2012

The Honorable Sean T. Connaughton, JD '92

Sean T. Connaughton is secretary of transportation for Virginia, overseeing seven state agencies with more than 9,700 employees and combined annual budgets of $5 billion. Prior to that, he was named by President George W. Bush to head the U.S. Department of Transportation's Maritime Administration. Connaughton, a graduate of the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy, served in the U.S. Coast Guard as a commissioned officer and a civil servant in the Office of Marine Safety, Security, and Environmental Protection. He served in the U.S. Naval Reserve from 1986 until retiring in 2006. He earned a master's degree from Georgetown University and a law degree from Mason. A member of the Virginia Bar Association and the District of Columbia Bar Association, he has appeared before the U.S. Supreme Court. Connaughton was elected chair at-large of the Prince William County (Virginia) Board of Supervisors in 1999 and again in 2003. Under his tenure, the county experienced a period of growth and prosperity. The number of residents grew from 280,000 to more than 360,000, and the county's reputation as a diverse community with a high quality of life grew, as well. Economic development in the county thrived under his leadership. The county's partnership with Mason also flourished during Connaughton's tenure, resulting in the Freedom Fitness and Aquatic Center and the Hylton Performing Arts Center. Connaughton has served on numerous regional boards and commissions, including the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments. He is a trustee of the Joe Gibbs Youth for Tomorrow Home and serves on the board of directors of the Hylton Performing Arts Center. Among the many recognitions and honors he has received are the 2004 National Association of Counties Distinguished Service Award and the 2009 Vincent T. Hirsh Maritime Award for Outstanding Leadership by the Navy League of the United States.

Anne K. Altman, BS Marketing ’82

Anne K. Altman was appointed general manager of IBM Global Public Sector in August 2009, giving her responsibility for its strategy, direction, development of solutions, and sales for government, education, health care, life sciences, and pharmaceutical industries worldwide. She joined IBM in 1981 as a systems engineer and has held a series of increasingly responsible positions in software, global hardware and software sales, operations, technology development, marketing, and consulting. In addition to her current role as general manager of the Global Public Sector, Altman is a member of IBM’s Performance Team and Integration and Values Team. Awards for her outstanding contribution to the information technology industry include Federal Computer Week’s Top Federal 100 and Eagle Award, the AFFIRM Leadership Award for Industry, and the CIO Council’s Azimuth Award for the Industry Executive of the Year. Altman is recognized as a thought leader in areas ranging from e-government to national security and her work has been featured in leading media outlets, including the Washington Post, Associated Press, Federal Computer Week, Washington Technology, Government Computer News, and Information Week. She also is a contributor to key government-related review boards for such organizations as the National Academy of Public Administration, the National Academy of Sciences, and the Private Sector Council. A former member of Mason’s Board of Visitors, Altman is committed to community service and serves on the boards of the Northern Virginia Technology Council, the James Madison University Executive Advisory Council, the National Symphony Orchestra, the National Kidney Foundation, and the Armed Forces Communications Electronics Association Executive Committee.

Deborah Hersman, MS Conflict Analysis and Resolution ’00

Debbie Hersman has spent her career in public service. After graduating from Virginia Tech with a bachelor’s degree in political science and international studies, she went to work on Capitol Hill for Rep. Bob Wise of West Virginia, serving as both his staff director and senior legislative aide. When she was ready to pursue a master’s degree, she shopped around. Many of her Hill colleagues were working on law degrees, but Hersman wanted to do something different.

“I didn’t want it to be an adversarial degree,” she says. “I wanted something where I could solve problems.” She found what she was looking for at Mason’s Institute for Conflict Analysis and Resolution, and she says she uses what she learned at Mason every day.

As the chair of the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), Hersman oversees a 400-person independent agency whose mission is to investigate transportation accidents, determine their probable causes and issue recommendations to prevent further accidents. Appointed to the position by President Barack Obama, Hersman was sworn in on July 28, 2009, as the board’s 12th chair. A board member since 2004, Hersman has represented the NTSB at the scene of 17 transportation accidents during her tenure. “We all have challenges in our lives. Whether it is interpersonal or on the job, you have to listen to people. That’s probably the biggest lesson I took away,” she says of her graduate work. “And it is most important when you are trying to figure out how to incorporate everyone’s needs into a solution, something that comes into play in my current role at the NTSB.”

The NTSB “is busiest and in demand when tragedies happen, but I don’t know that everyone fully appreciates how much safer our transportation system is today,” she says. Since the NTSB was created 40 years ago, the agency has issued more than 13,000 recommendations, 80 percent of which have been adopted by the transportation community.“ It is through these recommendations that we are able to make transportation safer,” she says.

“Public service is incredibly rewarding,” she says. “I feel very humbled to have the opportunity to be in this position and work with such a talented and committed group of individuals. The past five years at the board have been a privilege.”

John Paul (J. P.) Phaup, MBA ’91

John is managing director, investments, at Phaup Brown Wealth Management Group of Wachovia Securities. He also is an adjunct professor in the School of Management and an instructor in the Continuing Professional Education Program. Previously, Phaup was a political consultant and campaign business manager and cofounded a software firm that developed microsystems for campaign efforts. He has been an enthusiastic supporterand actively involved with Mason for more than 17 years.

Phaup beganhis volunteer work as a member of the School of Management Special WorkList. He served as a higher education bond volunteer and joined the AlumniBoard in 1992. In 1993, he became the founder of the MBA Alumni Chapter,serving as its first president. A President’s Circle Society member, he has givengenerously of his personal time. Phaup’s passion for the performing arts hasled to his involvement with the College of Visual and Performing Arts, wherehe serves as vice chair of the Arts at Mason Partnership Board and chair of theInstruments in the Attic campaign. In addition, Phaup is a current member ofthe George Mason University Foundation Board of Trustees and serves on theAlumni Action Steering Committee.

Jeffery Taubenberger, MD, PhD BS Biology '82

Jeffery Taubenberger is not just an infectious-disease scientist, he’s a pandemic detective—the Sherlock Holmes of influenza. In 2005, Taubenberger solved a medical mystery, identifying the specific cause of the 1918 pandemic that killed nearly 50 million people. The culprit: an influenza virus that began in birds and adapted to humans.

Pandemics occur every 30 to 40 years on average—the last one was in 1968—so Taubenberger’s research is more than mere “historical curiosity,” as he puts it. “We’re using it to investigate what mutations allow such viruses to adapt to humans and how it causes disease,” says Taubenberger, a senior investigator with the National Institutes of Health’s Laboratory of Infectious Diseases in Bethesda, Maryland. “This information can be crucial for developing new drugs and vaccines.”

His papers on the 1918 virus were widely acclaimed—Taubenberger was ABC News’ “Person of the Week” in October 2005—but his motivation is the simple exhilaration of discovery. As a child, he was always interested in biology, a passion that grew in eighth grade when he met William Drohan, a scientist from the National Cancer Institute (NCI). By 10th grade, Taubenberger was doing science fair projects in Drohan’s lab. “I was looking at the possible genetic components to cancer,” he says (you know, typical high-school boy stuff). Taubenberger arrived at Mason as a 16-year-old freshman, played oboe with Mason’s orchestra while working part time for NCI, and composed a piece that the orchestra performed his senior year. Someday he hopes to return and take music classes, but until then, you’ll find him in the lab, performing research that could save millions of lives.

Carolyn Kreiter-Foronda, MEd Special Education '73, MA English '79, PhD Education '83

Carolyn Kreiter-Foronda is a painter, sculptor, and educator. As a poet and painter, her work has earned widespread recognition across the Commonwealth and beyond. As an educator, she taught in Fairfax County Public Schools for 31 years before her retirement. In 1983 Kreiter-Foronda received the first doctoral degree awarded by Mason. In 2006 she was appointed Virginia's poet laureate by Governor Timothy Kaine. Prior to that, in 1992, she was named a Virginia cultural laureate by then-Governor Douglas Wilder for her contributions to American Literature. Among her many honors are three Artist-in-Education grants and an Arts-on-the-Road grant from the Virginia Commission for the Arts, three Pushcart Prize nominations, an Edgar Allan Poe first place poetry award, a National Scholastic Teacher Portfolio Award, and an Outstanding Scholarship and Service Award from Mason. Her poems and writings appear in such publications as Nimrod International Journal, The Ledge, Dominion Review, Hispanic Culture Review, Prairie Schooner, Antioch Review, and The Journal of Teaching Writing. She has four books of poetry to her credit: Contrary Visions, Gathering Light, Death Comes Riding, and Greatest Hits. In addition, her paintings have been exhibited throughout Virginia in schools, libraries, universities, and public and private art galleries. Kreiter-Foronda and her husband, Patricio, live in Hardyville, Virginia.

D. Jean Wu, MS Information Systems '87

D. Jean Wu serves as group vice president with Anteon, a company that in 2002 acquired an information technology company, Integrated Management Services Inc., that she founded. She had previously served as a manager with Irving Burton Associates, a management consulting firm and, before that, she was a staff assistant to the deputy secretary of the U.S. Department of Transportation. Wu came to the United States from Taiwan at age 14. She earned her undergraduate degree in marketing at the University of Virginia and her master’s degree in information science at Mason. Wu has been actively involved with Mason since 1998. She serves as secretary of the Board of Trustees of the George Mason University Foundation and as a member of the university’s Minority Advisory Board. She has been a member of the university’s Board of Visitors since 2005. In addition, Wu has been a long-standing supporter of charitable and educational organizations in the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area, including the Close Up Foundation, Virginia Hospital Center, Heads Up, Boys and Girls Clubs of Greater Washington, and Best Friends Foundation. Her past honors include the Immigrant Achievement Award from the American Immigration Law Foundation and the Virginia Small Business Person of the Year from the U.S. Small Business Administration.

Edward J. Newberry, BS Business Administration '84, BA Speech Communication '84

Edward J. Newberry received both his Bachelor’s of Science in Business Administration and a Bachelor’s of Arts in Communication, with recognition and distinction, from George Mason University in 1984. Since then Mr. Newberry has excelled in his support of the university as well as achieving excellence in his career. He co-chaired the Annual Fund Committee from 1998 to 2003, served as chair of the President's Circle from 2001-2002, and chaired the Alumni Leadership Campaign Steering Committee from 2002 to 2003, helping to engage a significant number of alumni in the university's first comprehensive campaign. In addition, he has served on the Advisory Board of the National Center for Technology and Law through Mason's School of Law. Mr. Newberry's commitment to Mason has not only shown through his personal service but through his exceptional ability to create new advocates for the university.

Zainab Salbi-Atallah, BIS '96

Ms. Salbi received her Bachelor’s of Individualized Studies in 1996. In 1993, while still a student at Mason she created Women for Women International, a non-profit organization dedicated to helping women victims of war move from crisis and poverty to self-sufficiency. Under her leadership, this organization has flourished. Assisting women in 10 countries it has provided nearly $10 million in direct assistance and loans to more than 20,000 women and 90,000 family members. Continuously recognized for her outstanding work she has appeared on "The Oprah Winfrey Show" and was honored by President Clinton for her humanitarian work in Bosnia. Ms. Salbi has given time back to the university as well by serving as a guest lecturer in Women’s Studies courses.

J. Gregory Bedner, BS Business Administration '76, JD '83

Michael G. Anzilotti, MBA '83, LHD '03

Julie A. Holdren, BS Computer Science '94

Teresa M. Klaassen, BS Business Administration '77

Jonathan C. Thacher, JD '80

Thomas J. Webb, BS Business Administration '74, MBA '77

Lovey L. Hammel, BS Marketing '88

Katherine K. Clark, MBA '95

Susan Rook, BA Speech Communication '81

Barbara Esstman, MFA '87

Rob Muzzio, BS Decision Science '87

Camille T. Barry, MSN '86, PhD '89

James S. Corrigan, BIS '81

S. Anna Kondratos, MBA '81

Jay W. Marsh, BS Business Administration '73

Ray F. Smith, BA Business Administration '70, BS Business Administration '70

James W. Hazel, JD '84

Bruce Johnson, BS Biology '70

Mariann Johnson, BS Biology '71

Richard C. Bausch, BA English '74

Dennis C. Daley, BS Social Work '75

Judith M. Garcia, MEd Education Administration/Supervision '77

Kathleen S. Katz, BA Government and Politics '79

M. Constance Bedell, BA Government and Politics '79

Nancy Zimmerman, BA English '70

Frances F. Batchelder, MEd '78

Gilbert L. Sager, BA History '69

Carl F. Henrickson, BS Business Administration '74

Joann P. DiGennaro, JD '80

Elizabeth G. Clements, BA Government and Politics '79

James W. McCarthy, BS Public Administration '75

Elbert J. Jarvis II, BS Business Administration '74

Anita L. Capps, BA Sociology '72

Michael A. Alexander, BA Biology '69