2020 Groat and Alpern Winners Named

Each year, hundreds of ILR alumni, friends and students gather to celebrate the school and to honor our Groat and Alpern Award winners. This year’s honorees – Kathleen Weslock, M.S. ’83 and Barry Beck ’90 – will be celebrated on April 23 at The Pierre in New York City.  

Kathleen Weslock, M.S. ’83 
Judge William B. Groat Alumni Award

Kathleen Weslock is the chief human resources officer at Livent Corporation and works directly with the CEO.  Weslock has negotiated major collective bargaining agreements in Argentina, brought top talent to key positions in the company and worked on the transformation of the business from a segment of a larger multinational to a successful stand-alone public, independent company.

Weslock’s innovative and visionary work has made her a sought-after presenter on the HR circuit, speaking on topics including women in leadership, next generation HR, CEO succession planning, labor negotiations, executive compensation, and diversity and inclusion.  She is known for her positions on immigration and pay equity, and is a mentor to many women and aspiring chief human resource officers. 

A member of the ILR Dean’s Advisory Council, as well as the President’s Council on Cornell Women, Weslock is a trustee of Hood College, where she earned a bachelor of arts in psychology and Spanish. In addition to a master’s degree from ILR, she also earned a juris doctorate from Pace University. 

Weslock is the mother of Michael Derrick Asser and David Weslock Asser ’13.
  

Barry Beck, B.S. ’90
Jerome Alpern Award

Barry Beck is the co-founder and chief operating officer of Bluemercury, Inc., a luxury beauty brand. Founded in 1999, Bluemercury is recognized as the nation’s largest and fastest growing retail spa chain with stores from coast to coast. Beck’s leadership, passion for entrepreneurship, innovation and consumer brands that led to Bluemercury’s exponential growth. 

Beck, with his wife, Marla, developed the original store retail model after the acquisition and development of the first Bluemercury store in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. He now leads the company's strategic growth initiatives and oversees Bluemercury operations.
 
Beck, a serial entrepreneur who had already started three businesses before Bluemercury, saw an opportunity to invest in physical stores at a time when other companies were focused solely on their e-commerce sites. The company now operates nearly 200 stores across the United States, and online at Bluemercury.com
  
A member of the Cornell Trustee Council and the ILR Dean’s Advisory Council, Beck is also on the board of the Fashion Institute of Technology and on the advisory council of the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond. 

Beck lives in Bethesda, Md., with his wife and their three children.