College of Business

Distinguished Alumni

 Marti Sutton receives the 2023 Distinguished Alumna award from Dean Terence Lau

Marti Sutton (BS, Business Administration, '92)

Every year the College of Business selects one alumnus to celebrate for their professional accomplishments. They embody the spirit of inspired leadership and sustained motivation. Their stories inspire our students and their peers and give us reason to celebrate. Join us in honoring this year’s College of Business Distinguished Alumni award winner.

2023 | Marti Sutton

Marti Sutton (Business Administration, ’92) remembers the moment she found her advocacy voice. “Forced to do public speaking,” as she describes it, she remembers shaking at the front of an undergraduate classroom before returning to her desk and thinking “I just did that.” Soon thereafter, during a management course with Professor Pamela Johnson, she had to write an essay on sexual harassment in the workplace during one of her biggest exams. It wasn’t until after she turned in the test she realized she had answered that essay incorrectly. When students returned to class, Sutton sat anxiously awaiting her grade and felt even more defeated when Johnson told the class only one person got an A. Imagine Sutton’s surprise when her paper came back and the professor had scrawled that even though her answer was incorrect, she argued her point so well that she earned full credit.

“I was a pretty shy kid, and it was the first time I realized my voice mattered,” she said.

Sutton has taken her voice far since then—from a small nonprofit working on education and health care reform in Washington, DC, to the Office of Management and Budget in the White House during the Clinton Administration to helping found the National Campaign to Prevent Teenage Pregnancy. After moving back to California and raising her family, she began donating her expertise to causes she cared about, spending time as chair of the board of BayKids and eight years on the Los Positas College Foundation Board. Today, she is chair of the Tri-Valley Nonprofit Alliance and serves on the Human Services Commission for the City of Livermore.

With more than 20 years of nonprofit and government agency experience, Sutton has seen firsthand how hard nonprofits work to raise funds and serve their clients, and she wants to give them the tools they need to be successful. She’s also deeply committed to supporting students at Chico State, as a founding member of the Women’s Philanthropy Council, creator of the Professional Attire Fund in the College of Business, and advisory board member for the College of Business. Honored this spring as the Distinguished Alumna for the College of Business, Sutton said she hopes to inspire today’s students, especially women, to find their own voice and use it for a greater good.


"5 Questions With Distinguished Alum and Nonprofit Chair Marti Sutton(opens in new window)"


History of Distinguished Alumni

Being a Distinguished Alumnus is like getting on the College of Business’ permanent honor roll. We’re so proud to be in the company of:

2022–Senator Bill Dodd (BS Business Administration '78)

2019–Darryl Schoen (BS Business Administration '77)

2018—Tom Tognoli (BS Business Administration, Finance '88)

2017—Stephen Goodall (BS Business Administration '78)

2016—Marilyn Everett (BS Business Administration, Accounting '78)

2015—Len Jessup (MBA Business Administration '85)

2014—Debra Cannon (BA American Studies '77)

2013—Rand Hutchison (MBA Business Administration '77)

2012—Prabhakar Kalavacherla (MS Accounting '93)

2011—Thomas Villa (BS Business Administration, Marketing '82)

2010—Scott Hanson (BS Business Administration '90)

2009—Steven Perricone (BS Business Administration, Marketing '82)

2008—R. Scott Chalmers (BS Business Administration '72 & MBA '74)

2007—Daniel Moffat (BS Business Administration, Financial Management '78)

2006—John DiMichele (BS Business Administration '76)

2005—Scott Bedford (BS Business Administration '82)

2004—Charles Seufferlein (BS Business Administration '74)

2003—Karl Bakhtiari (BS Business Administration, Management '75, MBA '77)

2002—Brian Storm (BS Business Administration, Accounting '69)

2001—D. Craig Young (BS Business Administration '79)

2000—Keith Bewley (BS Business Administration '78)

1999—Kimberly Foss (BS Business Administration '84)

1998—Frank Nisonger (BS Business Administration '74)

1997—Chris DiGiorgio (BS Business Administration, Management '81)

1996—Bruce McDougall (BS Business Administration, Accounting '63)

1995—Robert Kittredge (BS Business Administration '69)

1994—Howard Isom (BS Business Administration '60)