys with students. 

This year’s event featured alumnus Rick Kappel ’69, a 2015 Hall of Fame honoree, as the entrepreneur-in-residence. Kappel owned and served as president and CEO of ACS, Inc., a software company located in Dayton, Ohio, that specialized in the development and sale of software products for use by the commercial bank industry.

Following are the 2017 Hall of Fame inductees:

Maribeth S. Rahe, a 1970 alumna and honorary 2016 alumna, is president and CEO of Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. Under her leadership, the company has become one of Ohio’s largest investment advisers. Rahe is a past president and former board member of the United States Trust Co. of New York, and has served as vice chair of the board of The Harris Bank in Chicago, along with various positions at JPMorgan in London and New York.

Peggy Schmeltz, a 1950 and 1970 alumna, is a longtime investment educator and independent investor. Her investment career started while she was still an undergraduate business student at BGSU; later, she turned a $75,000 inheritance into a portfolio worth more than 30 times that amount. Schmeltz went on to share her investment knowledge with many others, lecturing throughout the United States with her “learn to earn” strategies.

David Stickler, a 1983 alumnus, is CEO of Big River Steel in Osceola, Ark. He has spent the past two decades building and operating some of the world’s most successful and profitable U.S. steel mills. Unlike traditional steel producers that use iron ore, coal and coke to produce steel in environmentally challenged facilities, Big River Steel produces new steel using recycled steel from old cars, appliances, buildings, ships and bridges.

“On behalf of all at BGSU, I offer sincere congratulations to our newest inductees into the Hamilton Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership Hall of Fame,” said President Mary Ellen Mazey. “You demonstrate the contributions our alumni are making throughout the world with your extraordinary accomplishments. BGSU is a better place because of you, and we are so very proud of you.”