2025 Haile College of Business Alumni Awards

Todd W. Best, CPA, serves as the Cincinnati and Dayton Managing Partner and the Tax Managing Partner for Deloitte’s Cincinnati, Dayton, and Louisville offices. With more than 36 years of experience in public accounting, he specializes in strategic tax planning and solutions for complex organizations and their shareholders. His expertise spans corporate and individual taxation, inbound tax strategies, accounting for income taxes, IRS examinations and settlements, and growth-company tax strategies. He has advised clients across industries such as manufacturing, transportation, and distribution.

As Managing Partner, Todd guides Deloitte’s marketplace strategy in Cincinnati and Dayton and oversees the execution of the firm’s tax strategy across the region. A graduate of Northern Kentucky University with a B.S. in Accountancy, he remains connected to his alma mater through service on the NKU Accounting Advisory Board and Foundation Board. He is also actively engaged in civic leadership, contributing to organizations including REDI Cincinnati, United Way, and other local boards.

Brigitte Blom, President & CEO of the Prichard Committee for Academic Excellence, has dedicated more than 25 years to advancing education and public policy as a means to improve lives across Kentucky. Her humanitarian service is rooted in a commitment to breaking cycles of poverty, expanding opportunity, and uplifting communities through stronger education outcomes.

Before leading the Prichard Committee, Brigitte served as director of public policy for United Way of Greater Cincinnati, focusing on early childhood initiatives. She also spent a decade on the Pendleton County Board of Education and served as vice-chair of the Kentucky Board of Education. Blom has worked in policy, research, and advocacy on issues related to education, poverty, and state taxes and budgets – including work for universities in Ohio and Kentucky and for the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland. She holds undergraduate degrees in economics and international studies from Northern Kentucky University and a master’s degree in public policy from University of Kentucky’s Martin School of Public Administration.

Blom’s unwavering commitment to education and public policy has made her a transformative force within the realm of education in Kentucky, and her passion for creating a better future for all Kentuckians continues to remain at the forefront of her work.

Garrett Frey is a Senior Product Manager at FREY Municipal Software, where he represents the third generation of leadership in his family’s 51-year-old business. Today, he oversees sales, marketing, and modernization initiatives, driving innovation to ensure the company thrives for another 50 years. His efforts have already delivered remarkable results, including more than 30% revenue growth and expansion into new markets.

Before joining the family business, Garrett gained valuable experience in Cincinnati’s startup community. He began his career at 3DLT, a 3D printing e-commerce venture, where he discovered his passion for the fast-paced world of entrepreneurship. He went on to sharpen his product management skills at FamilyTech (Choremonster). Most notably though, he was part of the Ahalogy team that was acquired by Quotient Technologies in 2018. While there, he honed his Product Management skills helping build the product into a "Solutions Leader" by Forrester's New Wave Influencer Marketing report.

An NKU graduate with a degree in Entrepreneurship, Garrett is driven by both his early success and his vision for shaping the future. When not working, Garrett enjoys spending time with his wife and daughter as well as reading up on the latest baseball analytics.

The Haile College of Business is committed to providing a top-quality, well-rounded business education that equips students with the skills and tools necessary to be successful in today’s challenging world. We do this through the promotion of academic excellence; a focus on building a strong community of faculty, staff, students and alumni; and partnerships both locally and globally that all contribute to excellence and engagement in business education. The principles that define, differentiate and drive our culture include engagement, innovation, and impact. We help businesses create a better world through developing skilled, passionate future business leaders through our global programs, entrepreneurship opportunities and real-life experiential learning opportunities.