WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – Former pitcher Steve Schwartz and NeoVision Optical's Chuck Penix were honored as Purdue baseball's Alumnus of the Year and Community Service award recipients as part of the program's annual First Pitch preview, which premiered Wednesday on YouTube and PurdueSports.com.
The program's Alumnus of the Year award is bestowed upon a degree-holding Boilermaker that has demonstrated outstanding loyalty towards and continued interest in supporting Purdue Athletics and Purdue baseball. The honoree also demonstrates exemplary personal integrity and stature.
The Community Service award honors qualities such as sustained involvement, compassion and selflessness. The recipients demonstrate through their civic involvement how the quality of life in their community can been enhanced. Award winners have been active in local businesses, institutions of higher learning and government.
Schwartz is a three-time graduate of Purdue, earning bachelor's, master's and PhD degrees in electrical engineering. On the diamond, he was a four-year letterwinner for the Boilermakers from 1978 to 1981. He is currently the CEO of Brooks Automation, working with his team to transform a 35-year old robotics outfit into a high-growth technology company that serves both semiconductors and the life sciences industry.
Penix has partnered with Purdue baseball to help supply the program with eyewear and vision-tracking technology also utilized by Major League Baseball. Only selected businesses in the country have access to that unique technology. He is also a season-ticket holder at Alexander Field. Penix founded NeoVision Optical in 1999. He and his wife, Debra, are the parents of four children. Penix is involved in a wide variety of community and regional organizations and has worked with Purdue baseball for over 25 years.
As a West Lafayette native and the son of a Purdue Professor, Schwartz grew up on and around campus. Before officially becoming a Boilermaker, he played Babe Ruth Baseball and American Legion ball on Purdue's Lambert Field. Schwartz enrolled at Purdue in the fall of 1977, not long after Dave Alexander became the head coach of the program.
Schwartz was a workhorse as a four-year contributor to the pitching staff, throwing 188 2/3 innings over 50 career games. He led the team in appearances as a freshman and senior. The Boilermakers steadily improved every year during Schwartz's career as Coach Alexander laid the groundwork for a decade of excellence in the 1980s. His junior year, Purdue posted its first winning season since 1965. The Boilermakers won 30 games and qualified for the Big Ten Tournament for the first time during Schwartz's senior season.
Schwartz also earned an MBA from the University of Chicago before heading west to Silicon Valley in 1987. He began his career at Applied Materials, which at the time was a small equipment company serving the semiconductor industry. After 14 years at Applied, he was recruited to another Bay Area company, Asyst Technologies, where he was the CEO for eight years. In 2010, he moved across the country to Massachusetts and became the CEO of Brooks Automation.
Steve and his wife, Coralie, currently live in Boston, a 20-minute walk from Fenway Park. They are the parents of four.
In addition to their connection to Purdue baseball, Steve and Coralie are contributors to the Richard J. and Mary Jo Schwartz Professorship in electrical engineering in honor of his parents, who still live on Northwestern Avenue in a home that allows them to watch football practice from their kitchen window.
The program's Alumnus of the Year award is bestowed upon a degree-holding Boilermaker that has demonstrated outstanding loyalty towards and continued interest in supporting Purdue Athletics and Purdue baseball. The honoree also demonstrates exemplary personal integrity and stature.
The Community Service award honors qualities such as sustained involvement, compassion and selflessness. The recipients demonstrate through their civic involvement how the quality of life in their community can been enhanced. Award winners have been active in local businesses, institutions of higher learning and government.
Schwartz is a three-time graduate of Purdue, earning bachelor's, master's and PhD degrees in electrical engineering. On the diamond, he was a four-year letterwinner for the Boilermakers from 1978 to 1981. He is currently the CEO of Brooks Automation, working with his team to transform a 35-year old robotics outfit into a high-growth technology company that serves both semiconductors and the life sciences industry.
Penix has partnered with Purdue baseball to help supply the program with eyewear and vision-tracking technology also utilized by Major League Baseball. Only selected businesses in the country have access to that unique technology. He is also a season-ticket holder at Alexander Field. Penix founded NeoVision Optical in 1999. He and his wife, Debra, are the parents of four children. Penix is involved in a wide variety of community and regional organizations and has worked with Purdue baseball for over 25 years.
As a West Lafayette native and the son of a Purdue Professor, Schwartz grew up on and around campus. Before officially becoming a Boilermaker, he played Babe Ruth Baseball and American Legion ball on Purdue's Lambert Field. Schwartz enrolled at Purdue in the fall of 1977, not long after Dave Alexander became the head coach of the program.
Schwartz was a workhorse as a four-year contributor to the pitching staff, throwing 188 2/3 innings over 50 career games. He led the team in appearances as a freshman and senior. The Boilermakers steadily improved every year during Schwartz's career as Coach Alexander laid the groundwork for a decade of excellence in the 1980s. His junior year, Purdue posted its first winning season since 1965. The Boilermakers won 30 games and qualified for the Big Ten Tournament for the first time during Schwartz's senior season.
Schwartz also earned an MBA from the University of Chicago before heading west to Silicon Valley in 1987. He began his career at Applied Materials, which at the time was a small equipment company serving the semiconductor industry. After 14 years at Applied, he was recruited to another Bay Area company, Asyst Technologies, where he was the CEO for eight years. In 2010, he moved across the country to Massachusetts and became the CEO of Brooks Automation.
Steve and his wife, Coralie, currently live in Boston, a 20-minute walk from Fenway Park. They are the parents of four.
In addition to their connection to Purdue baseball, Steve and Coralie are contributors to the Richard J. and Mary Jo Schwartz Professorship in electrical engineering in honor of his parents, who still live on Northwestern Avenue in a home that allows them to watch football practice from their kitchen window.