LATROBE, PA – Saint Vincent College professor Robert Markley Jr. was recently honored with the 2026 SAP University Alliances Excellence Award for Co-Innovation during the annual Academic Community Conference North America July 14-16 at the University of California, Irvine.
Markley, an instructor of business administration and management in the Alex G. McKenna School of Business, Economics and Government at the College, received recognition for his efforts with the SAP Business One program, which has operated continuously at Saint Vincent since the 2007-08 academic year. The award recognizes distinguished engagement with the SAP ecosystem through applied student projects, SAP customer and partner cooperation, and measurable effect.
“This award is a great sign that Saint Vincent College has programs that help lead students to good-quality internships, and hopefully, good-quality jobs,” Markley said. “I’m not your typical professor as I come from industry, not academia. The difficulty is that the needs and requirements of industry continually change. When possible, I think schools should do more of this partnering with industry to prepare students for careers.”
SAP Business One is an enterprise resource planning (ERP) software program designed for small and midsize businesses. Its comprehensive functionality, centralized data and ease of use make it ideal for use at the College.
The College’s program is a six-month, practice-based talent pipeline that combines SAP Business One training, applied implementation work, partner engagement, conference participation and paid internships.
When Saint Vincent first started offering the program 19 years ago, SAP had a shortage of junior consultants with Business One skills and encouraged institutions to train students on the software platform. SAP, in turn, aided those students in their job searches following graduation.
“The program has transformed a lot over the years, but most years we take anywhere from 12 to 15 students into this program in the fall, train them up, and then they land internships with SAP partners between their junior and senior years,” Markley said. “Many of those internships lead to full-time jobs.”
Dr. Michael Urick, C’04, dean of the McKenna School, lauded Markley’s SAP Business One program approach, noting that students pair up with a partner organization, are apprenticed and actively engage in consulting on and implementation of the system.
“It emphasizes experiential learning, links students with paid internships—many of which turn into very lucrative full-time jobs upon graduation—and provides students with important practical skills that are immediately transferrable to a variety of careers,” Urick said.
The McKenna School has made a sustained contribution to the SAP Business One talent base by training 212 students, generating 154 paid internships and producing 103 full-time SAP ecosystem jobs. Emphasizing the internship-to-career pathway, students often begin as interns, then advance as consultants, support specialists, implementation team members, sales and marketing professionals and long-term SAP Business One advocates.
Markley’s award was presented by Paige Perusset, C’18, who completed the SAP Business One program at Saint Vincent, was once instructed by Markley at the College and previously served on the McKenna Council of Advisors.
She initially worked for an SAP partner before advancing to a full-time position with SAP. Perusset now works out of the SAP Labs, Inc. office in Newport Beach, California, but was on a business trip at SAP’s headquarters in Germany prior to the conference.
“[Perusset] was doing everything she could to get back in time because she was asked to present the award,” Markley said. “She literally made it in 10 minutes before the awards ceremony.”
Markley attended the conference alongside Urick as they explored innovative teaching and emerging technologies in business education.
“The co-innovation award is for an educator who partners with industry to provide innovative learning experiences for students. To be recognized as the leading educator in terms of industry partnerships and experiential learning is quite a feat,” Urick said. “[Markley] brings so much to the table, provides such an exceptional service to our students and has been crucial to setting our alumni off on their successful careers.”
