2021 Distinguished Alumni Awards W&L is proud to announce the 2021 Distinguished Alumni Award winners
Washington and Lee University is proud to announce the 2021 Distinguished Alumni Award winners. We will celebrate them during this year’s Virtual Alumni Week. Visit the website for a full schedule of events.
Matt Cole ‘71Madison “Matt” F. Cole Jr. ‘71
A history major, Matt was involved in the Calyx, Contact Committee, University Media Board and graduated ODK. Matt joined Wesleyan School in 1998 after 25 years in profit businesses. In his 20 years he served as Executive Headmaster of Development and had additional responsibilities in finance, endowment, college advising, mentoring and teaching AP History. During his tenure, he raised over $130 million and currently serves on the Endowment and Finance Committee. Originally from Newnan, Georgia, Matt is involved in the Atlanta community and serves on several nonprofit boards including Good Samaritan Health Center, Canterbury Court Retirement Community, Georgia Gwinnett College Foundation, Georgia Tech Scheller College of Business Advisory Board and the George Marshall Foundation. Matt received his MBA from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.
Drew Kumpuris ’71Andrew G. Kumpuris ’71
A biology major, Drew was a member of Sigma Alpha Epsilon and the varsity football team. He graduated cum laude and ODK. After W&L, Drew went to Baylor College of Medicine. He is currently a Clinical Cardiologist at the Heart Clinic of Arkansas. In addition, he also serves as an adjunct professor of health policy at the Clinton School of Public Service of Little Rock and is a Robert Wood Johnson Health Care Policy Fellow.
Drew is board certified in Cardiovascular Disease, Interventional Cardiology and Internal Medicine. He has written more than 25 published articles in leading medical journals. He is on the Board of Directors of the Arkansas Center for Health Improvement; the University of Arkansas, Little Rock; the chairman of the board of St. Vincent’s health systems; and founder of NuShores bioscience LLC. Nanotechnology company. He has sat on the boards of Worthern National Bank, Boatmens National Bank, and Bank of America.
He is the recipient of the Bernard De La Harpe Award from the Greater Little Rock Leadership Institute. He is past member of the Governor’s Task Force on Health Care Reform, the Arkansas State and Public School Employees Insurance Board, the Coalition for a Healthy Arkansas Today (CHART), the President Clinton appointed Task Group on Health Care Delivery, past Chief Medical Resident at Baylor College of Medicine, the Assistant Professor of Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine, Medical Director of Cardiology and the Director of the Cardiac Catheterization Lab at Columbia Doctors Hospital in Little Rock, the Medical Director of the Coronary Care Unit, Step-Down Units and the Cardiac Catheterization Lab at St. Vincent Health in Little Rock.
Drew has also served on the Board of Directors for the local Big Brothers Big Sisters Foundation; the Center for the arts in Crested Butte, Colorado; the Arkansas symphony Orchestra and was a founding board member of the Shepherd higher education consortium on poverty. He had his residency at the Baylor College of Medicine and his fellowship at Baylor College of Medicine and Health Care Policy Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Institute of Medicine in Washington, DC.
Buddy LeTourneau ’71Harry “Buddy” D. LeTourneau, Jr. ’71
An economics major, Buddy was a member of Delta Tau Delta and was active with the Calyx. After W&L he received his MBA from the Darden School of the University of Virginia in 1973.
Buddy operated BLT Consulting, a retained search practice specializing exclusively in the higher education market segment until he retired at year-end 2019. He brought executive management experience to the search process, first to an eclectic universe of manufacturing, retail, and banking organizations, and since summer 2009, to the higher ed market. Throughout his time in private practice, he concentrated on working with clients that demanded high levels of personal attention, meticulous detail, and interactive communication and consultation throughout the search process.
Prior to forming his search practice, he was President and Chief Executive of the former Staff Leasing Group of Bradenton, FL. The company was the country’s largest professional employer organization (PEO) that serviced more than 65,000 employees for 6,000 commercial clients.
Buddy spent the first 21 years of his career as a corporate banker and executive with NCNB and NationsBank, the predecessor banks to the current Bank of America. While at NCNB/NationsBank, he developed the bank’s corporate banking business in Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and New York State, established and ran its Treasury Management business during the decade of the 1980s. As Executive Vice President and Group Executive, he managed the bank’s Institutional Operations Group. In this latter capacity, he was responsible for the production of all cash management services, operating the wire transfer and ACH payment systems, managing the commercial loan operations and processing securities transactions for the bank and its Capital Markets Company. He was a nationally recognized expert in cash management and corporate utilization of the commercial banking system.
For the 15-year period ending April 2012, he served as a Director of The TLC Companies, a professional employer organization that is based in Brooklyn Center, Minnesota, and he dedicated an equally long period working to lead the Darden Alumni Chapter in Charlotte. He is now serving in his 26th year as Class Agent for the class of ’71; in this capacity he organizes class reunion events and raises funds from his class for the university’s Annual Fund. He also served a four-year term on the University’s Alumni Board and a two-year stint as a member of the school’s Annual Fund Council. In addition, he was the Chair of the Charlotte chapter of INROADS and worked as a Board member of the INROADS Southeast Region organization during a 20-year period ending in 2011.
Staman Ogilvie ’71Staman Ogilvie ’71
A member of Beta Theta Pi, Staman served on the Executive Committee, was on the varsity football team, was ROTC and graduated cum laude and ODK. After W&L, he received his MBA from Harvard Business School.
Staman spent Forty-one years in professional life – all with Hines, the world’s only fully global real estate development company. During that 41-year career, he led business units that have developed projects like Post Oak Central and Toyota Center in Houston, the First Colony community in Fort Bend County, the Galleria in Dallas as well as major developments in the U.S. Southwest, Northeast, and Pacific Northwest. For the last 25 years, his responsibilities included a territory in Hines’s international sphere, the Eurasia Region, in which Hines has developed both commercial and residential buildings in countries new to private enterprise and capitalism – Russia, Poland, and India.
Staman’s not-for-profit interests include a variety of education organizations, performing arts entities, and the United Way. He has served on the board of the Kinkaid School since 1999, including a stint as Board Chairman. He is accustomed to leadership roles in the building programs of not-for-profits (including currently chairing the development committee of the Houston Country Club as it redevelops its 65-year old campus). Staman has been involved in the founding of several charities, most recently, in conjunction with the University of Texas Health Science Center and Memorial Hermann System, the Staman Ogilvie Fund for Spinal Cord Injury Recovery, Rehabilitation & Research.
Staman and his wife, Beverly, have two sons and two grandsons. His sons have not followed in their father’s footsteps: one is project manager in mobile device app technology; the other is a coder at Facebook after a 15-year career as a musical theater actor.
Joe Tompkins ’71Joseph B. Tompkins, Jr. ’71
At W&L, Joe was involved in many school activities, including serving on the Executive Committee for four years, one as Vice President of the student body. He was a member of Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity and graduated ODK. After graduation, he decided to attend Harvard Law School. During his first year at Harvard Law, Joe heard about a new Joint Degree Program that was about to start between the Law School and the Kennedy School of Government. Joe decided to apply to the Joint Degree Program. He was accepted and, in 1975, he graduated from that Program.
Joe had an interest in working in government and in practicing law. After graduating from Harvard, Joe decided to work for a law firm in Washington starting in the Fall of 1975. He chose to work for Sidley & Austin, a large Chicago-based law firm with a Washington office. The Carter Administration came into office in January 1977, and in late 1977, Philip Heymann, who was part of the core faculty at the Kennedy School, was appointed Assistant Attorney General in charge of the Criminal Division at the Department of Justice. Mr. Heymann had worked with Joe at both the Kennedy School and Harvard Law School and, in 1979, he called Joe and said that he wanted him to work for him. Joe accepted and was put in charge of a government-wide study of how the Department was combatting White Collar Crime. Based on his work, Joe wrote a report entitled “National Priorities for the Investigation and Prosecution of White Collar Crime”, which was published in August 1980. According to the Government Printing Office, that report was a best seller. Joe then was appointed Deputy Chief of the Fraud Section and was directly involved in numerous criminal investigations.
Joe returned to Sidley & Austin in June 1982. After he returned, he started the Firm’s White Collar Crime practice and later served as a team leader of the firm’s Complex Commercial Litigation practice. His practice includes a variety of civil litigation and white collar criminal matters. In recent years, Joe has represented corporate and individual clients in connection with complex internal investigations, commercial litigation in federal and state courts, and numerous Department of Justice and Securities and Exchange Commission investigations. Joe recently led the firm’s representation of Bank of America in the Multi-District Litigation proceeding involving Parmalat, the Italian dairy company that engaged in a multibillion dollar international fraud. His team was successful in getting five out of the six cases brought against Bank of America dismissed in their entirety, and the sixth case settled for less than one percent of the damages sought by the plaintiff. The smallest Parmalat-related case sought $535 million in damages, while the largest sought $10 billion in damages. Joe has also represented a number of other major financial institutions that have been the victims of fraud and corrupt activity, including the World Bank and other domestic and international banks. In recognition of Joe’s litigation success, he is frequently and consistently recognized in publications such as The Legal 500: United States, Who’s Who in the World and Who’s Who in American Law (1985- present). In the 2015 and 2016 editions of The Legal 500: United States he is listed as a recommended lawyer. Joe has been listed as a “Top Rated Lawyer” by Super Lawyers for many years. Most recently, Joe has been selected as one of the “Top Attorneys of North America” (2018-2021).
Betsy Blunt Brown ’96Betsy Blunt Brown ’96
Betsy graduated with a BS in Business Administration and a BA in East Asian Studies. As a student, she was a member of Kathekon, the Student Activities Board, the 1996 Mock Convention Steering Committee, and President of Kappa Kappa Gamma. Betsy has been an energetic supporter of Washington and Lee, serving as past President of the Chattanooga Alumni Chapter, past Treasurer of the Atlanta Chapter and co-chair for the Class of 1996 20th Reunion Committee. She has also been an active participant in the annual Connolly Center for Entrepreneurship Summit.
Betsy is Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Pendleton Square Trust Company and also serves as a Director of Pendleton Square Holdings, LLC. Betsy and her team are trailblazers in developing a beneficiary- focused, Tennessee-chartered trust company and technology platform providing trust and estate administration. Pendleton Square is focused on building multi-generational family relationships, executing family legacy plans and partnering with family advisors for investment management. Prior to Pendleton Square, Betsy worked at Cumberland Trust and JPMorgan Private Bank serving families throughout the Southeast. She was also a Director with SunTrust Robinson Humphrey’s Corporate & Investment Banking group for over a decade. She holds an MBA from Georgia State University.
Betsy is a General Partner in The JumpFund, an angel investment fund dedicated to investing in female-led businesses in the Southeast. The JumpFund has invested in over 30 companies, and maintains an active portfolio of high-growth, scalable ventures in the fintech, life sciences, consumer products and technology industries. In addition to her professional responsibilities, Betsy serves as a Trustee of the University of Chattanooga Foundation, Reflection Riding Arboretum & Nature Center and The Generosity Trust. She is prior Trustee of her alma mater, Girls Preparatory School. Betsy is also an active member of the Rotary Club of Chattanooga, Signal Mountain Presbyterian Church, the Estate Planning Council, and the Southeastern Family Office Forum. Betsy lives on Signal Mountain with her husband, Hugh, and 3 children, Lizzie, Hugh and Hudson.
(Photo by Kenneth Gabrielsen/Getty Images for Goldman Sachs)Megan Fernstrum Taylor ’96
A member of Pi Beta Phi, Megan majored in international relations and graduated summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa.
Megan recently joined HPS Investment Partners, a leading global credit investment firm, as a partner with primary responsibility for strategy and the development of new business lines. Prior to joining HPS, Megan spent more than twenty years at Goldman Sachs, including 10 years as partner. Most recently, Megan was the Chief Operating Officer of the firm’s Private Wealth Management business. Prior to that she was the Head of Strategy and Chief Financial Officer for the Investment Management Division, led the Firmwide Strategy Group and was an investment banker on the Natural Resources team. While at Goldman, Megan served on a number of key firm, divisional and wealth management-specific governance groups focused on clients, business standards, new activities and risk.
She also acted as an advocate and senior sponsor in the effort to recruit, develop and retain female and diverse talent. Megan was named an “Influential Woman in Business” by the YWCA. Megan serves on the Board of Directors of the Goldman Sachs Philanthropy Fund and the Ayco Charitable Fund. As an alumna, Megan has been very active with the Williams School Advisory Board. She lives in New York City with her husband, Brett, and their two sons.
Patrick White ’96Patrick White ’96
An economics major, Patrick was a member of Pi Kappa Phi, Southern Comfort, and played tennis while at W&L. He was been an extremely active alum, serving as President of the Alumni Board, on several reunion committees and as Los Angeles Chapter President.
Patrick is a Managing Director with Benefit Street Partners in San Francisco, where he leads the firm’s investment activities in the Western U.S. Benefit Street Partners is the primary private and liquid credit manager within Franklin Templeton’s alternative investments platform. Patrick has over twenty years of experience in middle market finance, providing senior and junior debt, and minority equity to businesses in the technology, healthcare/life sciences and industrials sectors. Prior to Benefit Street Partners, Patrick worked in principal finance and investment banking with Monroe Capital, H.I.G. Capital and Houlihan Lokey. Additionally, Patrick is a Veteran of Operation Iraqi Freedom where he served in numerous combat leadership roles as an Infantry Officer in the U.S. Army.
Patrick and his wife, Katie (a native Mobilian and Hollins Alumnae) live in Orinda, CA where they enjoy golf, tennis, and cheering for the Crimson Tide. Now that their identical twin sons (Geoff and Jack) and younger daughter (Avril) are 13 and 8, respectively, they look forward to putting travel back on the interest list.
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