Albright Alumni Association Virtual Awards Ceremony Saturday, April 17, 2021 Program
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ALBRIGHT ALUMNI ASSOCIATION VIRTUAL AWARDS CEREMONY SATURDAY, APRIL 17, 2021 PROGRAM MINGLING ON REMO EVENT PLATFOrm GREETINGS Ralia C. Vardaxis ’87 Assistant Vice President of Alumni and Donor Engagement WORDS OF WELCOME Sean K. Crossley ’11 President, Albright Alumni Association Board Jacquelyn S. Fetrow, Ph.D. ’82 Albright President, Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry MISICAL PERFOrmANCE Miranda P. Holliday ’20 and the Albright Concert Choir The Color Purple PRESENTATION OF ALUMNI ASSOCIATION AWARDS Sean K. Crossley ’11 Andrew R. Holets ’06 Young Alumni Achievement Award Thomas A. Chaves ’85 Mary Fry Good ’49 Service to Alma Mater Award Ben Franco ’06 Distinguished Alumni Award Robert L. Johnson, M.Div. ’91 Distinguished Alumni Award William G. Young ’76 Distinguished Alumni Award Tiffenia D. Archie, Ph.D. ’92 Jacob Albright Award CLOSING REMARKS Sean K. Crossley ’11 –1 YOUNG ALUMNI ACHIEVEMENT AWARD Presented to an Albright alumnus/a or alumni couple who have re- ceived degrees within the past 15 years for outstanding achievement in at least one of the following areas: profession or career, dedicated vol- unteer service to Albright, church or community. To be eligible, nom- inees must be 35 years of age or younger by the nomination deadline. Andrew R. Holets, M.A. ’06, is a nonprofit community leader focused on addressing inequity in underserved populations. He presently works as a school administrator at The Waldorf School of San Diego, and previously as the CEO at Pro Kids The First Tee of San Diego, a nonprofit organization serving opportunity youth with life skills and character development programming through education, scholarships and the game of golf. He has also worked in fund development and community outreach with the YMCA in Philadelphia and San Diego. Holets, who grew up in Whitehall, Pa., painted over 250 Albright College dormi- tory rooms following graduation while awaiting the start of his service in the Peace Corps. His Peace Corps service took place in the Republic of Kazakhstan as an orga- nizational and community development program volunteer, and he worked in mili- tary communities in Germany with the Department of Defense. He has studied at the University of Pennsylvania Fels Institute of Government, and holds an M.A. in nonprofit leadership and management from the University of San Diego’s School of Leadership and Educational Sciences. He has worked in the nonprofit sector for more than a decade, where the majority of his work occurs in the urban communities of San Diego, focusing on access to opportunity and higher education for under- served youth, predominately for first-generation, refugee and military households. Holets is also co-founder of Students of Service Foundation, which addresses student loan debt for individuals pursuing careers in public service career fields. While a student at Albright, Andrew loved the community of lions, serving as archon and philanthropy chair of Pi Kappa Phi; cartoonist, news editor and contributor of The Albrightian; DJ and sports director at WXAC; and as a member of the Mane Men and Pi Sigma Alpha (political science fraternity). Holets enjoys running and spending time with his wife, Jennifer (Lanser) Holets ’07, and their two children. They reside in San Diego, Ca. –2 MARY FRY GOOD ’49 SERVICE TO ALMA MATER AWARD Presented to an alumnus/a or alumni couple of Albright College for outstanding service to their alma mater. Thomas A. Chaves ’85 is the associate vice president for advancement operations at St. Joseph’s University in Philadelphia. Prior to that, he served as the associate vice presi- dent for development and alumni relations at Lehigh University for nine years and led the traditional advancement services areas of information processing, reporting and an- alytics, prospect management and research. He has also led the implementation of stra- tegic talent management within Lehigh’s advancement organization as well as campaign management programs and initiatives. Chaves is passionate about bringing people to- gether, and the systems and processes to support the art and science of advancement. Chaves spent over 17 years at SunGard/SCT working with over 100 higher education clients to implement and effectively use advancement software. He chaired the 2010 CASE Senior Advancement Services conference, chaired the 2013 & 2014 CASE Sum- mer Institute for Advancement Services and was a member of the Banner Advancement advisory board. He is currently a member of the iModules Strategic Advisory Board, CASE Commission on Philanthropy and works closely with other advancement ser- vices leaders in understanding the advancement software landscape. Chaves completed serving as president of AASP in 2016 and has been on the board since 2008. Chaves’s service and generosity to Albright span many areas of the college. He has served as an Albright trustee since 2018, and spent six years on the Alumni Associa- tion board, serving as president from 2007-2009. He is a bronze member of the J. Warren Klein Society. Chaves has offered his time and talent as a volunteer advisor to Albright’s development office, and has served as a reunion committee member for the track and cross country teams, the Lion Diplomats, and the class of 1985’s fifth, 20th and 35th reunions. As a senior at Albright, Chaves was a founder of the Lion Diplo- mats, and then served as the club’s first advisor when he began work as the director of the annual fund. In addition to the Lion Diplomats, Chaves participated a great deal as a student on campus. He was a member of the Choral Ensemble, Domino Players, Residence Life staff, cross country and track teams, and The Albrightian staff. He was a Jacob Albright Scholar and received the Gold “A” Award. Chaves enjoys running marathons, completing running one per state in 2014 as part of his 50 thousand miles at marathons in 50 states by age 50 goal. He enjoys spend- ing time with his family, including three grandchildren. Chaves holds a BA from Albright College and an MS from Penn State in Business Administration. –3 DISTINGUISHED ALUMNI AWARD Presented to an Albright alumnus/a or alumni couple for outstanding service and accomplishments in at least one of the following areas: community, state, nation, church, profession, academic and/or service organizations. Ben Franco ’06 is the owner of Wine Themes, a company focused on helping small family-run wineries throughout the US. find an audience in Pennsylvania. Franco is also the founder and former owner of Winedown Café & Wine Bar, the first and only wine focused restaurant/bar in Berks County. Franco’s passion for wine also drove him to pursue many advanced accreditations including The Court of Mas- ter Sommeliers Level II and the Society of Wine Educators Certified Specialist of Wine. Franco’s career path has led him through many industries via various different roles held, including field service engineer, controls technician and process engineer. Franco worked for several of Berks County’s leading corporations such as Dana Corp, Lucent Technologies and Arrow International. Franco has served as an Albright trustee since 2020. In 2018, he hosted a welcome event for President Fetrow at Winedown, and has participated in Albright alumni networking events, Albright on the Avenue and in the Business Leaders Forum and Alumni Business Fair. Franco graduated from Lincoln Technical Institute with a degree in specialized elec- tronics technology. After completing undergraduate work toward an engineering degree, Franco switched focus and completed his BA in Business Administration at Albright College in 2006, through Albright’s degree completion program. –4 DISTINGUISHED ALUMNI AWARD Presented to an Albright alumnus/a or alumni couple for outstanding service and accomplishments in at least one of the following areas: community, state, nation, church, profession, academic and/or service organizations. Robert L. Johnson, M.Div. ’91 is a native of Philadelphia, Pa. He is a graduate of Bok Technical High School in South Philadelphia and earned an Associate of Arts degree from Morristown College in Morristown, Tenn., in 1988. Johnson’s drive for excellence took him to Albright College in Reading, Pa., where he completed a Bach- elor of Arts degree in 1991. From Albright, God led him to the United Theological Seminary in Dayton, Ohio where, in 1995, he was blessed to receive his Master of Divinity degree. While in Dayton, he also served as pastor to Residence Park United Methodist Church (1992-1995). After completion of his Seminary education, Johnson was appointed to Simpson- Fletcher United Methodist Church in West Philadelphia. Under his leadership, God blessed the church with outstanding growth, both spiritually and in membership. Johnson served as pastor of Simpson - Fletcher for 14 years (1995-2009) and Mt. Zion United Methodist Church in North Philadelphia for 5 years (2009-2014). He is currently the senior pastor of historic Tindley Temple United Methodist Church in South Philadelphia. Johnson’s ministry has focused on at risk youth in the Philadelphia area. He helped to create low cost summer camps, choirs, drama ministries, after school programs, community partnerships to help at risk youth gain employment and many other programs that have helped inner city youth to reach their full potential. Johnson was recently appointed by Gov. Tom Wolf to serve on the PA Commission on Redistricting. He also serves on the governor’s Committee for Nonprofit and Commu- nity Partnerships. In addition to his work for the commonwealth, Johnson is a mem- ber of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Inc., Black United Methodist Preachers, The Black Empowerment Group, the NAACP and The Interdenominational Pastors Alliance. As a student at Albright, Johnson was involved in the Domino Players, Albright Uni- ty, and the African-American Society. He served as Baccalaureate speaker in 2018. Johnson is married to Charnita M. Zeigler-Johnson, Ph.D.