North East Native is 2006 Alumni Fellow
North East native Kurt Cavano, chairman and CEO of Manhattan-based TradeCard, Inc., has been named Penn State Behrend’s 2006 Alumni Fellow. The Alumni Fellow award is the most prestigious honor given by the Penn State Alumni Association.
Jack Burke, Penn State Behrend chancellor, will present the Alumni Fellow award to Cavano at a ceremony to be held at 5:15 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 19, in Knowledge Center, 5240 Knowledge Parkway. In keeping with Alumni Fellow tradition, Cavano will spend the next day in the classroom, sharing his business experience with the college’s students and faculty.
In addition, Cavano will present a public lecture, “From the Classroom to the Boardroom,” as part of Penn State Today, a daylong program of seminars jointly hosted by the Sam and Irene Black School of Business and the School of Engineering. Cavano will discuss strategies successful entrepreneurs use to transition from student to employee to CEO at 1 p.m. Friday, Oct. 20, in 002 Research and Economic Development Center. Admission is free.
Cavano graduated from North East High School in 1974 and from Penn State Behrend in 1978 with a degree in bioscience. After earning an M.B.A. in computer applications and information systems at New York University, he worked as a programmer at American Management Systems, helping banks improve the efficiency of their back-room operations through new technologies. He and his wife, Penn State alumna Janet Mazur Cavano, lived abroad in Australia and England for three years; shorter assignments took the Cavanos to Mexico, Belgium, Hong Kong, France, Spain, Denmark, and Malaysia.
Cavano eventually was named AMS’s vice president of corporate banking, with responsibility for its New York City office.
In 1999, the World Trade Centers Association asked Cavano to spearhead TradeCard, a new effort to create a Web-based, one-stop financial services center for companies engaged in international trade. Traditionally, international trade requires a boatload of paperwork—letters of credit, invoices, cargo insurance, and port documents. TradeCard consolidates these details, plus offers financing, in one online operation.
Cavano still travels frequently, and has been profiled in the New York Times’ Frequent Flier feature on heavy-duty travelers. He averages 100 trips a year to TradeCard’s branch offices in California, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Korea, China, and Japan.
Cavano and his wife have two daughters and reside in Ocean Grove, New Jersey.
The Alumni Fellow medallion presentation kicks off Penn State Behrend’s annual Reunion Weekend. Activities are planned Friday, Oct. 20 through Sunday, Oct. 21; for more information, visit the Penn State Behrend Web site at www.pserie.psu.edu or call the Office of Development and Alumni Relations at 814-898-6159.