Northwestern Michigan College (NMC) has announced its 2021 honorees for the Outstanding Alumni award. That honor, which has been given out each year since 1988, recognizes “graduates and past students for significant professional achievements and/or exemplary leadership in the local or global community.” This year’s list includes NMC students from four different decades, with careers focused on everything from education to understanding the COVID-19 virus.

NMC’s 2021 Outstanding Alumni honorees are listed below.

Alex Brace, 2017: Previously featured in The Ticker, Brace graduated from NMC in 2017 with an associate’s certificate in engineering. He subsequently attended University of Michigan, where he earned a Bachelor’s of Science in Engineering in computer science, mathematics, and statistics. Starting in September 2020, Brace worked as a pre-doctoral research associate at the Argonne National Laboratory in Chicago, where he played a key role in an award-winning research project that used artificial intelligence and computational science to simulate, observe, and understand how the COVID-19 virus infects human cells. This past August, Brace began his PhD studies at the University of Chicago. He is the youngest NMC alum ever to receive the Outstanding Alumni award.

Dr. Amanda Kiessel, 1995: Kiessel started her college career at NMC before transferring to Boston University to study ecology and environmental toxicology. She earned a master’s degree in sustainable development from Brandeis University and a PhD in agroecology and sustainable food systems from the University of California Santa Cruz. During her master’s studies, she became involved with the Sevalanka Foundation, a development organization focused on war relief efforts in Sri Lanka. Kiessel served for a time as program director of that organization, driving emergency relief in the wake of a 2004 tsunami and overseeing growth from 300 staff members to 1,200. Kiessel is also a co-creator of Good Market, described as “a curated community of social enterprises, cooperatives, responsible businesses, civic organizations, networks, and changemakers.” Today, that platform spans organic farm, fair trade retailers, renewable energy companies, ecotourism destinations, and other organizations or businesses from more than 70 countries – including many from northern Michigan.

Dr. Clifford McClain, 1971: McClain graduated from NMC in 1971 with an associate’s degree in arts. He went on to earn bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University of Idaho, as well as a PhD in administration, curriculum, and instruction (with an emphasis in agricultural education) from the University of Nebraska. His career has been focused on career and technical education, including a lengthy stint at the director of the Career & Technical and Postsecondary Education program at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Throughout his career, McClain has authored nearly 150 publications and presentations around his expertise and has developed grants totaling nearly $2 million in value. In 2015, the Association of Career and Technical Education – a nationwide organization – named him “Career and Technical Postsecondary Educator of the Year.”

Cindy Warner, 1980-1983: NMC describes Warner as “an executive technology leader, with two stints at IBM, and a decade at FedEx,” who has “spent her entire career applying leading technologies to solve operational challenges in global enterprises.” She has a deep expertise in cloud technologies, and has used that expertise to help companies like Salesforce and PricewaterhouseCoopers develop their cloud advisory services. Most recently, Warner served as the global leader for cloud advisory at Amazon Web Services. This cloud advisory capacity, among other expertise and technological skills, has made Warner “a trusted advisor to past C-level executives at GE, Microsoft, HP, Time Warner Cable, Northern Trust, Delphi, Dupont, and more than 40 other Global 1000 clients.” In addition to her own professional work, Warner has strived to bring more women into the technology field, including as the president of the Michigan Council of Women in Technology and as a participant in NMC’s own GirlTech program. Finally, Warner serves on the Michigan Strategic Fund Board – a role she to which she was appointed by Governor Gretchen Whitmer.

You can learn more about the four honorees on NMC's website.