As a Director at Large member of the NAWM Board of Directors, Kenyatta had planned to attend the Winter Board meeting this past weekend, but his plans to visit campus were changed – instead, he was presented with the Floyd Skinner Justice Award at the 30^th Giant Among Giants, an annual event honoring members of the Grand Rapids, MI African American community who have worked to make life better for others.

Kenyatta is the Chief Administrative Officer and Group Senior Vice President of Services at Cascade Engineering.  A Political Science/Psychology major at Wabash, he studied off campus at the University of Nairobi.  He earned his J.D. at the University of Michigan Law School and an MBA at Michigan State University. 

Kenyatta is active in his Grand Rapids community, and still visits a Honduran orphanage where he worked before attending law school.  Congratulations, Kenyatta!

Photo courtesy of
Matt Gade | The Grand Rapids Press

Sun King Brewery’s south parking will be the site of the Local Underground Tent for a pre-Super Bowl celebration daily from Jan. 26 – Feb 5.  The furnished tent is temperature controlled, with a beer bar, food, live music, TV’s to view coverage of nearby Super Bowl happenings, and more.  Click here for VisitIndy information or go to the Sun King Brewery web site for the hours, names of bands scheduled, etc.  Sun King Brewery is located at 135 N. College Ave. in Indianapolis.

The party “hosts” are Sun King owners Clay ’97 and Omar’60 Robinson.

Thomas P. Stafford ’97 has joined law firm Kreig DeVault in Indianapolis as employee benefits and executive compensation, ESPO practices, attorney.  His focus is qualified retirement plans. 

After a double major in History and Religion at Wabash, Tom earned his J.D. at the IU Robert H. McKinney School of Law in Indianapolis.

Mark Lapierre ’92 was just appointed assistant men’s and women’s tennis at Guilford College in Greensboro, NC.   

Mark, a local veterinarian, is making his college coaching debut. He played three years at Wabash College and one at the University of Aberdeen while studying in Scotland. Lapierre resumed his playing career after college and is rated a 4.5 player based on his performance at local, state and sectional United States Tennis Association tournaments.

He started coaching as a college student when he assisted the Crawfordsville High School tennis team in Indiana. The Logansport, Ind., native has also helped with local clinics and summer programs in Crawfordsville and West Lafayette, Ind.

 A 1992 Wabash graduate, Lapierre earned his doctorate in veterinary medicine from Purdue University in 1996 and runs the Northeast Veterinary Hospital in Greensboro. He and his wife, Ellen, have two children, Sophie and Ryan.

Congratulations, Mark!

Two Wabash alumni were members of a panel presentation about successful public-private partnerships at Pennsylvania’s Governor’s Advisory Council on Privatization and Innovation which began on January 17.

Cris Johnston ’81 is deputy chief of staff to Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels in the Government Efficiency and Financial Planning Division of the Indiana Office of Management and Budget, and previously served as Chief Deputy for the State Treasurer. After graduating from Wabash, he received his MBA from Butler University.

Stephen Goldsmith ’68 is currently the Daniel Paul Professor of Government and the Director of the Innovations in American Government Program at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government. He previously served two terms as Mayor of Indianapolis, privatizing city services. Steve has also served as the Deputy Mayor for Operations of New York City, Chairman of the Corporation for National and Community Service, and Chief Domestic Policy Advisor to President Bush in his 2000 presidential campaign.

Michael Hammond ’72 is a co-founder and principal partner at Hammond Hanlon Camp LLC, a healthcare investment banking and financial advisory firm for healthcare clients.  The principals in H2C were the original founders of Shattuck Hammond Partners, a boutique investment banking firm which divested in 2007.  Click here to learn more about H2CLLC.

Michael was a psychology major at Wabash, earned his JD from Vanderbilt University School of Law, and attended the American University of Beirut in Lebanon.  He has enjoyed a 20+ year career as advisor and counselor for the healthcare investment banking industry in mergers, acquisitions, joint ventures, and turnaround and reorganization strategies, and has been an attorney in a private law practice.

Photo courtesy of
HealthLeadersMedia

In case you haven’t heard, late night talk show host Jimmy Fallon will broadcast from Indianapolis during Super Bowl week.  To prepare him for his visit, the Indianapolis Convention & Visitors Association sent him a package of Hoosier Hospitality.

Included in the package is Clay ’97 and Omar ’60 Robinson’s Sun King Beer.  Click here to find out what else is in the package!

Photo courtesy of
Wikipedia

David Pippen ’91 has joined Bose McKinney & Evans LLP in Indianapolis as a partner and chairman of the environmental law group and member of the utilities law group.  He is former general counsel and senior policy director for Gov. Mitch Daniels. 

“In 2007, Pippen joined the Daniels administration as the policy director on natural resources and the environment, later assuming responsibilities on issues related to energy. He served as the liaison to numerous state government agencies including the Department of Environmental Management, Department of Natural Resources and Department of Agriculture, among others. Pippen was subsequently named general counsel to Gov. Daniels, where he oversaw legislative, transactional, criminal justice and civil litigation responsibilities. He served as the chair of the Indiana Criminal Justice Institute, and was the liaison to the Indiana Supreme Court.  Prior to state service, he practiced in private law for 11 years.”

Valerie Powell ’59 is the lead editor for a book to be published in February:  Integration of Medical and Dental Care and Patient Data:  “The book discusses the role of informatics and information science in the articulation of medical and dental practices and clinical data,” and is being promoted to healthcare professionals worldwide.  

Dr. Powell is University Professor of Computer and Information Systems at Robert Morris University in Pennsylvania.  She majored in Philosophy and German at Wabash, and continued with advanced degrees in German and Germanic Studies, Philosophy, Linguistics, Computer Science, and Radiologic Technology.