2008 Third Annual
Distinguished Achievement 
Awards & Gala

October 18, 2008 ⋅ The Westin Providence, R.I.

The Distinguished Achievement Awards honor
those who personify URI’s tradition of excellence
in achievement, leadership, and service.

150212_DAA_2008View photos from the event.

2008 PRESIDENT’S AWARD RECIPIENTS

William Flynn, who earned his bachelor’s degree in 1975, heads Atlas Worldwide Holdings Inc., in Westchester, N.Y. The New York City resident joined the air cargo company in 2006. Established 1992, the firm operates through two subsidies: Atlas Air and Polar Air Cargo. Through Atlas Air, it leases crewed and fully maintained cargo planes to commercial airlines, and through Polar Air Cargo, it provides scheduled international freight services, mainly from the Asia/Pacific region and Latin America. Additionally, the company provides chartered freight services to commercial and military clients. Atlas Worldwide operates a fleet of 43 Boeing 747 aircraft. In 2007, the company had revenue of $1.5 billion and employed about 2000. On July 24, 2006 Flynn presided over the opening bell of the NASDAQ stock exchange.

Before his arrival at Atlas, Flynn served as president and chief executive officer of GeoLogistics Corp. from 2002 to 2006, where he oversaw the company’s turnaround and sale to Agility Logistics. In 2003 Flynn was awarded the Marco Polo Award by the US-China Foundation for his business development work and support of humanitarian efforts in the Peoples Republic of China. Prior to his work at GeoLogistics, Flynn was senior vice president of the industrial rail segment of rail shipping company, CSX Transportation, Inc. A year ago, he appeared on a panel as part of the China Rising Honors Colloquium with URI alumnus Alfred Verrecchia, chief executive officer of Hasbro Inc., headquartered in Pawtucket, and Paul Zheng, chief executive officer of PDK Worldwide Enterprises located in Fall River, Mass. Flynn serves as a director of the Confucius Institute at the University of Rhode Island. He recently sponsored the University’s Confucius Institute Chinese New Year celebration.

As CNN chief national correspondent, John King, who earned his bachelor’s degree in journalism in 1985, is responsible for reporting on a range of stories in the United Stares and around the world. King joined CNN in May 1997 and was appointed chief national correspondent in April 2005. King served as CNN’s senior White House correspondent from 1999 to 2005. The Washington, D.C. resident has been a key part of CNN’s innovative coverage of the 2008 presidential campaign. He has traveled to important early election states to cover and interview major candidates, has broken news about campaign developments and has pioneered the use of CNN’s “multi-touch” board, which allows him to delve into election data and track delegates like never before primary election nights. King also contributed to CNN’s Emmy-winning 2006 mid-term election coverage and to coverage of the 2004 presidential race, the Iraq War, the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, the tax cut debates of 2001 and 2003 and the war on terrorism.

King has interviewed President George W. Bush, first lady Laura Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney, former Secretary of State Colin Powell and current Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. King traveled with Cheney to the Middle East in March 2002 as the administration began to build support for confronting Saddam Hussein. Before joining CNN, King wrote for the Associated Press, which he joined in 1985. In 1991, he was named chief political correspondent and headed the AP’s political coverage of the 1992 and 1996 presidential elections. At AP, he broke several political stories, including Michael Dukakis’ selection of Lloyd Bentsen as his running mate in 1988 and Bill Clinton’s selection of Al Gore in 1992.

Clarice Odhiambo is founder of the Africa Center for Engineering Social Solutions. In that role, she is determined to bring clean water, sanitation, and small business opportunities to the women of African villages. She earned her master’s degree in chemical engineering from URI in 1988, and worked as an engineer for Unilever and Coco Cola designing products for the African market. She has traveled all over the world. When Coca Cola named her the Africa manager of the company’s community water partnership program, which brought fresh water to African villages, Odhiambo saw firsthand how the projects help women who once walked miles to muddy water holes to supply their families.

Odhiambo is a graduate of the Kenyan boarding school system modeled on the British system that uses a series of exams to select the brightest students for a university education. As a schoolgirl, her best subjects were math, physics and chemistry. She went to the University of Nairobi, where she hoped to study chemical engineering. Since the subject was not offered, she majored in math and chemistry. Still interested in chemical engineering, Odhiambo decided to follow her older brother, Peter Okero, to URI for her graduate education. Other family members also attended URI, and Odhiambo’s daughter, Alice, is a sophomore marketing major at URI. Odhiambo made five trips to the United States between September 2007 and May 2008 to drum up support for the Africa Center. This fall, she is back in the U.S. cementing the relationships that will help the center grow.

Bruce Sherman, the Chief Executive Officer and Chief Investment Officer of Private Capital Management in Naples, Florida, is a 1969 graduate of the College of Business Administration. He has led the Company since he founded the Firm in 1986.  Despite selling his Company for well over $1 billion to Legg Mason in 2001, he continues to be the Chief Executive Officer.

A chapter in the book Investment Gurus by Peter Tanous highlights the success of Sherman’s money management investment strategy.  Bruce has appeared on PBS’ Nightly Business Report and BBC’s Inside Money and has been featured in Forbes magazine, The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times.

The trading room at the URI College of Business Administration, which gives students in their finance classes real-time access to international financial markets, is named in Bruce’s honor.

2008 DEANS’ AWARD RECIPIENTS

ALAN SHAWN FEINSTEIN COLLEGE OF CONTINUING EDUCATION
Ann Marie Rathbun ’01
Virginia A. Nardone ’68, M.S. ’78

COLLEGE OF ARTS AND SCIENCES
Pamela Watts ’76
Dr. Gerald P. Keane ’74
Daniel  A. Procaccini ’74

COLLEGE OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION
Deborah A. Ciolfi ’80
Richard Vangermeersch, M.S. ’64
Stephen H. Hopkins ’79

COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING
Stephen A. Bouley ’80
Kenneth A. Epstein ’69
Kenneth J. Hylander ’80

COLLEGE OF THE ENVIRONMENT AND LIFE SCIENCES
Curt Spalding
Kimball Hall
Peter B. Lord ’07

COLLEGE OF HUMAN SCIENCE AND SERVICES
Evelyn S. Kennedy Commentucci ’69, M.S. ’72
Meredith A. Caswell ’75
Paul A. McCaffrey ’79

COLLEGE OF NURSING
Martha E. Griffin , Ph.D. ’00
Joanne V. HIckey, M.S. ’73
Elaine Reimels ’68, M.S. ’76
Diann Uustal ’68

COLLEGE OF PHARMACY
Stephen J. Allen ’76
Evangeline R. Lausier ’75
Saul Kaplan ’79
Vasant G. Telang, Ph.D. ’68

GRADUATE SCHOOL OF OCEANOGRAPHY
James A. Yoder, M.S. ’74, Ph.D. ’79
John M. Hoenig, M.S. ’79, M.S. ’81, Ph.D. ’83