RIT honors distinguished alumni for leadership and community service

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Ken Huth | photographer

Distinguished Alumni for 2008 are, from left: David Wagner ’86 (GCCIS), Britta MacIntosh ’89 (KGCOE), Susan Riley ’80, ’91 (SCB), Paul Carr ’75 (CAST) and Karen Benjamin ’93 (COLA). Missing are Kathryn “Kathy” Hill ’78 (COS), Barbara M. “Bobbie” Fallon ’89 (NTID), Jacolyn J. “Jackie” Bucksbaum ’84 and William Snyder, ’81.

RIT’s Distinguished Alumni for 2008 were honored at a dinner in April at Oak Hill Country Club. The awards are presented to a graduate of each of RIT’s eight colleges who has brought distinction to the college and to the university through professional and/or community achievement.

Recipients are selected by a committee of faculty and administrators from each college. The 2008 Distinguished Alumni Award recipients are:

• Paul Carr ’75 (College of Applied Science and Technology). Carr, a graduate of RIT’s first class in civil engineering technology, went on to receive a master’s (Cornell) and a Ph.D. (Virginia Polytechnic Institute) in civil engineering. After working for construction contractors for several years, he founded a professional engineering consulting company, Bernier-Carr and Associates, in 1980 and served as chief executive until retiring in 1998. He continues his work as a forensic engineering consultant, and also teaches at Cornell.
• Karen Benjamin ’93 (College of Liberal Arts). Benjamin, a graduate of the professional and technical communications program, is the co-founder and co-owner of Worldleaders, a search firm focused on hiring executives and leadership talent across human resources, sales, marketing, information technology and finance. Prior to launching Worldleaders, she was a vice president at Ciber, an international information technology consulting firm. She was recognized as an up-and-coming executive in 2003 by the Rochester Women’s Network and was named IT Woman of the Year by the Association for Women in Computing in 2004. She received an M.S. in management from Roberts Wesleyan College.
• Kathryn “Kathy” Hill ’78 (College of Science). Hill, who majored in mathematics at RIT, is senior vice president of the Access Networking and Services Group at Cisco Systems. She oversees the access routing, ethernet switching, security and wireless technology groups that deliver over $10 billion of Cisco’s annual revenues. She is also a member of the company’s Development Council, which provides collaborative leadership to drive the delivery of integrated products and solutions to customers, and co-leads Cisco’s Commercial Business Council, among other duties. Prior to joining Cisco, Hill was vice president at Ascend. She also held senior management positions at Newbridge Networks and Hughes Network Systems. Hill lives in Palo Alto, Calif.
• David Wagner ’86 (B. Thomas Golisano College of Computing and Information Sciences). Wagner, who earned a bachelor of technology degree in operating systems software, has served as president and chief executive officer of Vanteon Corp. since 2002 and co-owner since 2003. He started with Vanteon in 2000 as director of the Rochester Development Center. From 1989 to 2000, David worked for Analysts International Corporation. From 1982 to 1989, he served in various capacities of software engineering for Tropel Inc.’s research lab in Fairport, N.Y. He is a member of RIT’s Computer Science Industrial Advisory Board and the Executive Advisory Board at Roberts Wesleyan College. In addition, David is an active member of the Rochester Business Alliance, Small Business Council and Digital Rochester.
• Britta MacIntosh ’89 (Kate Gleason College of Engineering). Following graduation from RIT, MacIntosh moved to Boston to work for Syska and Hennessy as a design engineer. She also attended Northeastern University and received her M.S. in mechanical dngineering in 1992. She joined Select Energy Services in 1991 as a project engineer, where she developed and implemented energy efficiency projects for clients such as the U.S. Navy and the Boston Red Sox. She advanced to become manager of engineering and construction before becoming director of business development. In 2004, MacIntosh joined Sempra Energy as vice president of government programs. She is currently vice president of business development for NORESCO LLC in Westborough, Mass., a leading energy services company that has developed, engineered, financed, installed and maintained more than $2 billion in energy efficiency and renewable energy projects worldwide.
• Barbara M. “Bobbie” Fallon ’89 (National Technical Institute for the Deaf). The Distinguished Alumnus Award for NTID is being awarded posthumously to Fallon, who died unexpectedly in February shortly after learning of her selection. Fallon enrolled in the accounting program at RIT/NTID at the age of 32, after working as a bookkeeper and accounting clerk for 14 years. Despite being the oldest in her classes, Fallon quickly became one of NTID’s most recognized and admired students. A cooperative work experience at KPMG turned into a permanent job, beginning as an auditor and eventually becoming a supervising senior tax specialist in the Montvale, N.J., office. She was active in community outreach and received the KPMG Montvale Area Chairman’s Award for Volunteerism in 2001. Fallon lived in Yonkers, N.Y.
• Susan J. Riley ’80, ’81 (E. Philip Saunders College of Business). Since 2006, Riley has served as executive vice president of The Children’s, headquartered in Secaucus, N.J. Previously, she was chief financial officer of Klinger Advanced Aesthetics. Prior to that, she served as senior vice president, chief financial officer of Abercrombie & Fitch. Earlier in her career, Riley served as chief financial officer of The Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York and as chief financial officer at both the Dial Corp. and at Tambrands Inc. She currently sits on the board of directors for PJM Interconnection LLC and is a member of the board of trustees of RIT. A certified public accountant, she holds an MBA from Pace University.

The College of Imaging Arts and Sciences elected to honor two graduates, Jacolyn J. “Jackie” Bucksbaum ’84 and William Snyder ’81.

• Bucksbaum, who received a B.F.A. in photographic arts and sciences, worked as a location manager and unit production manager in the motion picture industry for 12 years prior to starting her family life in Chicago, where she currently resides. She serves on the board of trustees for the Ounce of Prevention Fund and also is on the board of the Latin School of Chicago and is involved with the arts, philanthropy, and early childhood education.
• Snyder, a four-time Pulitzer Prize winner, began working for The Miami News after graduating from RIT, covering varied assignments including riots, Miami Dolphins in the Super Bowl, Haitian boat people and space shuttle launches. In 1983, he joined The Dallas Morning News, and over the next 15 years covered the first democratic elections in Haiti and Romania, the explosion of the shuttle Challenger, the ’91 coup attempt in the Soviet Union, the re-unification of Germany, healthcare in the U.S. prison system, AIDS in Uganda and Thailand, seal hunting in Newfoundland, five Olympics, two NCAA Final Fours, two Super Bowls, two Republican Conventions and numerous other stories. He became photo director for the newspaper in 2005. The News won the 2006 Pulitzer Prize in Breaking News Photography for coverage of Hurricane Katrina. Snyder, who has won numerous other awards for his work, is serving as a visiting professor in RIT’s School of Photographic Arts and Sciences for the spring 2008 quarter.