The University of Vermont Foundation and the UVM Alumni Association honored outstanding alumni at an evening event on Thursday, October 3 at UVM Alumni House. The annual “Celebrating Excellence” ceremony was attended by over 225 [BY1]people and featured remarks by the University of Vermont Foundations President and CEO Shane Jacobson. UVM Alumni Association President Afi Ahmadi ’93 presented the 2019 awards to the honorees.
The 2019 award recipients are:
Outstanding Young Alumni Award: Ariel Wengroff ’11
Alumni Achievement Award: Polly Dolan ’89
Alumni Achievement Award: William L. Librera ’68, G’72
Alumni Achievement Award: Robert A. Reese ’79
Alumni Association Distinguished Service Award: Marc R. Compagnon ’80
2019 Outstanding Young Alumni Award: Ariel Wengroff ’11
Ariel’s work has highlighted the challenges faced by marginalized communities and amplified disenfranchised voices around the world, especially those of women. While working for VICE Media, she was an Executive Producer of the Emmy-nominated show “Woman” with Gloria Steinem. At 26, her work on the program garnered her an Emmy nomination in the Outstanding Documentary or Nonfiction Series category. Ariel later helped develop a course at the USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism based on “Woman.” She served as publisher of Broadly, VICE’s women and LGBTQ+ identity channel, where she helped establish Broadly as an internationally recognized brand. As Chief of Staff at VICE, Ariel worked on interviews with several luminaries, including President George W. Bush, President Barack Obama, and Nobel laureate Malala Yousafzai. Today, Ariel is co-founder and chief content officer at Arfa, Inc. Her accomplishments and promise have been recognized with a place on the 2019 Forbes “30 Under 30” Media list. At UVM, Ariel majored in English (earning the Department’s Benjamin B. Wainwright Prize for poetry) and took part in the Living/Learning creative writing program (The Inkpot). Ariel resides in Brooklyn, New York.
2019 Alumni Achievement Award: Polly Dolan ’89
Polly has been living and working alongside the people of Eastern and Southern Africa to help create and foster opportunities since 1996. After working in community development and environmental conservation in Uganda and Tanzania for the humanitarian organization CARE for six years, she became an independent consultant with a focus in the health, education, and vulnerable children programming areas. In 2008 during her 10th year in Tanzania, driven by her desire to help highly vulnerable Tanzanian girls gain a quality education to escape poverty and exploitation, Polly founded Secondary Education for Girls’ Advancement (SEGA) in Morogoro, Tanzania. Supported by Nurturing Minds in Africa (a U.S.-based non-profit organization Polly founded with her sister), SEGA empowers young women who are impoverished, marginalized, and at-risk of becoming involved in exploitative forms of child labor. To do this SEGA has three main programs: a secondary boarding school with over 270 students (90% on full scholarship); a scholarship program which provides support for SEGA graduates to continue their education after high school; and a mentoring program where SEGA graduates reach 300 girls in their community per year, providing awareness, knowledge and skills. Polly majored in Sociology at UVM and went on to earn a Master’s degree in international administration (international development) from the School for International Training in Brattleboro, Vermont. She has recently returned to the U.S., and now resides in Gladwyne, Pennsylvania, with her husband, John, and daughter, Martha.
2019 Alumni Achievement Award: William L. Librera ’68, G’72
Bill has dedicated himself and his career to the students, teachers, and families of New Jersey. Guided by his passion for education, he served as a public sector educator in the state for more than forty years. After several years in the classroom as a social studies teacher, he went on to serve as a superintendent and chief school administrator in several districts. The Governor of New Jersey appointed Bill to his cabinet as Commissioner of Education in 2002. As Commissioner, Bill oversaw 1.3 million students and a budget of $8.6 billion and worked with peers throughout the United States to enhance teaching and learning. In 2005, he became the Presidential Research Scholar and Chief Executive Officer of Rutgers University’s Institute for Improving Student Achievement. Bill has always championed early childhood education, special education, and services for families struggling with poverty. His significant positive impact on the world of education is widely recognized. At UVM, Bill was a standout on the varsity basketball team and majored in education. He returned to campus soon after graduation to earn an M.A. in history, and later went on to earn an Ed.M. and an Ed.D. from the Graduate School of Education at Rutgers. Bill resides in Smiths Landing, New York with his wife, Nancy ’68. The couple has three adult children.
2019 Alumni Achievement Award: Robert A. Reese ’79
Bob is recognized as a far-sighted entrepreneur who has played a significant role in developing the artisan cheese movement in America. In 1984, Bob and his business partner, Allison Hooper, took a few thousand dollars in start-up money and founded Vermont Butter and Cheese. Today, the company is called Vermont Creamery and employs over one hundred people at its central Vermont cheesemaking facility. Under Bob’s leadership, Vermont Creamery became a Certified B Corporation and built a strong reputation for innovation and for its commitment to sustainability. Bob has received widespread recognition in the dairy and food sectors, earning praise not only for creating outstanding artisanal products, but for promoting consumers’ awareness, appreciation, and demand for high-quality, local cheeses. Recently he was inducted into the Specialty Food Hall of Fame by the Specialty Food Association. Throughout his career, he has demonstrated exceptional dedication to the farmers, lands, and creamery artisans of Vermont, and has been a leader in a dairy and cheesemaking industry that is crucial to Vermont’s economic vitality, particularly in rural areas. A Burlington native, Bob majored in agricultural economics in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at UVM and went on to earn an MBA from the University of Southern New Hampshire. Bob resides in South Hero, Vermont with his wife, Sandra. The couple has three adult sons and two grandchildren.
2019 Alumni Association Distinguished Service Award: Marc R. Compagnon ’89
Marc is truly a global ambassador for the University of Vermont, and stands as a role model within the alumni community. His deep and selfless commitment to the welfare of UVM and its students illustrates that an individual can have an impact on their alma mater wherever in the world their career takes them. Since graduating, Marc has served UVM in several volunteer capacities, most notably with the Grossman School of Business. An active member of the Grossman School’s Board of Advisors since the early 2010s, Marc has played a valuable role in career planning improvements and the development of new MBA options. Furthermore, he has frequently come to campus to share his expertise in global business and supply chain with students and faculty. In recognition of his inspirational success and service, Marc was invited to deliver the commencement address for the Grossman School in 2018. In his remarks, he encouraged students to view the world as “one, holistic place” where they could—and should—make a difference. Marc earned a bachelor’s degree in zoology from UVM and moved to Thailand and then Hong Kong a year after graduating. He spent the next 17 years helping to create a global sourcing and supply chain business which he and his partners then sold to Li & Fung, the world’s largest global supply chain company. Marc has spent the last nineteen years with Li & Fung and today is Senior Advisor to the Fung Group, and a Non-Executive Director on the Li & Fung Ltd Board. In addition, he owns several other businesses. He resides in Hong Kong with his wife, Carol. They have two children.
About the Awards
Since 1979, the Young Alumni Award has been awarded to alumni who graduated within the past ten years in recognition of volunteer service to the University of Vermont and to the Alumni Association, and of commitment to furthering the mission of the University. The Alumni Achievement Award has been awarded since 1985 to honor alumni for outstanding achievement that has been recognized at the local, state, and/or national level. The Alumni Distinguished Service Award has been awarded since 1958 to alumni volunteer leaders whose service to the University of Vermont and to the Alumni Association has enhanced the reputation and furthered the mission of the University.
You may submit nominations for the 2020 awards here.
About The University of Vermont Foundation: The University of Vermont Foundation is a nonprofit corporation established in 2011 to secure and manage private support for the benefit of the University of Vermont, one of the nation’s premier small research universities. For further information about the impact of philanthropy at UVM, please contact the UVM Foundation at 802-656-2010 or [email protected].