Bello named 2017 Outstanding Engineering Alumnus
3/17/2017
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Long-time supporter of Penn State and the Harold and Inge Marcus Department of Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering Gary Bello (’69 I E) has been named a 2017 Outstanding Engineering Alumnus by the Penn State College of Engineering.
Established in 1966, the Outstanding Engineering Alumni Award is the highest honor bestowed by the college and recognizes graduates who have reached exceptional levels of professional achievement.
Bello, along the college’s other 11 recipients, will receive his award at a ceremony on April 20 at the Nittany Lion Inn on the University Park campus of Penn State.
With more than 50 years of experience in manufacturing, engineering, consulting and executive management, Bello has been an entrepreneur in every sense of the word throughout his career. Since 1993 he has been a private equity investor and has taken ownership of more than 20 business enterprises.
Prior to working on his own, Bello was the vice president of Clark Equipment Company and president of the company’s North American forklift subsidiary from 1983-1989. In 1989, he was named president and CEO of Clark’s worldwide forklift subsidiary and was instrumental in the financial turnaround of the operation. During his time at Clark, Bello oversaw operations in Germany, South Korea, Brazil, Australia and the United States.
Bello also spent 15 years at General Motors, where he became the youngest senior executive in the company at the age of 30. He oversaw the expansion of new product and manufacturing technology as well as new plant startups in the southern states, Mexico and Portugal. His final assignment with the company was serving as general plant manager of the Indianapolis operations of Detroit Diesel Allison Division, a $1 billion operation that employed 7,000 people who built transmissions for on- and off-highway equipment.
A native of Monessen, Pennsylvania, Bello has been a leader in industry relations and has been recognized for his commitment to promoting workplace excellence by companies and universities alike. He was named the University of Kentucky’s Businessman of the Year in 1991 and was named an Alumni Fellow by the Penn State Alumni Association, the highest award given by the association, in 2010. In addition, he was inducted into the Junior Achievement of Bluegrass Business Hall of Fame.
Bello has served on advisory boards of the College of Engineering and the Gatton College of Business and Economics at the University of Kentucky, and he currently sits on the development board of the Penn State College of Engineering.
He received a master’s degree in management science from Stanford School of Business in 1982, where he was also a Sloan Fellow.
Bello and his wife of 50 years, Sheila, established the Gary and Sheila Bello endowed chair within the Marcus department in 2013, which is currently held by Professor Uday Shanbhag.
The Bellos currently reside in Lexington, Kentucky, near their five married children and 12 grandchildren.
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Gary Bello ('69 I E), 2017 Outstanding Engineering Alumnus
