Wall of Fame
Seven distinguished UD graduates inducted into Alumni Wall of Fame
2:11 p.m., June 11, 2015--Seven University of Delaware alumni were honored for their outstanding accomplishments by being inducted into the Alumni Wall of Fame during a ceremony Saturday evening, June 6, in the Roselle Center for the Arts.
The ceremony, hosted by the University of Delaware Alumni Association (UDAA), was held during the seventh annual Alumni Weekend.
Honors Stories
National Medal of Science
Warren Award
The inductees were David G. DeWalt, chairman and chief executive officer of the cybersecurity company FireEye Inc., who also was the 2015 UD Commencement speaker; Richard E. Emmert, who had more than 30 years of service with DuPont, rising to the executive level as vice president of several units, including electronics; Charles W. Horn, founder and chairman of Pro Private Equity; Raymond A. Jacobsen Jr., partner with McDermott, Will and Emery; Linda Laskowski-Jones, vice president of Christiana Care Emergency and Trauma Services; Thomas F. Shumosic, founder and president of MidAtlantic Retirement Services; and Kenneth C. Whitney, senior adviser, The Blackstone Group.
Established in 1984 by the UDAA, the Alumni Wall of Fame recognizes outstanding professional and public service achievements by UD graduates. The induction ceremony was part of Alumni Weekend festivities held throughout the weekend on campus.
The ceremony opened with a welcome by UD Alumni Association President Kenneth Jones and remarks by Elizabeth Quartararo and Mark Rucci, the 2015 recipients of the UDAA’s Emalea Pusey Warner Award and Alexander J. Taylor Sr. Award as the outstanding senior woman and man, respectively.
The Alumni Wall of Fame inductees were recognized by University President Patrick Harker, who said their “lives of success and service strengthen the University’s most fundamental mission.”
“The seven Alumni Wall of Famers we’re celebrating this afternoon have left indelible impressions on their communities and their colleagues, their professions and this University,” Harker said.
He noted that the honorees give back to their alma mater. “They give their time, their good advice, their energy and expertise,” he said. “Their investment in the University makes us so much stronger than we could be on our own.”
Alumni Wall of Fame Class of 2015
David G. DeWalt earned a bachelor’s degree in computer science in 1986. He is chairman and chief executive officer of FireEye Inc., a cybersecurity firm with more than 2,500 employees worldwide and more than 3,100 customers across more than 67 nations. Prior to FireEye, DeWalt was president and CEO of McAfee Inc. and led the acquisition of McAfee by Intel for $7.7 billion in 2010.
DeWalt serves on the boards of Delta Airlines and Five9, and he was previously on the boards of Jive Software and Polycom. A member of the World Economic Forum IT and telecom industry board of governors, he was appointed by President Barack Obama to the National Security Telecommunications Advisory Council (NSTAC) in 2011.
As a recognized expert on mergers and acquisitions, DeWalt is the author of Making M and A Work He is a frequent guest on international business broadcast programs, appearing regularly on Bloomberg TV, CNBC, CNN and Fox Business.
DeWalt gave the 2015 Commencement address and was recognized with the Alumni Wall of Fame award during that event.
Richard E. Emmert received a master’s degree in 1952 and a doctorate in 1954 and was introduced at the event by T.W. Fraser Russell, Allan P. Colburn Professor Emeritus of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering. Emmert retired from DuPont in 1987 after over 30 years of service. He served in a variety of roles including vice president of corporate plans, general manager of textile fibers, director of instrument products, director of research and development-pigments, manager of engineering technology and materials research and in numerous manufacturing and research and development positions over his career. In his last role as vice president of electronics his expertise in chemical reaction technology and mass transfer was recognized with many career honors.
Emmert was elected to the National Academy of Engineering, the highest professional honor that the engineering profession can bestow upon an individual, in 1985, for outstanding engineering research, administration of engineering work, and corporate planning in the chemical industry.
Emmert was a member of the inaugural advisory council of the UD Department of Chemical Engineering, beginning in 1983, and served on the College of Engineering Advisory Council. He has also served as president of the University of Delaware Research Foundation.
Charles W. Horn earned a bachelor’s degree in sociology in 1975. He is an active entrepreneur based in Tucson, Arizona, and an investor in numerous high-growth companies focusing on the areas of health care and consumer benefits marketing and technologies. Horn has founded and grown multiple companies that were recognized as being among the most admired and best places to work in the state of Arizona. One of his companies, ScriptSave, established a national position as the leader in providing third party prescription benefits, saved its customers more than $100 million annually and was accepted by every major pharmacy chain prior to its acquisition by MedImpact Healthcare Systems in July 2013.
Horn currently serves as founder and chairman of Pro Private Equity, which includes nine portfolio companies ranging from member management to logistics to specialty insurance to visual effects.
In 2012, Horn and his wife, Patty, committed $3 million to the University to enhance and expand entrepreneurial studies at UD through the creation of the Horn Program in Entrepreneurship, an interdisciplinary program housed in the Alfred Lerner College of Business and Economics.
Horn was presented the Alumni Wall of Fame award during the Horn Program’s Hen Hatch event held in late April.
Raymond A. Jacobsen Jr. earned a bachelor’s degree in political science in 1971. After graduating from UD, Jacobsen went on to graduate from the Georgetown University Law School and for the past 15 years has worked as a lead partner in one of the largest law firms in the world, McDermott Will and Emery LLP, based in Washington, D.C. His firm has over 1,100 lawyers in 16 offices across the U.S. and Europe and represents most of the Fortune 100 corporations and 20 of the 25 wealthiest families in the world.
As head of McDermott’s antitrust group, Jacobsen has represented major companies including Lockheed Martin, Amgen, PepsiCo, Greyhound and Mobil on many of their biggest transactions and lawsuits, and he has successfully defended numerous Federal Trade Commission and Justice Department investigations. Jacobsen has never lost a case.
Jacobsen has organized and chaired the DC Committee of the Jefferson Awards for Public Service, which recognize and encourage public service activities by youth, and he has chaired two American Bar Association Committees.
In 2012, he and his wife created the Raymond and Marilyn Jacobsen Scholarship to support students in the College of Arts and Sciences interested in pursuing a law degree. Jacobsen has also mentored several students and graduates who were interested in pursuing law school and remains connected to UD in many significant ways, serving as a founding member of the College of Arts and Sciences Dean’s Advisory Council and member of the President’s Leadership Council.
Linda Laskowski-Jones earned a bachelor’s degree in 1983, a master’s degree in 1987 and a post-master’s certificate in health care administration in 1993. Since 2006, Laskowski-Jones has been vice president of emergency and trauma services at Christiana Care Health System, which ranks 12th in emergency department visits on the East Coast and 22nd nationally.
Laskowski-Jones is a clinical expert in emergency and trauma and a role model for the nursing profession and all health care professionals. She has authored more than 60 articles and book chapters in peer-reviewed nursing publications, and presented over 100 lectures on trauma and emergency care topics at both regional and national levels.
In 1992, Laskowski-Jones received a governor’s appointment to serve on the Delaware Board of Nursing and within two years, she became board president. She is currently a member of the College of Health Sciences Advisory Council.
Thomas F. Shumosic earned a bachelor’s degree in leadership and consumer economics in 2006. Shumosic is a founder of MidAtlantic Retirement Planning Specialists in Wilmington, Delaware, and is an independent financial adviser with Cadaret Grant. He is responsible for maintaining existing relationships, cultivating new client engagements and overseeing his firm’s team of advisers.
Shumosic earned his certified financial planner (CFP) designation from the College for Financial Planning and his Accredited Investment Fiduciary (AIF) designation through the Center for Fiduciary Studies, which is a part of the Joseph Katz School of Business at the University of Pittsburgh. He has been voted by his peers and recognized as a top 100 retirement plan adviser since 2007 by Plan Advisor Magazine.
In 2014, Shumosic was honored as a top five finalist for retirement plan adviser of the year by Plan Sponsor Magazine and he has been named a candidate for this honor again in 2015.
Shumosic previously served as a board member with the University of Delaware Alumni Association, including a three-year term on the Executive Committee and chair of the Merchandise and Benefits Committee. He contributes to several non-profits including the Delaware Center for Contemporary Arts and the Epilepsy Foundation of Delaware.
Kenneth C. Whitney earned a bachelor’s degree in accounting in 1980 and was a member of the golf team. He began his career at Coopers and Lybrand in 1980, where he spent time in the firm's accounting and audit areas as well as in the tax and mergers and acquisitions areas. He is currently a senior adviser with The Blackstone Group.
Much of his professional career has been spent in the private equity industry, primarily with Blackstone. During his tenure he has raised over $75 billion in capital for various funds in the investment business and he retired in 2013 as senior managing director and head of investor relations/business development.
Whitney currently runs a private investment office where he has invested in several startup companies, and also invested in several entertainment projects, including a movie that he is currently producing.
Whitney serves on the University’s Board of Trustees and he and his wife Liz created the Whitney Family Scholarship in 2005 and the Whitney Family Chair of Accounting and Management Information Systems in 2011.
At the annual Celebration of Scholarship event in late April, Whitney was presented the Alumni Wall of Fame award and he and his wife Liz were recognized with the President’s Award for Philanthropic Commitment.
Photos by Evan Krape