September Alumni Notes

A Changing of the Guard on the Board of Trustees

SYA is pleased to announce that Trustee Holland Goss Lynch FR’86 has been named SYA’s first alumna chair of the board. We are grateful to departing trustees Kirk Davenport FR’77 FR’11P (former chair), Carl Moor FR’78 IT’13P, Rick Hardy, Head of School at Concord Academy, and Sheila Culbert, Head of School at Loomis Chaffee for their leadership, vision and guidance of SYA in recent years.

Joining the board are Nahin Jorgge IT'06, Darcy Pottle Meals ES’01, Julianne Puente, Head of School at Albuquerque Academy, Bryan Simmons FR’78 and Jim Ventre, Assistant Head of School for Admissions and Financial Aid at Phillips Academy. See the full board membership here.

Watch the webcast featuring Trustee Chair Holland Goss Lynch FR'86 and SYA President Tom Hassan talking about the year ahead.

Announcing the 2021 Award Recipients

In case you missed the news on Founder's Day, the SYA Awards Committee is pleased to announce that the 13 women of the Class of SYA Spain 1971 have been selected as this year’s Distinguished Alumni Award recipients. The alumnae include Maggie Couch, Michele French, Ruth Ann Gillis, Ellen Hoitsma, Susan R. McCouch, Martha McCoy, Emily Nicklin, Jani Rachelson, Pam Rosenberg, Diane Runyan, Janis Tomlinson, Julia Harte Widdowson and Kim Nathan Wright*.

*awarded posthumously

The Stephen M. Foster ES’65 Exemplary Service Award has been awarded to Alexandra Alger FR’79 CN’12P, Carlos Alvarez FR’00P and Jamie Broderick FR’71. Read the full announcement here.

September Features

Will Brooke IT’09 and his startup, Slate, won this year’s FanXP Innovation Challenge. Slate is a content creation platform working with sporting organizations like the NFL, Fox Sports and the Houston Rockets to level up their social media content. Slate is made up of a team of experienced professionals who have run accounts for major brands. Nearly 40 companies were in the biggest basketball startup competition in the world. Read the press release.

By day, Cormick Gaughran ES’13 works at Genesys Impact based in Washington, DC, a technology solutions provider that makes schools smarter, governments more efficient, and businesses more competitive through customized solutions. By night, Cormick is a published author of The Penguin Who Thought He Was a Gull, a children's book. What began as his school project at the age of eight has been published with illustrations capturing the whimsical story of a lone penguin who is convinced he is a gull. The story follows the trials and struggles of self-identity as the penguin finally discovers his true self. Find it at your favorite book store.

Nahin Jorgge IT’06 has been appointed to SYA’s Board of Trustees with his term beginning July 1, 2021. He graduated from Phillips Exeter Academy and Yale University and is the Associate Director of Admissions and Director of Multicultural Outreach at Phillips Exeter Academy. He began his career in education following his time at Yale and has worked as a teacher, adviser, coach and consultant.

John Lesher ES’84’s latest production The Premise premiered on FX on Hulu on September 16. It’s a bold and provocative half-hour anthology of standalone stories about the times we live in. The curated collection of character-driven episodes challenges our shared morality tales, choosing art over argument, as it engages with the most relevant and meaningful issues of the modern era. Watch the trailer.

Amb. David McKean FR’74 FR’11P, a senior fellow at the German Marshall Fund, has published a new book, Partners of First Resort: America, Europe, and the Future of the West about fostering a transatlantic renaissance to salvage the Western alliance. Learn more.

Darcy Pottle Meals ES’01 has been appointed to SYA’s Board of Trustees with her term beginning July 1, 2021. Darcy is the assistant director of the Center for Access to Justice at Georgia State University College of Law and is responsible for developing and overseeing the center’s programs and publications. She oversees the student Pro Bono Program and the Public Interest Law and Policy certificate program, and she teaches law school courses through the center’s access to justice curriculum. She holds an A.B. in public policy from Brown University and a J.D. from UCLA School of Law.

Merritt Moore IT’05 is one of the 200 artists invited to be part of Louis Vuitton’s 200th birthday celebration. If you’ve walked by a store front in Paris, London, Milan, NY, LA, Beijing, Dubai, Shanghai, Hong Kong or Seoul, you may have spotted Merritt in this project.

Tia Napolitano FR’01’s Freeform series Cruel Summer received the Hollywood Critics Association award for Best Cable Series, Drama. Register for our October Global Thinker talk for a conversation featuring Tia.

Navigating the cross currents of the global economy is all in a day’s work for JB Perrette ES’89, who has led Discovery International since 2014. In this article, he answers the question, “… how do we take this incredible offering and bring it to customers in a simple and compelling fashion?”

Bryan Simmons FR’78 has been appointed to SYA’s Board of Trustees with his term beginning July 1, 2021. He is a graduate of Phillips Exeter Academy and Harvard University. He has more than 30 years of global experience in communications, brand management, and integrated marketing campaign development. He began his career at Strayton Advertising and Public Relations (later the Advanced Technology Division of Hill & Knowlton). Bryan held a number of executive positions in Marketing and Communications at Lotus Development Corporation and IBM Corp., including Vice President, IBM Americas, Vice President of Global Industry Communications, and Vice President of Marketing, IBM Lotus Software. He also launched IBM's global alumni program and led the planning for IBM's Centennial. He has served on the boards of Gay & Lesbian Advocates and Defenders, ACLU Massachusetts, Commonwealth Shakespeare Company, AIDS Action Committee of Massachusetts and Harvard Magazine. Last academic year, Bryan was a panelist on our De-Biasing the Brain webinar. Watch it here.

Mimi Crume Sterling FR’94 was recently named as the new CEO for The Family Place, one of the first – and largest – family violence shelters in Texas. Mimi previously served as Vice President of Environmental Social Governance and Belonging at Neiman Marcus Group in Dallas. Read more.

Maggie Tillman ES’01, who we featured in our women and wine webinar, was named to this year’s 40 Under 40 class of the Pacific Coast Business Times.

New York’s Fashion week came to an end following a number of designers, including Jason Wu FR’01, showcasing their visions for spring/summer 2022. Jason’s collection featured an array of dresses and gowns that were covered in blooms. Some flowers were literal while others relied on a technique of wrapping real flowers in cloth and letting the petals stain the fabric. Read more.

In memoriam:

It is with great sadness that we share news of the passing of two former staff members.

Carolyn Morahan ES'92P passed away on July 1, 2021, following a six-year battle with Alzheimer's disease. Carolyn served as SYA's first director of alumni relations from 1995 to 2006. Read her obituary here.

Mary Lou Poirier passed away on September 5, 2021, following a cardiac event while kayaking. Mary Lou served as the assistant to the president and Board of Trustees from 2006 to 2020. Read her obituary here.