Mr. John G. (Jack) Mandula
John G. (Jack) Mandula - 2006 Distinguished Alumnus, Mechanical Engineering, Class of 1981
** A native of Toledo, Ohio, Jack Mandula graduated in 1981 from The University of Toledo with a B.S. in industrial engineering. Upon graduation, he moved to Rochester, MN, to work as a manufacturing engineer with IBM. He earned his MBA from Winona State University in 2005. When IBM purchased ROLM systems, Mr. Mandula relocated to the California Silicon Valley to manage their telecommunications (PBX) switch manufacturing. In 1989, he joined start-up Cisco Systems to manage their worldwide customer service organization.
A native of Wisconsin, Jane Mandula graduated in 1986 from the University of Wisconsin with a B.S. in industrial engineering. Upon graduation, she moved to California’s Silicon Valley to work as a facilities engineer and later a manufacturing engineer for ROLM Systems (and later IBM and Siemens). While employed, she earned a certificate in telecommunications from UC-Berkeley (1988), and an MBA from Santa Clara University (1990). In 1990, she joined what is now Deloitte, as a management consultant specializing in business process reengineering and manufacturing business systems implementations.
In 1982, the Mandulas joined Gen/Tran Corporation, the family business started by Ms. Mandula’s father that manufactures electrical products for power backup, transfer and distribution. Mr. Mandula served as president and Ms. Mandula served as the vice president of finance and information systems before the company was sold to Generac Corporation in February 2012. Since then, Mr. Mandula has worked as the director of the Gen/Tran division of Generac, responsible for integrating the operations into the overall corporation, and Ms. Mandula has been consulting in environmental sustainability and business strategy in the Atlanta area.
Mr. Mandula has served as a founder and board member for the Notre Dame Academy, a private Catholic elementary school in the Atlanta area, and manages the family’s real estate in the Florida panhandle. Ms. Mandula is vice chair of the UW-Madison Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering Advisory Board and has served on the board of directors for the University of Wisconsin Foundation, the Women’s Philanthropy Council and the Industrial Advisory Board for the College of Engineering at Wisconsin.
Mr. and Ms. Mandula devote the remainder of their time volunteering with their three daughters’ schools and various sports teams. Mr. Mandula owns and operates an award-winning vineyard and enjoys sharing the fruits of his labor with family, friends and charitable organizations. He also enjoys competing in triathlons. Ms. Mandula volunteers with her local area woman’s club and the Girl Scouts, and she has served on various homeowners’ association boards. She also owns and operates a horse farm for breeding, showing and racing.