Eight distinguished alumni to receive awards at 2025 MSIS Cloud of Honor ceremony

Eight distinguished alumni to receive awards at 2025 MSIS Cloud of Honor ceremony

Tuesday, January 7, 2025

Media Contact: Stephen Howard | Manager of Communications | 405-744-4363 | [email protected]

Oklahoma State University's Department of Management Science and Information Systems will recognize eight outstanding alumni during the fourth annual Cloud of Honor Celebration on Feb. 21 at the ConocoPhillips OSU Alumni Center.

The department is inducting Justin Bell, Karla Bell, Keith Burlison and Jeff Turner into the MSIS Cloud of Honor. Founded in 2022, the Cloud of Honor recognizes meritorious graduates of OSU's information systems programs. These academic programs date back to the 1970s and have been offered through the MSIS department since its creation in 2002.

The celebration will also honor Cumulus Award recipients Morgan Bjerke, Balaji Dhamodharan, Ty Ketchum and Hadley Vaca. The Cumulus Award goes to young MSIS alumni making a difference in their field.

"We are excited that Justin, Karla, Keith and Jeff are the next class of inductees into the MSIS Cloud of Honor," said Dr. Rick Wilson, head of the MSIS department. "We also welcome Morgan, Balaji, Ty and Hadley as this year's Cumulus Award winners. This is yet another outstanding group of honorees. As always, the inductees serve as great examples for our present MIS and data analytics students, setting aspiration levels for their future accomplishments in the information technology, cybersecurity and data science fields."

2025 Cloud of Honor inductees

Justin Bell

Bell is the Global CEO and president at Credera, which is a 3,500-person consulting firm that works with clients such as Mercedes-Benz, Southwest Airlines, Unilever, His Majesty's Government, the U.S. Army and many others around the world.

He has over 25 years of consulting and digital experience across a wide range of industries, including retail, entertainment, transportation, health care and hospitality. Prior to joining Credera in 2004, Bell worked in consulting and then for American Airlines.

His success at Credera is shown in not only the firm's rapid growth, but also its many awards, which include being a "Top Workplace" and one of the World's Best Management Consulting Firms by Forbes.

Bell graduated from OSU with a bachelor's degree in management information systems in 2000. He was honored in 2018 with the OSU Outstanding Young Alumni award and was a panelist at the Spears School of Business CEO Day in 2022.

He has served on the advisory board for the International Dyslexia Association and is currently on the board of the Ronald McDonald House.

Karla Bell

Bell earned a bachelor's degree in management information systems from the Spears School of Business at OSU in 2000.

Upon graduation, she moved to Dallas and began her career as a software developer for Quorum Business Solutions, an oil and gas software solutions company, where she worked for 10 years. Her work there included programming compression fuel calculations, volume allocation algorithms and contractual invoice functionality into the suite of products offered.

In 2014 she joined Credera, a global boutique consulting firm, as a technical talent acquisition manager. Her technical background allowed her to engage and recruit top-tier talent for the consulting firm, helping fuel its remarkable growth. In 2017, she continued her career with Pursuant, a direct response and fundraising analytics agency, as a contractor.

Bell is passionate about using her technical background to give back to the community and has held many leadership board positions within nonprofit organizations. She has been married for almost 25 years to her husband, Justin, and has two children. They enjoy traveling the world and hosting friends and family at their ranch in Oklahoma.

Justin and Karla have long supported students in the MSIS department through the Justin and Karla Bell Family Endowed Scholarship.

Keith Burlison

Burlison is the chief technology officer for the Enterprise Service Center located at the Mike Monroney Aeronautical Center, which serves the Federal Aviation Administration in Oklahoma City.

Throughout his 35-year career, Burlison has provided leadership expertise in large enterprise resource planning systems, system implementation, systems analysis, engineering and design, and application programming. He was the principal technology lead on the largest implementation of the Federal Oracle E-Business Suite for the Department of Transportation.

Burlison has given back to OSU by participating in the Spears Mentoring Program, engaging in on-campus recruiting activities, serving as a judge in case competitions, speaking to numerous business classes and organizations and serving on the Spears Business MBA Advisory Board. He is also actively involved in the Oklahoma City metro area community, serving as the president of Project Management Institute OKC and on the Board of Adjustment for the City of Bethany, Oklahoma.

Burlison graduated in 1987 from OSU with a major in management science and computer systems and went on to earn an MBA from OSU in 1989.

Jeff Turner

Turner graduated from OSU in 1994 with a bachelor's degree in management science and computer systems. Turner began his 30-year career at CITGO Petroleum, where he led the development of a groundbreaking solution that transitioned CITGO Lubricants sales online. His leadership extended to international enterprise resource planning (ERP) deployments in Ecuador, Mexico and Puerto Rico.

As vice president of technology at US Beef, Turner improved financial performance through innovative IT strategy, leveraging big data and deploying a digital platform that automated processes and streamlined customer interactions.

In 2019, Turner became Chief Information Officer at T.D. Williamson, where he leads technology and digital strategy for a global organization. Turner directed the development of innovative digital platforms, lean manufacturing technology and global logistics solutions. Turner's expanding role includes leading strategy execution, supply chain, quality and Health, Safety and Environment (HSE) organizations to deliver transformative financial results across the business.

He is active in the Tulsa community, serving on the Board of Directors for Junior Achievement among other civic roles. Additionally, Turner was one of the founding members of the MSIS Department Industry Advisory Board.

2025 Cumulus Award winners

Morgan Bjerke

Morgan Bjerke

Bjerke is the Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) for Thomson Reuters. In this role, she is responsible for all aspects of the company's global information security risk management program, including mitigating cybersecurity risks to TR's network, digital assets, customers and employees.

Bjerke graduated in 2009 with a bachelor's degree in management information systems with an option in information assurance from OSU. She has 10-plus years of experience driving cyber transformations for Fortune 500 organizations while at Ernst and Young and Booz Allen. In addition, she led global incident response and recovery efforts resulting from high-profile data breaches while at FireEye Mandiant and Stroz Friedberg and served as a senior manager at Amazon Web Services prior to joining Thomson Reuters.

In December 2024, Bjerke was named the prestigious Women in Tech Global Award winner in the Cybersecurity Leader of the Year category.

Balaji Dhamodharan

Balaji Dhamodharan

Dhamodharan is an acclaimed AI and data science leader with over 15 years of experience driving enterprise digital transformation through cutting-edge innovation. He graduated from the M.S. in MIS program at OSU in 2010. Dhamodharan presently serves as Global Software Analytics Leader, AI/ML at AMD.

He is recognized among the Top 40 Under 40 Data Scientists and is a recipient of the prestigious AI100 Award from MachineCon 2024. Dhamodharan is an author of "Applied Data Science Using PySpark" and actively contributes to research in artificial intelligence and generative AI through various publications and conferences. He serves on councils that include the Forbes Technology Council and Harvard Business Review Advisory Council. He also is a senior executive fellow for The Digital Economist.

Through his leadership roles and community initiatives, including serving on the MSIS Department Industry Advisory Board, Dhamodharan continues to leverage technology to inspire innovation, bridge industry gaps and foster equitable opportunities globally.

Ty Ketchum

Ty Ketchum

Ketchum has over a decade of experience at the intersection of business operations and emerging technologies. He is currently a strategy and solutions lead at InterWorks, where he helps organizations harness the strategic power of their data.

Prior to joining InterWorks, Ketchum built a diverse career spanning industries and geographies. He worked at ConocoPhillips in Houston; Bartlesville, Oklahoma; and Anchorage, Alaska. He also led aerospace analytics teams at Bell Flight in Fort Worth, Texas, and Textron Aviation in Wichita, Kansas.

His academic roots run deep at OSU, where he earned a master's degree in management information systems (2023) and a bachelor's in finance (2013) from Spears Business, in addition to a master's in accounting analytics at the University of Texas-Dallas. Ketchum continues to give back to OSU, as he serves on the MSIS Department Advisory Board, mentors students through Spears Assist and actively recruits on campus.

Hadley Vaca

Hadley Vaca

Vaca earned her bachelor's degree in management information systems in 2020 from Spears Business.

She is presently a senior solutions engineer at ThoughtSpot, an AI-powered analytics company focused on providing personalized analytic power to employees. Previously, Vaca worked for ExxonMobil. As a full-time student, she interned at InterWorks.

While at ThoughtSpot, Vaca has contributed over $2.3 million in sales and received multiple recognitions, including Commercial SE of the Quarter. With three years of experience in SaaS sales and two years in data analytics, she excels in leveraging tools like Tableau, SQL and Snowflake. Known for her insatiable curiosity and collaborative spirit, Vaca continues to inspire others through her technical expertise and commitment to innovation. She has also been a familiar face on campus at MSIS student group meetings, giving back to the department by sharing the latest industry trends and knowledgeable career advice with our MIS/data analytics
students.

Visit the website for more information on the MSIS Department Cloud of Honor Celebration.

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