Pi Kappa Alpha - Purdue University

Page 3 Pi Kappa Alpha G reg Gluchowski '88 says, "It was a huge blessing for me to be a Pike at Purdue. The leadership skills and experience I gained while there have been invaluable to me." After moving to South Bend, Indiana, from Florida in high school, Greg was fortunate to find that Purdue University was "a great fit for both the quality of education and affordability, which was very important to me." And the Beta Phi Chapter brothers and their high standings in academics, athletics, and philanthropy impressed Greg during recruitment. He quickly became involved in the chapter, leading and participating in several activities, including The Candlelight, the Miss Purdue pageant, and the Pike Calendar. "My senior year I was SMC. I still remember it well. We had about 80 brothers living in the house and 30 off campus, and we had to manage a budget of nearly $420,000. It was that experience that taught me so many lessons in leadership and inspired me to have a deep passion for leading large organizations." Greg graduated with a bachelor of science degree in organizational leadership and supervision, then attended Indiana University-Fort Wayne and earned a master's degree in business administration. Armed with knowledge acquired from both universities and Pike membership, he has spent the last 30 years succeeding in two industries. The first 14 years of his career were in wire and cable products with Phelps Dodge Corporation, then he moved to hardware and home improvement with Stanley Black & Decker. He is now president and CEO of The Hillman Group, a $1.3 billion industry-leading hardware and personal protection solutions company. Greg is also an independent director of Milacron Corporation and American Outdoors Brands Corporation. "I've had the opportunity to secure C-Suite roles and lead great organizations with businesses that exceed $1 billion in revenue and 7,000 employees." And he has worked across the country— California, Ohio, Texas, and Georgia—and in Mexico. But perhaps his most treasured achievement is his family. Greg and his wife of 21 years, Norma, met in El Paso and now live in Mason, Ohio. He has three children: Jonathan graduated from the University of San Diego, Crystal attends Oberlin College and plays collegiate soccer, and Vanessa is a high school senior with plans to attend the University of Colorado Boulder in fall 2019. While Greg admits his work schedule has prevented him from keeping in touch with Beta Phi brothers as much as he'd like, he has been able to reconnect with a few over the years. Using Facebook to look up alumni when he's traveling, he's connected with Mike Huber '90, Greg Eifert '84, Mark Scheid '87, Tom Traylor '88, and Doug Wright '86. "I also want to say hi to all my brothers that I may have lost contact with and tell them to reach out to me via Facebook. I want to stay connected and would like to organize an event this fall at a football game." A True Pike and proud Beta Phi alumnus, he hopes the fraternity provides the "same opportunities for personal growth and development for today's brothers as it did for me 30 years ago." Beta Phi Membership Invaluable to Former SMC Greg Gluchowski '88 Eager to Connect with More Brothers T his academic year has been one of growth and overall success for Beta Phi. With an almost entirely new executive board composed of sophomores, it was essential to set defined goals and create a standard that would not compromise past success. In January, Beta Phi sent three new executive members, Jordan Jones '17 (health and safety officer), Josh Parour '17 (treasurer), and Sam Grzych '18 (membership vice president) to Memphis for officer training at the Chapter Executives Conference. Additionally, 27 members attended Pike University in Chicago, where Brothers Jordan Jones and Nick Biddle '16 received Garnet Certification, and I received Gold Certification. The Beta Phi Chapter was recognized as the House of the Quarter by the National Fraternity, putting the Chapter facility in contention for Chapter House of Year. This continues our success from last summer when we were awarded Best Pike Work Day Renovation. Academically, Beta Phi had a Chapter cumulative GPA of 3.01 and a new member GPA of 2.65. While both fell short of our personal goals, our Chapter GPA remains above the Purdue all- men's GPA of 3.00 and all-IFC of 2.97. We hope to improve many of these statistics and earn our sixth Robert Adger Smythe Award this summer. As was reported last semester, we initiated 25 new members in the fall 2018 class and successfully recruited 14 for this spring class. Again, we are growing our presence on campus Beta Phi Chapter Aims High, Strives for Sixth Smythe Award Spring Recruitment Garners 14 Initiates The Chi Omega team, with Leo Ohandjanis '17, placed second in the Pike Fire Fighter Challenge. (Continued on page 4)

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