Two of this year’s 40 Gators Under 40 honorees are University of Florida engineering students who took different paths to professional success but share a common origin: UF’s Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering.
Since 2006, the UF Alumni Association’s 40 Gators Under 40 awards have recognized young alumni whose professional success and service positively impact The Gator Nation. For Sarah Beadle and James Jackson, the honor reflects how the analytical rigor, systems thinking and leadership they developed in ISE continue to shape their global impact.
“Sarah and James are wonderful examples of what ISE Gator engineers can do,” said ISE Chair Iris Rivero, Ph.D. “They are scientists, mentors and leaders who turned their UF education into real-world impacts. I am so thrilled ISE had two alumni selected as 40 Under 40 honorees this year.”
Sarah Beadle
When Beadle arrived at UF from Little Rock, Arkansas, she didn’t know a single person on campus. As a Naval ROTC midshipman initially enrolled in a different engineering major, she had no idea industrial and systems engineering would soon shape her future.
Within the first few weeks on campus, Beadle began to rethink her path. Her freshman-year roommate, an ISE major, encouraged her to take a closer look at the department. What stood out immediately was versatility.
“I loved that ISE had a little bit of everything,” Beadle said. “It gave me the technical foundation of engineering but also the business, systems and people side of how organizations actually run.”
After graduating in 2015, Beadle commissioned into the U.S. Navy, serving seven years as one of the first female submarine officers. She trained as a naval nuclear engineer and served aboard the USS Georgia, where she led the Reactor Laboratory Division and held multiple leadership roles. Her service earned her two Navy and Marine Corps commendation medals and recognition as USS Georgia’s Officer of the Year in 2019.
Some of Beadle’s most defining growth at UF came in required programming courses that pushed her far outside her comfort zone. Unlike other subjects that clicked quickly, coding forced her to slow down, ask for help and work patiently step by step. She remembers spending long office hours with teaching assistants, determined to understand concepts that did not come naturally.
“I was always someone who aimed for the A,” Beadle said. “But programming was where I had to work the hardest. It pushed me beyond what I thought I was capable of.”
That discipline now carries into her work at GE Vernova, where she leads complex global supply chain initiatives in the nuclear energy sector. Whether navigating technical constraints or coordinating across international teams, she approaches work challenges the same way she approached UF challenges — breaking them down systematically and staying persistent until the solution is clear.
Now a 2026 40 Gators Under 40 honoree, Beadle continues to stay connected to UF as president-elect of the New England Gator Club, mentoring others who, like her, once stepped onto campus knowing no one but remained ready to build something meaningful.
James Jackson III
For Jackson III, a first-generation college student from Tallahassee, Florida, arriving at UF represented opportunity and responsibility. As an industrial and systems engineering major, he found a discipline that matched his analytical strengths and his desire to create meaningful change.
ISE’s emphasis on systems thinking shaped how Jackson approached challenges from the start. He learned to see how people, processes and technology intersect.
That same mindset would later define his leadership style. Beyond the classroom, he co-founded FEARLESS, a student organization dedicated to fostering dialogue, service and inclusion, laying the groundwork for the purpose-driven leadership that continues to guide his career.
“ISE taught me how to break down complex systems and align people around a shared goal,” Jackson said. “That foundation has influenced every role I’ve stepped into.”
Today, the 2009 graduate serves as vice president of Revenue Operations at Canva, where he leads global operational strategy for one of the world’s fastest-growing technology companies. Over his 15-year career, he has helped scale hypergrowth SaaS and cloud organizations, redesign go-to-market systems and unlock significant operational efficiencies.
Whether building high-performing teams or driving enterprise-level growth, Jackson credits his undergraduate experience in UF’s ISE program as the starting point. His story proves the foundation built as a student in college can scale to global impact through collaborative leadership and a systems mindset.