Young Alumnus of the Year Award
John C. Kennedy, Eng ’07
East Grand Rapids, Mich.
As chief technology officer for Autocam Medical, John Kennedy says Marquette prepared him for his career by teaching strong engineering fundamentals alongside the Marquette mission. “The values the university instilled in me — excellence, service, faith, leadership, and the commitment to be men and women for others — have shaped both my professional and personal journey,” he says.
He enjoys building teams of people equipped “to solve complex problems in the medical device manufacturing space,” John explains. He also finds it rewarding to develop products and processes that lead to better outcomes for patients.
Back when he was a senior, John attended a Marquette career fair where he learned about Rockwell Automation’s sales development program. He applied and spent the next five and a half years with the company. “Through my experience at Rockwell Automation,” he says, “I was able to see a great multitude of businesses in a variety of industries and learn characteristics of good firms. Many of these experiences are things I build on even today.”
John’s father founded Autocam Medical in 2005, and John is currently working with Marquette to build the university’s Family Enterprise Network, a network of alumni-related family businesses, allowing them to connect and share insights. His sense of responsibility for Autocam’s success is intertwined with his Catholic faith.
“I strongly believe that as family owners of our business,” John says, “we must be working to prepare our children to also be good stewards of this gift from God.”
Name someone (past or present) with whom you'd like to have dinner.
Pope Leo XIV
What advice or insights from your own experiences would you share with current Marquette students?
Go to all the basketball games and most of your classes. Now that I am out of school, I use calculus more than I ever expected but go to basketball games less than I would have hoped!
