The Lundy-Fetterman School of Business celebrated its 18th annual Alumni Celebration Day on Friday, October 7.
The day began with a time of fellowship as students and alumni shared coffee and croissants before morning classes. The day of celebration ended with a luncheon, campus tours for returning graduates, and a celebration hour filled with laughter and yard games.
The annual Alumni Celebration Day is also home to the Lundy-Fetterman School of Business, Outstanding Alumni Awards ceremony. This is a time when the Business School recognizing the achievements of two deserving alumni.
Rebekah Cheney (’13) was this year’s recipient of the Outstanding Young Alumna award.
Rebekah graduated from Campbell University in 2013; She earned her bachelor’s in Business Administration with an emphasis in Trust & Wealth Management and her Master of Business Administration with the 3+2 program.
Since August 2022, Rebekah Cheney has served as the Director of Annual Giving for the Division of Advancement at Western Carolina University (WCU). Her role is focused on securing resources to advance WCU’s mission by facilitating opportunities for people who care about Western to reconnect with the university in ways that are meaningful to them.
Cheney began her career in Philanthropic Trust Management at Wells Fargo where she and her teammates served as both client facing representatives and administrators for accounts throughout the country.
In her spare time, Cheney serves as one of WCU’s three certified CliftonStrengths coaches, and as an alumni mentor in the LFSB Rose Center for Peer Mentorship. She earned her CliftonStrengths certification in 2021, after falling in love with the assessment tool in BADM-100 during her freshman year at Campbell; Much like, she developed a passion for investing in the next generation of business students, after rejoining the class as an alumni mentor.
Rebekah shared a quote with the audience of the awards ceremony, “At the end of the day everything will be forgotten except for the sum of the love in your life: love of the divine, love of your family, love of your friends, and love of everybody in the way that you serve with your work. Arthur Brooks”.
“My time at Campbell and in the business school – as a student and as an alumni volunteer – has always pointed me back to this beautiful truth, whether I realized it or not,” Cheney stated.
“I am so proud to be a Campbell Lundy-Fetterman School of Business grad. I am so honored to be with you today. And I am incredibly grateful to have received and to be able to give back love to this special place and its people.”
Matthew Epps (’09) was this year’s recipient of the Outstanding Alumnus award.
Matthew graduated from Campbell University in 2009, where he earned his Master of Business Administration degree.
He first completed his undergraduate degree at Appalachian State University and spent nine years at Verizon Business.
Shortly after his graduation from Campbell, Matt joined ProVantage Corporate Solutions as Executive Vice President. In this role he played a vital part in business development and provided organizational improvements, resulting in extraordinary growth achievements.
In 2018, Matt was promoted to Group President at Rosewood Family of Companies, a family-owned conglomerate of organizations developed to execute a full suite of construction, installation, project management, and staffing services. Here he oversees the operations and business development of each organization which includes: ProVantage Corporate Solutions, InDemand Services, Penmarc Inspired Spaces, and Southern Concepts Design and Build.
A core value at Rosewood is ‘Grace through Generosity’- positively impacting employees and the greater community through servant leadership and selfless giving. Matt spoke volumes to this effect, “Grace is the act of creating an opening where you can see a life that is different than yours, and where you have empathy and compassion — an opening where people reveal more of themselves to you and feel safe to do so.”
“We will also fail often and fail when we least expect to. I should have done something in X situation, so you must learn to give yourself some grace as well,” an important reminder Matt shared.