1995 Recipients

Nancy Henninger

Class Year: 1965
Outstanding Alumni Award Winner 1995

Nancy Henninger graduated from North Central College with a music degree. Further studies continued at the American Conservatory of Music where she earned a master’s of music degree in vocal performance in 1969. Her vocal studies took place in Munich, Essen, Giessen and Bonn, Germany. Professional organizations include the American Opera Society of Chicago, Musicians Club of Women and the National Association of Teachers in Singing. Henninger is the music director at Grace United Methodist Church of LOGAN Square in Chicago. She also works at Intimate Opera of Chicago – an opera company with staged and costumed productions of grand operas. She most recently founded and directed the Kid’s Chorus of Logan Square Chicago – a children’s choir for ages 5-12.

Roger F. Hruby

Class Year: 1958
Outstanding Alumni Award Winner 1995

Entrepreneur Roger Hruby was chairman and CEO of CFC International Inc., a leading chemical specialty company, and was also chairman of North Central College’s Board of Trustees. CFC International, Inc. formulates, manufactures and sells chemically complex, transferable, multi-layer coatings, and is a leading supplier in many of the worldwide markets it serves. Principal markets for CFC’s products are heat transfer printing for intravenous solution bags, magnetic strips for ATM/credit cards and wood grain laminates for the furniture industry. CFC is also the leading supplier of holograms used to authenticate brand name software, merchandise, credit cards, event tickets, and other applications requiring protection against unauthorized copying or counterfeiting. In 1998, Hruby was named “Entrepreneur of the Year” and became a member of the Entrepreneurial Hall of Fame in the Chicago Area. In 1996, Hruby and his wife, Nadeane, created an endowed scholarship fund to help working undergraduates. Hruby was a College Trustee from 1991-2017. He passed away on August 12, 2017.

Jeffrey J. Oesterle

Class Year: 1976
Outstanding Alumni Award Winner 1995

Jeff Oesterle has been on the North Central College Board of Trustees since 1995. After graduating from North Central College with a degree in biology, Oesterle was a telephone executive from 1976 to1988. In 1987, he became a property manager and developer and is currently the owner of Plaza Properties in Highland, Ind. Community service is very important to Oesterle. He is currently president of the Rotary Club of Hammond, Ind. He was the foundation president of that city’s Parks Foundation from 2003-04, vice-president of the Lake County Indiana Court House Foundation since 1997, and a delegate of the YMCA with the USA National Convocation in 2003. Oesterle was awarded the Hammond Jaycees DSA in 1985 and JCI Senator in 1991 and named a life member of North Central’s Presidents Club in 1998. In 2004, he received the YMCA of the Hammond Area Lifetime of Service Award along with his father, Clare Oesterle ’39.

Arthur "Buck" Rikli

Class Year: 1939
Outstanding Alumni Award Winner 1995

Arthur Rikli was a pioneer in the use of computers as a diagnostic tool in medicine. In 1958, he conceptualized the design for the first computer to process electrocardiograms. For 25 years he was a member of the U.S. Public Health Service and served as chief of its National Heart Disease Program for five of those years. After retiring in 1968 with the rank of colonel, he was recruited to direct Missouri’s Regional Medical Program, one of the first of its kind to receive federal funding. Rikli was also founder of the National Organization for State Kidney Programs and served as its first president. Following retirement, he has continued to serve as a consultant to the Department of Health and Informatics. Today, he is president of the National Society for Computer Medicine and holds the title professor emeritus at the University of Missouri-Columbia.

Karen J. Solomon

Class Year: 1984
Alumni Recognition Award Winner 1995

Karen Solomon is the assistant director for Accreditation Services, the Higher Learning Commission in Chicago. She is also a Coldwell Banker Realtor serving at a residential brokerage in Naperville. Her previous position was with Associated Colleges of Illinois Inc., as an education associate and outcomes assessment. She also worked at Northern Illinois University as coordinator of research and evaluation in Adult Continuing Education. Solomon is involved with the North Central College Board of Trustees Associates, serving as WYSE Competition co-chair and treasurer. She is a member of the Naperville Riverwalk Foundation, and the Naperville Jaycees. Solomon is also a member of the advisory panel for the American Indian Education Consortium and an advisory board member for Northern Illinois University Adult Education. In 2003, she received a doctorate in education from Northern Illinois University, majoring in adult and continuing education with instructional technology as an area of focus.