After 18 years with IBM, where he became known for establishing IBM's blade server product line, Jeff Benck BS '88 (mechanical engineering) made one of the toughest but best decisions of his career–to move his family across the country and to take on a new set of challenges in California. 
 
He is now president and chief operating officer of Emulex Corp., where he guides the corporate strategy. Benck led the company into the groundbreaking converged networking space. While his vocation at Emulex is time consuming, he still makes time for his family: his wife, Nina, and daughters Gabrielle, 14, and Gracyn, 12. 
 
He believes in giving back and volunteers with several organizations. He's on the board of the Discovery Science Center of Orange County, the University of California Irvine CEO Roundtable, and the UCI Paul Merage School of Business Dean's Advisory Board. At RIT, he is an active member of the KGCOE Dean's Advisory Council, and he has shared lessons learned with students as a featured KGCOE Dean's Alumni Speaker: "Never stop learning, take risks but learn to fail fast, and don't make the same mistake twice."