Honored Alumni Awards

For more than 70 years, the Honored Alumni Award has served as the highest honor bestowed upon Cal Poly alumni. Through their contributions to their professions, service to Cal Poly and impact in their communities and beyond, Honored Alumni represent the best of Learn by Doing.

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CPAA Distinguished Service

Rik Floyd

(Economics, B.S., 1979)

Floyd is an engaged and avid volunteer and supported of Cal Poly and the Cal Poly Alumni Association. He has served in various leadership positions and is a role model and mentor for alumni volunteers across the state.

2019 Award Recipient Video

Liberal Arts

Kevin Falls

(Journalism, B.S., 1978)

Falls turned a passion for storytelling into a career in film and television. He won four Emmys for his work on “The West Wing,” and is currently the co-executive producer on the hit show “This is Us.”

2019 Award Recipient Video

Orfalea College of Business

Tammy Kiely

(Business Administration, B.S., 1989)

Kiely has worked her way up to partner at Goldman Sachs, with her expertise on numerous mergers, acquisitions and financings. She is the creator of the Goldman Sachs’ Case Competition at Cal Poly, encouraging the next generation of investment bankers.

2019 Award Recipient Video

Sandra Gardebring Ogren Leadership Award

Katcho Achadjian

(Business Administration, B.S., 1976)

After immigrating to the US at age 19, Achadjian turned a day job at a Shell Station and a degree from Cal Poly into a career as a successful business owner and State Assemblyman.

2019 Award Recipient Video

Agriculture, Food, and Environmental Sciences

Kirk Messick

(Agricultural Business, B.S., 1983)

Messick made a name for himself as a leader in the global rice industry. Messick, his wife and three of their children graduated from Cal Poly in agricultural business.

2019 Award Recipient Video

Science and Mathematics

Tim Geistlinger

(Biochemistry, B.S., 1992)

Geistlinger creates scientific solutions to major problems. He has engineered antibodies for cancer therapies and identified compounds used to treat HIV-AIDS symptoms. Recently he led the research and development team that created Beyond Meat, a meat alternative.

2019 Award Recipient Video

Architecture and Environmental Design

Kevin Conger

(Landscape Architecture, B.S., 1988)

Conger is the founding partner and president of CMG Landscape Architecture. His passion is creating democratic public space and improving the social and ecological well-being of our cities.

2019 Award Recipient Video

Engineering

Farzad (Zod) Nazem

(Computer Science, B.S., 1981)

Nazem graduated with high honors at the age of 19. He went on to serve in high-level engineering roles, first at Oracle and then as the executive vice president of engineering and chief technology officer at Yahoo!, overseeing a staff of 6,000.

2019 Award Recipient Video