As seen in the Fall 2024 DU Review magazine
The 25th annual Excellence in Business Gala was held in May to raise scholarship funds for Davenport students. The event recognized Rick Keyes, president and CEO of Meijer, as this year’s Peter C. Cook Excellence in Business Award winner and featured special guest Anderson Cooper, author and CNN anchor. The gala was attended by more than 400 guests and raised $285,000 in support of student scholarships.
The university also celebrated the 2024 Gerald R. Ford Memorial Scholarship recipient Makayla Brown. All proceeds from the event benefit the Davenport University Scholarship Fund, which provides critical financial support for deserving and talented students. Thanks to the generous support of donors and event sponsors, 90% of Davenport’s students receive financial assistance.
Gerald R. Ford Memorial Scholarship Recipient
MAKAYLA BROWN | BSN Major
Makayla Brown graduated from West Catholic High School in June with an impressive list of accomplishments and accolades. She is a member of the National Honor Society, earned academic awards each year in high school and received the Viva en Espanol award in 2023. She was captain of the West Catholic swim and dive team and competed at the varsity level all four years. She actively volunteers in her community as a tutor and mentor to other students and served as an international diplomat helping foreign exchange students acclimate to school in the United States. Makayla is excited to join the Panther pack this fall.
2024 Peter C. Cook Excellence in Business Award Winner
Rick Keyes
The prestigious Peter C. Cook Excellence in Business Award is presented annually to someone who exemplifies professional success and commitment to community service. This year, we recognized our 25th recipient, Meijer President and CEO Rick Keyes.
“We are recognizing Rick for his proven leadership at Meijer and within the larger community, reflecting the entrepreneurship, business acumen and character of the award’s namesake, Peter Cook,” said Richard J. Pappas, Ed.D., president of Davenport University. “Rick is a visionary leader, from his start at Meijer as a pharmacist thirty-five years ago to his current role as president and CEO,” he said.
Keyes became president of Meijer in 2015 after rising through the company ranks, fi rst as a pharmacist and later as executive vice president of Supply Chain and Manufacturing. His proven leadership at Meijer, his attention to Meijer team members and the impact Meijer has on communities throughout the Midwest are invaluable.
“Receiving this award is an incredible honor for me and my colleagues at Meijer, and when I think about the long list of honorees over the past 24 years, I am humbled to be among them,” said Keyes. “It really is an honor to lead an organization like Meijer and a team committed to its purpose of enriching lives in the communities we serve,” he said.
Keyes went on to say that what makes West Michigan special is its leaders’ commitment to inspiring growth and prosperity.
“Great leaders in our community have a ripple eff ect that lasts far longer than their time here on earth,” said Keyes. “One such leader and past Peter C. Cook Excellence in Business Award winner was Fred Meijer, who once said he wanted to leave the world a little better off than when he entered it. And I think we’re all doing that here tonight by supporting Davenport,” he said.
Featured Guest
Anderson Cooper
This year’s Excellence in Business Gala featured CNN anchor, veteran journalist and author Anderson Cooper. He sat down with Davenport President Richard J. Pappas for an exclusive conversation about his personal life and diverse and illustrious career.
During the discussion, Cooper talked about his coverage of Nelson Mandela’s first democratic election and described it as one of the greatest days of his life.
“Being in Soweto, South Africa, on the day when black South Africans could vote, many for the first time in their lives, was unforgettable,” he said.
The conversation then turned to American politics when Pappas asked Cooper what had changed in civil discourse since his last visit to the Education in Business Gala in 2016.
“A sense of community doesn’t exist in politics today,” answered Cooper. “Both sides of the aisle are more focused on getting reelected or scoring political points than making laws and getting things done, and that’s a real threat to democracy,” he said.
When it comes to the media’s role in politics, Cooper said he doesn’t believe TV anchors should tell viewers what they should think and who they should vote for. He credits viewers for being incredibly smart, savvy and capable of making up their minds without the help of an overpaid anchor.
Cooper shared a great deal about his personal life, including the fact that he considers himself acatastrophist. He uses the fictitious word to describe himself as someone who expects the worst so he won’t be disappointed. This defense mechanism has allowed Cooper to traverse some pretty tragic waters. His father died when he was just ten years old, and his brother later died by suicide.
“No one in my family knew how to deal with grief and it’s something we never talked about,” said Cooper. “The pain and loss is something I never dealt with. I just buried the pain deep within myself and didn’t realize until a few years ago that by not allowing myself to experience the great lows I was also not allowing myself to experience the great joys,” he said.
He admits to being a shell of the person he was meant to be and not being present in his own life, all of which he blames on not dealing with his father’s death.
This realization prompted Cooper to produce a series on grief called “All there is.” Cooper said the motivation behind the series is his own grief and the fact that it’s something our society doesn’t talk openly about. “We’re expected to grieve in private so we don’t upset people, but there is great value in talking about it,” he said.
Cooper reminisced about his mom, Gloria Vanderbilt, and the rise and fall of the once-powerful family. By the time Cooper came along, the fortune was long gone, which he considers a blessing. “If I had grown up thinking there was a pot of gold waiting for me, I wouldn’t have been as driven to achieve things,” said Cooper.
He also talked about having children later in life and how it changed his perspective.
“I woke up to the joy of it, and it’s extraordinary,” he said.
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