Kathryn
Greenwade ’88
direct link to this listing
Year Awarded: 2023
College Station, TX
Greenwade dedicated her life to selfless service. As a student, Greenwade served her peers through Muster, Fish Camp and more while earning a degree in journalism. She began work in marketing and training before returning to Aggieland for a role with the Texas A&M Career Center. In 1999, she began a 22-year career with The Association of Former Students.
Greenwade championed Aggies as the vice president of communications and human resources at The Association. She supported and connected current, former and future students by leading with empathy and promoting community. Passionate about beginning a tradition of giving, she sponsored hundreds of students’ first year in the Century Club. She served with the Aggie Women Network, was an Endowed Century Club member, established an Aggie Ring Scholarship and supported programs across Texas A&M.
On campus, she served 13 years as an academic advisor to Company C-2 in the Corps of Cadets, honored twice as academic advisor of the year. She sponsored the Fish Camp attendance of many freshmen and purchased multiple students’ Aggie Rings over the years. In 2000, she was selected as a Fish Camp namesake. Her volunteer service also reached off campus as president of the board of the Bryan-College Station chapter of Habitat for Humanity and a Brazos Valley Figure Skating Club board member.
Greenwade passed away in February 2022. She is survived by her parents, James ’66 and Sharon Greenwade, her sister and brother-in-law, Karen ’92 and Kevin ’91 Schiller, and their children, Sarah ’18, Sam ’22 and Jacob Schiller.
“Kathryn seemed to be everywhere … promoting our university and The Association while endearing herself to everyone she encountered.”
- Dr. R. Bowen Loftin ’71
Elaine
Mendoza ’87
direct link to this listing
Year Awarded: 2022
San Antonio, TX
“Throughout different aspects of life, the perseverance cultivated during my time at Texas A&M has strengthened my determination to meet challenges head on and not be deterred in resolving complex issues,” said Elaine Mendoza ’87.
Mendoza earned her degree in aerospace engineering, one of a small group of women in the program at that time. As a student, she worked at the NASA Ames Research Center and participated in activities such as intramural sports. Not long after her graduation from A&M, Mendoza founded Conceptual MindWorks Inc., where she remains CEO today. Her company has led in biotechnology and medical informatics for 32 years, researching chem-bio defense, population health and developing and deploying cloud-based electronic health records.
Concurrent with her leadership in industry, Mendoza has committed much of her time to public service, primarily in the spheres of education and health care. In San Antonio, she has served on multiple education-focused boards. One, where she serves as chairman, established a city-wide pre-K education program. She has served on many state-level commissions and boards, including the Code Red Task Force, which delved into Texans’ health care access. She led the COVID-19 Frontline Child Care Task Force, which connected essential workers to child care. Mendoza has been recognized for her contributions with numerous awards and honors.
Mendoza has served on The Texas A&M System Board of Regents since 2011. As chair of the Committee of Academic and Student Affairs, she worked to establish a robust set of metrics for measuring student outcomes and focused on educator preparation. In 2019, she was voted by the regents to be chairman of the board, becoming the first Hispanic chair.
Mendoza met her husband, Larry Gay ’85, while they were students at A&M. They have two daughters and sons-in-law: Contessa Gay ’16 and Cameron Novikoff ’15, and Francesca Blissett ’19 and Jordan Blissett ’18.
“At every step, Elaine has demonstrated her determination in the pursuit of excellence, her capacity to build significant institutions and her willingness to serve the public interest.”
- Henry Cisneros '68
Martín E.
Torrijos ’87
direct link to this listing
Year Awarded: 2017
Panama City, Panama
MARTÍN TORRIJOS ’87 received bachelor’s degrees in political science and in economics. He worked in the U.S. for four years before returning to Panama.
His political career began in 1990, when he was elected to lead the Revolutionary Democratic Party’s youth organization. He was Panama’s undersecretary of government and justice 1994-98, responsible for national security, civil aerial navigation, public transportation and telecommunications. He was elected to lead his party in 1999, serving as general secretary for three terms.
In 2004, he was elected as the 42nd president of the Constitutional Republic of Panama, serving from Sept. 1, 2004, to June 30, 2009. His administration achieved economic growth of 8.5 percent, reduced the unemployment rate, and created a range of social programs from education to health, including fiscal and social security reforms. Also during his presidency, Panama approved and began the Panama Canal expansion, a $6.3 billion project.
In May 2006, he participated in the signing of a Memorandum of Agreement for collaborative research between Texas A&M University-Galveston and the International Maritime University of Panama. In 2007, Texas A&M and The Association recognized him with the Outstanding International Alumnus Award.
For more than two decades, Torrijos has been an economic advisor to international companies and governments. More recently, he has earned recognition as a moderator in regional conflicts. After Haiti’s earthquake in 2010, he became actively involved in the reconstruction effort and served as a member of the Presidential Economic Advisory Board.
He is vice president of the Permanent Conference of Political Parties of Latin America, a director of the Inter- American Dialogue policy analysis center and board president for the Omar Torrijos Foundation.
Anthony J.
Wood ’87
direct link to this listing
Year Awarded: 2023
Austin, TX
Born in the U.K., Wood spent most of his teenage years in Houston. He started his first computer company in high school and worked odd jobs to earn extra cash. Neither of his parents attended college, so what brought Wood to Texas A&M was a $500 scholarship.
Wood studied electrical engineering, a discipline that complemented his interests, but his grades began to drop his junior year because he was devoting too much time to his newest company, SunRize Industries, instead of his classes. With some encouragement from Aggie administrators, he brought his grades up and graduated.
Wood is best known as the founder and CEO of Roku, a TV streaming platform. With an innovative understanding of demand, technology and trends, Wood envisions that all TV would someday be streamed. His foresight, paired with his drive, humility, quiet thoughtfulness and respect for others’ input, have earned him great success.
His innovation is not limited to his business ventures. Through the WoodNext Foundation, Wood funds research in a broad range of disciplines, including mental health, homelessness, entrepreneurship, dementia, pollution and more. He even supports the study of circadian rhythms, hoping to find a cure for jet lag.
Texas A&M is also a beneficiary of Wood’s generosity. He is the named donor of the new stage in Aggie Park. He has also given major gifts to the Texas A&M Global Cyber Research Institute, the School of Medicine’s PTSD and Mental Health Research Fund and much more.
“He remains kind, humble and passionate, and uses his numerous successes in life to help better his community, his country and the world.”
- Ray A. Rothrock ’77
Graham
Weston ’86
direct link to this listing
Year Awarded: 2018
San Antonio, TX
A business entrepreneur since he was a seventh-grader, Weston today creates ventures that help San Antonio entrepreneurs and is helping to reshape part of the historic core of the city into a tech district. His Weston Urban development firm is partnering with the city to revitalize the west downtown area.
As a student at A&M, he was involved with Town Hall, the Entrepreneur Club, Photography Committee and Bonfire.
In 1998, he helped cofound cloud computing firm Rackspace Hosting, and has served as its CEO and chairman of its board. His past real estate development has included San Antonio’s Weston Centre. He co-founded Geekdom, a collaborative coworking space for San Antonio startups, and his 80/20 Foundation invests in nonprofits that improve San Antonio’s tech entrepreneur ecosystem.
He was inducted into the Academy of Distinguished Entrepreneurs at Babson College in Wellesley, Mass., in 2014. In 2005, he was honored by the City of San Antonio for converting one of his vacant properties into a temporary shelter for more than 2,500 victims of hurricanes Katrina and Rita. At Texas A&M, he supports agricultural economics and entrepreneurship programs, making many personal visits to classes; he has also invested in increasing cloud computing education in San Antonio.
Weston has been a 10-year member of The Association’s Century Club and has supported the McFerrin Center for Entrepreneurship and contributed to teaching excellence and education.
His family includes wife Elizabeth and three sons, Glenn, Grant '21 and Gage.
“Dr. Litzenberg’s sales course taught me more than selling products. It taught me how to sell myself, which is a critical skill. It truly changed my life.”
- Graham Weston '86
Charean
Williams ’86
direct link to this listing
Year Awarded: 2020
Arlington, TX
Williams became the first woman to enter the writers’ wing of the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2018 when her peers voted her the 50th recipient of the Dick McCann Award for a long and distinguished career covering professional football. The 2020 season is her 27th covering the NFL, including more than a decade as a Dallas Cowboys beat reporter.
She became the first female Pro Football Hall of Fame selector in 2007 and the first female president of the Pro Football Writers of America in 2009.
As a student, she wrote for The Battalion student newspaper and earned her bachelor’s degree in journalism. In 2018, she got a master’s degree in mass communication from South Dakota State University.
She has reported on the NFL for the Orlando Sentinel, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram and currently NBC Sports’ Pro Football Talk website. She has covered 26 Super Bowls and seven Olympic Games.
Williams serves on the board of the Pro Football Writers, is an adjunct professor in the sport management program at SMU and is an active member at First United Methodist Arlington.
She frequently returns to A&M to speak to journalism students and Battalion staffers.
She is a Diamond-level member of The Association’s Century Club, with 31 years of giving, and has funded scholarships for Aggie journalism majors.
Her husband, Tom Dumper, is a former A&M assistant volleyball coach.
“It’s as simple as this, I have had many firsts in my career as a woman in a male-dominated field. I would not have accomplished anything in my career without Texas A&M and my journalism degree from the Liberal Arts department. It set in motion everything that has happened since.”
- Charean Williams '86
Carri Baker
Coleman ’84
direct link to this listing
Year Awarded: 2015
San Antonio, TX
Carri Baker Coleman, Class of 1984, received a bachelor’s degree in marketing at Texas A&M, where as a student she served as tennis team manager, Diamond Darling and football recruiting hostess and was a member of the Delta Zeta sorority and Student Aggie Club (now the Student 12th Man Foundation).
She is Chief Operating Officer for the San Antonio office of Linebarger Goggan Blair & Sampson, LLP, a firm she has helped lead to national recognition in serving governments at all levels in collecting receivables. She was the first woman chairman of the 12th Man Foundation and led projects such as Kyle Field’s successful Zone Club, a critical asset to raising funds for expansion. She chaired the Greater San Antonio Chamber of Commerce and American Heart Association’s Go Red for Women and has been inducted into the San Antonio Women’s Hall of Fame. She co-founded and chaired the San Antonio ISD Foundation, which invests more than $1 million annually to ignite innovation and excellence in inner city schools. She received the highest honor given by a Girl Scout Council, the Trefoil Award, and was recognized as a Girl Scout Great during the 100-year anniversary of Girl Scouts. She received the Women’s Legacy Award from the Women’s Former Student Network.
She served on the board of the San Antonio A&M Club, is a co-founder and board member of the A&M PAC and serves on the development council of A&M’s Mays College of Business.
Her Aggie family includes her late father, Bill Baker ’62, her brother, Will Baker ’92, and her uncle, Robert Baker ’64. She and husband Tullos Wells have a daughter.
"Carri Baker Coleman is selfless in her willingness to serve. I am not aware of her ever declining to participate when she has been asked to contribute her talents in a variety of ways to Texas A&M."
- Fred Palmer '59, Distinguished Alumnus
Cynthia B.
Taylor ’84
direct link to this listing
Year Awarded: 2016
Houston, Texas
CINDY TAYLOR ’84 received a bachelor’s degree in accounting; she was an honors student, business fraternity member and intramural activist.
In 2007, she became the CEO of Oil States International, a diversified oilfield services company that she helped take public. She was among the first female CEOs in the energy industry, the first public company female CEO in Houston and currently one of only 50 female CEOs in the Fortune 1000. She was ranked the No. 2 Energy Services CEO in 2013 by Institutional Investors.
She is a board member for AT&T and Tidewater Inc. Her business honors include being ranked on the All-American Executive Team for Energy Services and as a national finalist in Energy, Cleantech and Natural Resources in the E&Y Entrepreneur of the Year program in 2012.
She has served as a trustee of the 12th Man Foundation and a member of Mays Business School’s Dean’s Development Council, and was named an Outstanding Alumna of the Mays Business School in 2011. She is a Gold level member of The Association’s Century Club, with 22 years of giving.
She received the McLane Leadership in Business Award in 2014; the Aggie 100 Summit Award in 2012; and the Women Former Students’ Network Legacy Award in 2010. A Mays Business School endowed scholarship was donated in her honor in 2011, which she matched.
She has served on the Board of Trustees for Texas Children’s Hospital, is a Junior Achievement Business Hall of Fame Laureate and was inducted into the Greater Houston Women’s Chamber of Commerce Hall of Fame in 2014.
Her family includes husband Allan W. Taylor ’83, sons Matthew Taylor ’12, Christopher Taylor ’14 and Gregory Taylor ’17 and daughter-in-law Misty Taylor ’12; her brother is Robert Berry ’82.
Mike A.
Hernandez III ’83
direct link to this listing
Year Awarded: 2020
Ft. Worth, TX
His native Rio Grande Valley has always been important to Mike Hernandez III ’83, who founded the Brownsville Scholars Program at Texas A&M specifically to send low-income students from his hometown to become Aggies.
Hernandez is the owner and CEO of D&M Leasing, one of 2019’s Top 100 Places to Work rated by the Dallas Morning News, among the Fort Worth Business Press’s Top 5 privately-held companies and Dealer Rater’s Top Leasing Company in America. He is the president and founder of the Hernandez Foundation, which has provided significant support to area schools and scholarships, and has supported nonprofit ventures that boost opportunities in Cameron County.
In 2019, Gov. Greg Abbott appointed him as a member of The Texas A&M University System Board of Regents.
He was recognized as one of Fort Worth’s top CEOs in 2014 and one of FTWInc’s “400 Most Influential and Powerful Leaders in Greater Fort Worth” in 2018.
In 2016, he was named Brownsville’s “Person of the Year,” and in 2017, he was Rio Grande Valley’s Citizen of the Year, Honorable Mention.
He is a member of the advisory committee for Texas A&M’s McAllen campus and Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick’s advisory committee on workforce training. He is also a member of the National Automobile Dealers Association and Texas Automobile Dealers Association.
Hernandez is a Diamond-level member of The Association’s Century Club, with 12 years of giving, and has supported the ACREW Living Learning Community at A&M.
His Aggie family includes his father, Mike Hernandez Jr. ’54, sisters Ana Hernandez Franklin ’80 and Sandra Hernandez, ’84, brother Albert Hernandez ’87 and great-great-uncle Praxedis Orive, Class of 1897.
He and wife Kelly have four children, two daughters-in-law and five grandchildren.
Michael J.
Plank ’83
direct link to this listing
Year Awarded: 2023
Houston, TX
Plank knew he wanted to study mechanical engineering, and Texas A&M’s world-class engineering program attracted him to the university. Impressed by several members of the Corps of Cadets at Fish Camp, he knew he had to join and found his place in Squadron 11, where he served on group staff and embraced A&M’s rich traditions.
Plank is chairman and CEO of The Plank Companies Inc. and three operating companies: Rail Logix, National Property Holdings and Speed Shore Corporation, which are respectively engaged in industrial real estate development, rail logistics and construction equipment manufacturing. Ernst & Young recognized his business leadership in 2019 with the Entrepreneur of the Year Award for the Gulf Coast region.
Appointed to The Texas A&M University System Board of Regents in 2019, Plank serves his alma mater along with 11 system universities and eight state agencies. He has previously served on the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board and the Governor’s University Research Initiative Board. He was inducted into the Mechanical Engineering Department’s Academy of Distinguished Graduates in 2000 and received the College of Engineering’s Outstanding Alumni Award in 2019.
In addition to donating his time to various charitable organizations, Plank has generously funded a host of initiatives at Texas A&M. He and his wife, Susan, have given major gifts to Aggie Park, the Corps of Cadets Quad renovation and the Zachry Engineering Education Complex. The Planks have also funded multiple scholarships and are members of the Endowed Century Club, the Chancellor’s Century Council and the 12th Man Foundation.
The Planks have two children, Kendall ’18 and Jared.
“A superb regent, a passionate Aggie and outstanding human being, Mike Plank is indeed worthy of this great honor.”
- Michael A. Hernandez III ’83