Tartan Athletics Club Adds Three Alumni to Leadership Roles
(PITTSBURGH, Pa.) – As the Carnegie Mellon University Department of Athletics continues to build upon its successful 2016-17 year, which included four University Athletic Association (UAA) titles, 17 sports participating in postseason play, and the program’s best finish in the Learfield Sports Director’s Cup standings (44th) in seven years, the Tartan Athletics Club has added three alumni to its Board of Directors. Scott Barnyak, Lisa Seacat DeLuca, and Bob Patterson will each join the TAC Board for four-year terms, which began July 1.
“The Tartan Athletics Club Board of Directors has been integral to our recent success, and will be critical in keeping us on our current trajectory moving forward,” said Director of Athletics Josh Centor. “Scott, Lisa and Bob all bring impressive credentials to our Board, and will join a committed group of alumni and friends who are passionate about our athletics program and university.”
Barnyak is a 1991 graduate with a bachelor's degree in industrial management and a minor in graphic communications management. Scott excelled on the football field for the Tartans, earning All-America honors in 1989 and 1990 while being named the Presidents' Athletic Conference MVP and the University Athletic Association MVP. He was named to Carnegie Mellon's UAA 25th Anniversary Football Team in 2011-2012 when the department celebrated the conference’s 25th anniversary.
Professionally, Barnyak has more than 22 years of experience in the consulting industry and is one of the three founders of SDLC Partners, a systems integrator that helps healthcare organizations and CIOs transform, adapt and compete. He is also a founder of CyLumena, a Cyber security consultancy that operates as part of the SDLC Management Inc. family. He is responsible for sales, marketing and go-to-market strategy for both organizations.
Seacat DeLuca graduated in 2005 with a degree in computer science. As a two-sport athlete, she helped lead the volleyball team to an Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) Championship as a sophomore and led the women’s basketball team in scoring her junior and senior seasons. She is a Senior Technical Staff Member for IBM Watson Customer Engagement and was recently inducted into the Women in Technology International (WITI) Hall of Fame. In 2017, she received an honorary PhD from Claremont Graduate University.
Her efforts in computer science have been recognized nationally, as she was named one of the Most Influential Women in IoT (Internet of Things) in 2016. She was also named one of MIT’s 35 Innovators Under 35 in 2015, was included in LinkedIn’s NextWave of 10 Enterprise Technologists Under 35, was one of Fast Company’s 100 Most Creative People in Business, and was selected as IBM’s Working Mother of the Year for Working Mother Magazine. Additionally, Seacat DeLuca is a TED speaker, a self-published author of two children’s books, the most prolific female inventor in IBM history and the only one to reach the 100th Invention Plateau Award (an IBM internal patent award system).
Patterson earned a degree in mechanical engineering in 1989 and received a master’s in computer information systems and telecommunications from the University of Denver in 1998. Bob was a four-year member of the football program, and the team recorded a record of 26-10-2 during his career and made a trip to the NCAA Division III postseason in 1985. Patterson is a Chief Strategist at Hewlett Packard Enterprise focused on enterprise data, analytics and the Internet of Things.
As a member of HPE’s Strategic Solutions Architecture team, Patterson works across industries with customers, account teams, partners, and pan-HPE product and services teams to drive strategy, opportunities, activities and initiatives around data analytics and IoT. Prior to joining HPE, Patterson was a member of IBM’s Global Technology Services Architecture Control Board and received two patents in cloud computing. Currently, Patterson is active in several national and local charitable and technical organizations. He is a lifetime member of the National Society of Black Engineers and currently serves as a regional advisor; serves as the President of the Board of Directors for the Sewickley Community Center; volunteers as the Deputy Director of the Carnegie Mellon Black Alumni Association; coaches on the Quaker Valley High School football staff; and is a member of the Pittsburgh Chapter of 100 Black Men, Inc. He also guest lectures for the School of Engineering at Robert Morris University.
“Bob, Scott and Lisa were great Tartans during their time on campus, and have continued to be great Tartans as alumni,” Centor said. “They bring a wealth of success and experience to the community, and I am looking forward to working closely with them for the next few years.”
The Carnegie Mellon University Tartan Athletics Club strives to support, grow and develop the athletics program by engagement of alumni, students, friends and leadership of the university. The Club supports the goals and mission of the athletics department, within the context of the university’s goals and mission. The Club pursues targeted strategies to develop and enhance alumni relations, fundraising, development and other initiatives as determined by the Board of Directors, in conjunction with the Director of Athletics and university administration.