DISTINGUISHED SERVICE AWARD
James Betts ’69, MD ’73
Alameda, California
James Betts has been a loyal and dedicated volunteer for UVM for more than twenty years. He is a class officer in both his undergraduate class of 1969 and his Medical School class of 1973 and has served in leadership roles, as either chair or co-chair, on the Reunion Gift Committees for both classes. Dr. Betts has served as interim chair of the Planned Giving Committee and was a participant in the campaign planning study that preceded the University’s six-year, comprehensive Campaign for the University of Vermont, during which he took a leadership role as a member of the National Campaign Steering Committee. Currently a member of the Medical Dean’s Advisory Board, he also serves on the university’s Board of Trustees.
Thomas “Ted” Child ’74
South Burlington, Vermont
Ted Child has dedicated significant time and effort in support of UVM for many years. A former varsity hockey player at UVM, he has been especially dedicated to UVM Athletics and has served on numerous committees, including the Catamount Club Executive Committee and the Hall of Fame Committee as well as the Victory Club Executive Committee. Always working in support of his alma mater, he has been a member of the Ira Allen Society Committee, actively fundraising to help UVM reach its goals. Child has also been a Reunion volunteer and served as a class agent.
Fred “Chico” Lager ’75
Williston, Vermont
Chico Lager has been a loyal alumnus who has worked on behalf of his alma mater for many years. He is currently a member of the Ira Allen Society Committee, and he has been and continues to be a dedicated fundraiser for UVM. He served on the Vermont Regional Campaign committee during The Campaign for the University of Vermont, and he was part of the team of fundraisers who brought the Vermont Campaign to a successful conclusion. “Chikago Landing” in the Dudley H. Davis Center is the result of a generous gift from Lager and his wife, Yvette Pigeon ’80, G’87, EdD’99. Lager is a dedicated, long-time member of the UVM College of Agriculture Advisory Committee and was a member of the class of 1975’s 20th Reunion in 1995.
ALUMNI ACHIEVEMENT AWARD
Paul Anderson ’59
Lansdale, Pennsylvania
Paul Anderson has served the pharmaceutical industry for nearly forty years, and he is well known for his contributions to the industry. Anderson has been involved in the development of drugs to combat AIDS, Parkinson’s disease, heart disease, and glaucoma. His career in the pharmaceutical industry flourished with his appointments to research positions at Merck Sharp & Dohme Research Laboratories, including executive director of medicinal chemistry and vice president for chemistry. In 2006, he received the Priestly Medal, the American Chemical Society’s highest honor. He has served on the boards of directors of several chemical companies as well as on the boards of the Chemical Heritage Foundation and the National Research Council.
Herbert Brown ’57
Atlanta, Georgia
Currently an assistant coach with the Charlotte Bobcats basketball team in Charlotte, North Carolina, Brown has spent most of the last half-century as a basketball coach at all levels of the game. He was an assistant with the Detroit Pistons when they won the NBA Championship in 2004, then moved on to the Atlanta Hawks, where he served on the coaching staff until accepting the position with Charlotte in 2008. He earned three championship rings as an NBA coach, and he is a six-time coach of the year. As an undergraduate, Herb was a two-time varsity letter winner as well as a sports columnist for the Vermont Cynic. After receiving his master’s degree, he began his coaching career at C.W. Post College, where he served as an assistant coach until becoming head coach at S.U.N.Y. Stony Brook in 1969. Brown was also Stony Brook’s first baseball coach. He was named Conference Coach of the Year at both Post and Stony Brook.
R. Jarrett Lilien ’84
New York, New York
R. Jarrett Lilien became president and chief operating officer of E Trade Financial Corporation in 2003. In that role, he has been responsible for the tactical execution of the company’s global business strategies. He joined E Trade Financial in 1999 after having served as chief executive officer of TIR Holdings Limited for ten years. While at E Trade, he drove revenue growth and enhanced profitability, strengthening E Trade’s value for customers. In 2006, the company’s Board of Directors was expanded, and in 2008, Jarrett was elected president and chief operating officer. During his tenure, he effectively reorganized the business, focusing on providing leading-edge brokerage capabilities to the company’s global customer households and market segments. Lilien has held numerous positions in companies including Paine Webber and Autranet, a division of Donaldson Lufkin & Jenrette, Inc.
Eric Lipton ’87
Washington, D.C.
Eric Lipton began his career in journalism as a member of the Vermont Cynic staff. By the time he graduated, he had risen to the position of editor-in chief, and he had brought the Cynic to new heights of reporting. He also served as a student trustee during his undergraduate years. Since graduating from UVM, Lipton has worked for some of the nation’s largest and most respected news organizations, including the New York Times, the Washington Post, and the Hartford Courant, as he built a successful career in journalism. In 1992, he shared a Pulitzer Prize in Explanatory Journalism for his investigative reporting on how flaws in the Hubble Telescope had escaped detection. City in the Sky: The Rise and Fall of the World Trade Center, his insightful chronicle of the birth and tragic death of New York’s twin towers, was published in 2003 and received critical acclaim as “the definitive biography of the iconic skyscrapers and the ambitions that shaped them.”
Keith Meurlin ’72
Oak Hill, Virginia
Keith Meurlin has built a notable career in military service since his graduation from UVM. He earned his commission through the Army Reserve Officers Training Corps program in 1972 and began a steady rise through the ranks. He spent many years training to be a pilot and served on active duty as a KC-125 pilot as well as in the Air National Guard as a C-7 pilot. With more than thirty years of military service and training, Meurlin also became a knowledgeable and strategic leader and rose to the rank of major general. He later joined the Reserve and served in numerous positions in aircraft maintenance, at the Air Staff, and at the Air Logistics Center. For twenty-eight years, Meurlin was employed by the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority as vice president and airport manager of Dulles, and he was recognized with the Tower of Dulles Award in 2002. He retired in 2005.
Janet Reynolds ’78
Stowe, Vermont
Janet Reynolds has earned widespread acclaim for her accomplishments as an outdoor adventuress with several important “firsts” to her credit. She was the first woman to reach the top of Mount Cook in New Zealand, a member of the first team of western skiers to visit China in 1980, and the first woman to reach the top of Mount Muztagata in Chinese Pamirs, a site that had never been reached on skis and only scaled twice before. After scaling the mountain using no oxygen, she achieved a high-altitude record for women skiing down it. In 1982, she was on a team completing a 200-mile trek around Mount Everest on skis, the first time that had been done. She is the author of Everest Grand Circle, documenting this monumental accomplishment, and also is author of Mothers and Children, portraying the lives of indigenous people in the Himalayas. She has traveled the world documenting indigenous cultures as an author/photographer/educator. Reynolds was inducted into the Vermont Ski Hall of Fame in 2008.
YOUNG ALUMNI AWARD
Kelly Kisiday ’04
Boston, Mass.
Kelly Kisiday has been a leader since her days as a UVM student, having been elected class president while an undergraduate and representing the Class of 2004 on the UVM Alumni Council. After graduation, she joined the Young Alumni Committee and helped with fundraising efforts among her classmates and other young alumni classes. As an alumna, she has been the volunteer class secretary for the Class of 2004, and in that role, over the past five years she has been dedicated to gathering news of her classmates and sharing it in each issue of Vermont Quarterly. She is currently actively involved in her class’s upcoming 5th Reunion Committee as committee co-chair.
Caitlin McPherran ’04
Boston, Mass.
Caitlin McPherran served as a member of the Washington, D.C., Regional Board for three years, and when she moved to Boston in the summer of 2008, she offered to help recruit alumni to bring new enthusiasm to UVM’s effort there. She has attended numerous activities and usually volunteers her time at these events as well. Caitlin has attended several admitted student receptions and student sendoffs in Washington over the past three years. She volunteered to staff UVM events at Glen Echo Park even when she was no longer a member of the Regional Board. Now in her 5th Reunion as a member of the class of 2004 Reunion Committee, she is applying her talents in a new role as a Gift Committee volunteer.
Marissa Stokes ’99
Burlington, Vt.