Morehead-Cain Alumni landed new jobs, received accolades, earned advanced degrees, and more. Here’s who made a move this fall.

• Tom Darden ’76, founder and chief executive officer of Cherokee, received a Distinguished Alumnus Award on University Day in October. Cherokee is a Raleigh-based company that builds environmental technology businesses and remediates environmentally contaminated real estate.
• Chuck Lovelace ’77, Morehead-Cain’s retired executive director, received the William Richardson Davie Award, the University’s highest honor granted to individuals who have given extraordinary service to Carolina or society.
• Jim Henry ’79 ran the Amica Newport Marathon in Rhode Island in October. The event was his twentieth marathon since 2003.
• Karen Stevenson ’79 received the 2023 ACC UNITE Award. The achievement honors individuals affiliated with the league’s member institutions who have made an impact in racial and social justice. As a high school senior, Karen became the first African American woman to receive the Morehead-Cain as part of the inaugural group of female Morehead-Cains. At Carolina, Karen broke fourteen records in track and field, twice receiving the Jim Tatum Award for athletic and academic leadership. In 1979, the alumna made national headlines as the first woman from the University and the first African American woman from the United States to receive the Rhodes Scholarship. The alumna is a U.S. Magistrate Judge for the Central District of California.
• Mike Vandenbergh ’83 published the first edition of his book, Private Environmental Governance (Concepts and Insights), a “user-friendly and comprehensive guide” to the environmental policy tool.
• Brad Ives ’86 joined Louisiana State University in October as the director of the university’s Institute for Energy Innovation. The alumnus served as executive director for the Center for the Environment at Catawba College in Salisbury, North Carolina.
• Palmer Brown ’93 was appointed CEO of Compass Group USA, a food and support services company. He previously served as CFO.
• Malcolm Turner ’93 was appointed vice chair of the UNC Board of Trustees.
• Jennifer Halsey Evans ’94 was appointed to the UNC Board of Trustees. The alumna’s swearing-in ceremony took place in the University’s South Building in August.
• Amy Wright ’95 published the book, Serial Mexico: Storytelling Across Media, From Nationhood to Now, by Vanderbilt University Press. The multidisciplinary book explores the historical tradition of storytelling in Mexican society.
• Pam Alston Oliver ’96 was appointed to Winston-Salem State University’s board of trustees. The alumna is the executive vice president and president of Novant Health Physician Network.
• Leslie Kendrick ’98 was named dean of the University of Virginia’s School of Law after serving as vice dean for four years (2017–2021). Leslie earned her JD from the school in 2006 and joined the faculty in 2008. She serves as the White Burkett Miller Professor of Law and Public Affairs, the Elizabeth D. and Richard A. Merrill Professor of Law, director of the school’s Center for the First Amendment, and as a special adviser on free expression and inquiry to the university provost. The alumna is the first woman to serve as dean of the school.
• Brad Briner ’99 is running for North Carolina state treasurer. The alumnus, a member of the UNC Board of Trustees, manages investments for Michael Bloomberg.
• Janora McDuffie-Ryan ’99 received a Harvey E. Beech Outstanding Alumni Award at Carolina’s Black Alumni Reunion during the Light on the Hill Society Awards Gala on November 9.
• Aisha Saad ’09, a Rhodes Scholar, joined the Georgetown University Law Center as an associate professor of law.
• Hogan Medlin ’11 received his master’s degree in public administration from the UNC School of Government.
• Mel Langness ’19 joined the Nathalie P. Voorhees Center for Neighborhood and Community Improvement as a research assistant.
• Sydney Mantell ’20 completed her master’s degree in coastal environmental management at Duke University. She will begin a one-year fellowship with the Knauss Fellowship Program in Washington, D.C., in February.
• Maria Fernanda Silva ’22 of Lima, Peru, was awarded a Schwarzman scholarship to pursue a master’s in global affairs at Tsinghua University in Beijing, China.
• Junead Khan ’23 joined Microsoft as a software engineer in Redmond, Washington.
• Clay Morris ’23 began a JD program at Columbia Law School in New York City.
• Selina Shi ’23 began the role of structured investments analyst at iCapital.
• Avni Singh ’23 started a film production company, Sticky Feet Productions.

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