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Pacesetter Award Recipients

Brad Henion

    Brad Henion graduated from Ferris in 1992 with a bachelor’s degree in accounting. He now serves Huntington National Bank as Vice President of Corporate Banking from his office in Grand Rapids.
    In the Muskegon and Grand Haven area, Henion serves as Chairman of Senior Recourses, Chair of the manufacturing section of the United Way Campaign, Team Captain for Big Brothers/Big Sisters, is involved in the Muskegon Tall ships program, Tri-County Area Meals on Wheels program, and many others.
    An active Ferris alumnus, Henion has returned to campus as part of the Alumni Association’s Backpack to Briefcase Alumni speaker series. He also has participated in planning for the annual alumni reception at the Muskegon Air Fair, provided sponsorship to the Alumni Association’s annual Golf Outing and is active on behalf of the University through the Bulldog Advocacy Network.
    Henion and his wife Amy, also a Ferris grad, and their children Kelsey and Grace, reside in the home they recently built in Grand Haven.

    Kenneth W. Mance earned his bachelor’s degree in Health Care Systems Administration at Ferris in 1997.

Kenneth W. Mance

        Now with Pepsico, Mance previously worked for Rite Aid Corp. as their Great Lakes Customer Service Center Human Resources manager. Mance was responsible for evaluating performance of management, coaching and counseling store management staff, facilitating employee relations training, dispute resolution and more. His work earned him Rite Aide’s Distribution Excellence Awards and Safety Awards in 2001 and 2002.
    Mance’s community involvement includes membership in the Flint Area Chamber of Commerce Business and Education Council, coaching the Flint rugby team and Grand Blanc Little League baseball, and volunteering for the State of Michigan Senior Days program. He founded and still helps coordinate the City of Waterford’s Safety Town child accident prevention and education program.
    Mance has returned to campus to be a guest speaker for the Backpack to Briefcase series and FLEX for Success Student Leadership Conference.

Also see "Profile of a Bulldog"

Dear C&G     I was really surprised as I was entering Big Rapids last February. I did not know if I had arrived until my friends who were driving said, “There it is, Martin, do you remember this place?”     My name is Jean Martin Etienne and I am from Haiti. I’m a former Audiovisual Production student. I studied at Ferris from 1988 to 1990 thanks to a scholarship I had received from the United States Agency for International Development. After getting my degree, I went back to Haiti eager to share my knowledge with my countrymen.     I never realized how helpful I was going to be in a country where there are no television production courses on the college level. I had my first job at National Television of Haiti as an editor. My main tasks consisted of preparing reports for the prime-time news, creating special reports and video clips. I did not have too much trouble fitting in since I already had experience with much of the editing equipment I found there from my time as an intern at Ferris’ Cable 7. After nine years at that station, I resigned so that I could join Tele Timoun (Children’s Television), a station just started by Jean Bertrand Aristide, the former president of Haiti.     Working at Tele Timoun was going to be a great turning point in my career since I had two major responsibilities there. I was hired as a director/editor. My main duties were to create reports for the nine p.m. news (the most important program of the station), reports of the cultural section, video clips, and direct the news and other shows. After working there for about three years, I left in June of 2003 with plans to start my own video production company.     It has been fourteen years since I left Michigan and over the years it was my desire to visit Ferris. I was asked on the plane, “You are from Haiti, what are you going to do in Michigan?” I answered heartfully, “Michigan is my second home.” In fact, Ferris State University is and always will be in my heart.     I would like to express my special gratitude to President David Eisler, who received me in his office and talked with me for a while. My thanks go as well to Mr. Clayton Rye, my former teacher who granted me the opportunity to share my experiences in Haiti with his class. I would also like to thank Fred Wyman, coordinator of the TVP program and my former professor and academic advisor, for according me precious time to make a tour of the IRC building with me.     I’m going back to Haiti with a feeling that I still belong to Ferris State. Yes, things have really changed over those fourteen years, but I realize that the people’s commitment at Ferris to train young men and women remains the same. Jean Martin Etienne Port-au-Prince, Haiti