The Alumni Fellow Award Kurt E. Cavano was the 2006 Alumni Fellow for Penn State Behrend and was honored at ceremonies at University Park and Behrend. The Alumni Fellow Award is the most prestigious honor bestowed by the Penn State Alumni Association and is administered in cooperation with Penn State's academic colleges. Since 1973, the award has been given to a select group of alumni who are leaders in their professional fields.
Kurt Cavano ’78 is Chairman and CEO of TradeCard, Inc., a technology and services firm that manages complex global logistics networks online in real-time. TradeCard modernized international trade finance by offering its clients an internet platform that automates financial dealings in the procurement-to-payment process. Cavano has held this position since the company’s inception in January 1999. When TradeCard was founded by the World Trade Centers Association, Cavano was appointed to spearhead the new project. E.M. Warburg Pincus, the company’s majority private equity partner, then selected him to head the independent company. TradeCard currently employees more than 125 people at its New York headquarters and worldwide in Hong Kong, Taipei, Seoul, and others. Its customers include Staples, JCPenney, Hurley International, Wolverine Worldwide, and Phillips Van Heusen. Revenue and transaction volume processed through the TradeCard platform increased some 200 percent through 2004 and is increasing at a monthly average of 10 percent. Cavano is a frequent speaker and writer on issues involving international trade, cash management and wholesale banking, and has been named one of World Trade magazine’s 50 most influential business people. Prior to this position, Cavano was a vice president at American Management Systems, an international business and information technology consulting firm. Cavano earned a Bachelor of Science degree in bioscience from Penn State Erie, The Behrend College, and an M.B.A. in computer applications and information systems from New York University. He is married to Janet Mazur Cavano ’79. They have two daughters and live on the New Jersey shore. The Alumni Fellow program provides recipients with the opportunity to accept an invitation by the president of the University to share their knowledge and expertise with the College community. As leaders in their professions, Alumni Fellows add a dimension to the academic curriculum not available in the traditional college classroom. While meeting with students, Alumni Fellows stimulate thought, debate, and action, frequently pointing students toward previously unconsidered goals. The University's Board of Trustees has designated the title of Alumni Fellow as permanent and lifelong. |
