SUGAR GROVE, Ill. | Students in Dennis Barsema’s Management 444 class had the opportunity of a lifetime Tuesday as they interacted with three of NIU’s most distinguished alumni.

Jerry Rich (class of 1961), Jeffrey Yordon (1970) and Barsema (1977) were on hand to share their stories as well as answer questions from students and other members of the NIU Executive Club, which hosted the event.

Close to 200 people attended the event at Rich Harvest Farms in Sugar Grove. The farm was built and managed by Rich, who made his initial fortune through his company, Rich Inc., which developed the first integrated terminal for Wall Street.

On the 1800-acre property, a golf course Rich designed will host the 2009 Solheim Cup, one of the largest LPGA tournaments in the world.

The Executive Club hosts various events throughout the year, including an upcoming gala event designed to raise money for scholarships for incoming freshmen to attend the business school.

“We raise money for the College of Business to award four scholarships to attract the best and brightest to attend and stay at NIU,” said Executive Club president Dan Feely.

Words of wisdom

The evening began with the three speakers revisiting the roads they traveled to reach the high points in their respective careers, giving students advice from their past experiences.

“You need to set very high personal goals and outwork your competitors,” said Yordon, former COO of American Pharmaceutical Partners and founder and President/CEO of Sagent Pharmaceuticals.

Barsema, who found success as CEO of Redback, said networking is a key to success in business.

“The best business tool you have is your network,” Barsema said. “You should seek to grow your network to be as large as possible.”

“Change or Die” is a mantra Barsema has lived by through his experiences in business.

“If a company does not change or evolve, it will die,” Barsema said.

Barsema’s map to success

It was a long road to the top for Dennis Barsema. At 26, Barsema created a career road map, determining that he wanted to be CEO of a company by age 45, a goal he accomplished.

Reaching his goal did not come easy however, and Barsema developed himself and set his morals at an early enough age so as to stay positive at all times, he said. At one point in his career, he was forced to live off pocket change.

“I didn’t turn to alcohol. I didn’t turn to drugs,” he said.

Instead, he looked at his career road map and got himself back on track. Drugs or alcohol were never mentioned on that sheet of paper that he still carries to this day, he said.

“I stayed focused on who I was,” he said.

For those who wish to travel the road, it’s important to keep things in perspective, Barsema said.

“If you become successful, enjoy the ride. It’s not easy to get on that ride. Be smart and use every minute of your time effectively,” he said.

Giving back

The distinguished alumni credited their pride in NIU and desire to help future generations as a large part of their desire to give back.

“Northern Illinois has continued to grow and get better and better through the years,” Rich said. “The future of America is with the youth, and the youth is at our universities,” Rich said.

Barsema added similar sentiments.

“I love to teach at the school and love Northern dearly,” he said.

NIU shows pride in its alumni

The event was held to provide insight into the success stories of NIU alumni, Feely said.

“Northern graduates tend to live on the humble side,” Feely said. “There’s a lot of people who don’t know about the successes, so events like this help make people aware of these people and what they’ve done.”