The college is pleased to announce new leadership of the Heath Integrated Business and Engineering Program (IBEP), with the appointment of Ben Skipper as its newest director.

He currently serves as the Executive Director of Aerospace and Defense Executive Programs in the Haslam College of Business.

With this change in leadership, we acknowledge the wonderful work of the program’s first director, Mary Pile, who recently accepted an exciting career opportunity in private sector employment. Under her leadership, active engagement of seasoned executive advisors from the alumni of our colleges and strong support of faculty and academic leadership in both colleges placed the Heath IBEP program on a firm foundation, making it well-positioned to move forward in its further development. We thank her for her leadership in the successful growth of the Heath IBEP program over the past years.

The college also expresses sincere appreciation to Heath Faculty Fellow in Business and Engineering Rupy Sawhney, Heath Faculty Fellow Russell Zaretzki, and Moira Vekovic, who have provided valuable leadership and program cohesion during this brief interim period. Sawhney and Zaretzki are eager to continue to contribute to the Heath IBEP program as Heath Fellows.

Skipper received his PhD from Auburn University and taught at Georgia Southern University and the Air Force Institute of Technology prior to joining UT. In adding the Heath IBEP program to his portfolio of program leadership responsibilities, Skipper will delegate some duties to two colleagues, Byron Risner and Christine Johnson, both of whom have significant work experience and will provide excellent academic and career development advice to Heath IBEP students.

Together with the administrative support currently serving Heath IBEP, this team will represent a net increase in the leadership resources allocated to the IBEP program by leveraging the capabilities of a larger team of very accomplished individuals.