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Four distinguished alumni were recognized Friday night for their leadership, accomplishments and service to their alma mater during this year’s Distinguished Alumni Awards ceremony at The Inn at ���ϲ�����.

The alumni recognized included Sam Troy ’67, who due to an illness couldn’t attend the event to receive the Distinguished Alumnus of the Year Award. He will be honored in person at next year’s award ceremony. “My heart is broken because I will be unable to participate in the awards ceremony,” Troy wrote in a message read during the ceremony by Senior Vice President for Advancement and External Affairs Jim Piatt. “While I’ve been fortunate to receive many honors and awards over my lifetime, this was the big one.”

A consummate alumnus who has faithfully supported the university philanthropically and as a volunteer since graduating, Troy serves as executive-in-residence at the Bryan School of Business and Economics at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. In his note, Troy remarked about the connection he developed as an undergraduate with the institution through President J. Earl Danieley ’46, a connection that has only deepened as years passed.

“While the campus may look different than it did when I left in 1967, every time I return, I am still very much at home,” he wrote. “I am thrilled to have played even a small role in the changes that have occurred.”

Described as a dynamic, innovative, visionary, empathic and people-focused leader, Kristen Yntema ’95 was honored with the Distinguished Alumna of the Year Award for her impact on her profession and in the community. She is the president and CEO of AuthoraCare Collective, which was the result of a 2020 merger between two local hospice and palliative care providers. The collective, one of the largest nonprofit hospice and palliative care organizations in central North Carolina, is a community-based, nonprofit option for patients nearing the end of their lives.

“In my 30 years of consulting, I’ve worked with hundreds of senior executives, but the best CEO I know is the leader at the AuthoraCare Collective, who’s sitting with us tonight,” said Chris Leupold, professor of psychology and leadership who specialized in leadership assessment and development, during his introductory remarks. “She deeply cares for those she serves and has a unique ability to lift up those around her, leverage their collective strengths and inspire them to be part of something bigger than themselves.”

During her acceptance speech, Yntema reminisced about her college search, where a serendipitous visit to ���ϲ����� at the prompting of her father changed her life’s trajectory. ���ϲ����� became a place of endless possibilities, where she played soccer, engaged in deep conversations, made lifelong connections — including meeting her husband, Brady ’95 — and traveled abroad, broadening her horizons. While her mom, a nurse, introduced her to the health care industry from an early age, she said it was at ���ϲ����� where she learned how to take that passion and connect it with health care administration.

“I had professors and ���ϲ����� team members who poured into me, supported me and encouraged me all along the way. I have lifelong friends who are here with me tonight who I cannot imagine life without as a part of my village,” Yntema said. “The foundation and the skills for my career I can attest fully to ���ϲ�����’s mission — to take care of people right here in Burlington.”

Next up to the podium was Betsy Dearborn Miller ’68, who introduced this year’s Distinguished Service to ���ϲ����� Award recipient, Carol Lupinacci Brown ’68. Using amusing props along the way, Miller warmly recounted Brown’s journey from her arrival at ���ϲ����� in 1964 to her continued dedication to the university to this day. Despite coming from Connecticut to North Carolina “sight unseen,” she said, Brown excelled at ���ϲ�����. Miller shared how after graduating, Brown pursued a career in math education while also giving back to her community through various service roles. How as a dedicated alumna, Brown continues to support ���ϲ����� through her involvement on the ���ϲ����� Alumni Board and her establishment of the Carol Lupinacci Brown Experiences Scholarship, ensuring that future students have the same opportunities for success that she had.

“I have heard her say more than once, ‘I owe my success in life to ���ϲ�����,’” Miller said, adding that through her ongoing involvement with her alma mater, “Carol shows her devotion to the future of ���ϲ�����, and hoping that students will continue to feel they have their success in life to ���ϲ�����” as well.

“I want you to know that ���ϲ����� has given me more than I could ever give back to ���ϲ�����,” Brown said in her acceptance speech. While the school wasn’t her first choice — she wanted to attend Yale, but the school didn’t admit female students at the undergraduate level at the time — coming to ���ϲ����� was “the best non-decision I’ve ever made,” she added.

She extended a heartfelt thanks to her family, friends and the ���ϲ����� Alumni Board for their unwavering support and guidance. “They’re so much smarter than me,” she said talking about her fellow EAB members. “They’re amazing. I’m proud of them. And I’m proud to see who we’re graduating from ���ϲ����� and their love for ���ϲ�����.”

The final honoree of the night, Erica Ayala ’08, the Distinguished Alumni Service Award recipient, was introduced by her mother, Nilda Dontaine, who started her remarks by saying: “���ϲ�����, you have been so good to my daughter.” She spoke of her daughter’s strong connection to the school, which was solidified almost from the start, even though the school had not been on Ayala’s radar  before she visited it at Dontaine’s insistence. When Ayala arrived on campus as an orientation leader, her dorm wasn’t quite ready, so she was assigned to live at Maynard House with then President Leo M. Lambert and his wife, Laurie.

The school’s hospitality and the welcoming campus atmosphere left a lasting impression on both Erica and her family, Dontaine said. From pledging to Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Incorporated to studying abroad in South Africa, Ayala’s experiences at ���ϲ����� shaped her into a passionate advocate for education and social justice, Dontaine said, a person who speaks up for children’s rights and fights for the freedoms of all individuals. “I’m so proud of her for being that kind of person,” Dontaine said, “and ���ϲ����� shaped that heart, that spirit, that mind and that power.”

Like those who were honored before her, Ayala, a writer and on-air analyst for CBS Sports who primarily covers WNBA, NCAA Women’s Basketball and NHL stories, marveled at the impact ���ϲ����� has had in her life. While her college experience was not all perfect, she was always able to find people who supported her and lifted her up.

“I’m just so grateful to so many people [at ���ϲ�����] that I’ve shared conversations with, that I’ve been in meetings with and been a part of that journey as I continue to advocate for those students who don’t come from very affluent communities or families, or women who dare to be athletes,” she said. “To get an award for service, not just to the university, but overall is extremely special for me.”

In her congratulatory remarks, President Connie Ledoux Book talked about how the friendships and relationships each of the award recipients formed at ���ϲ����� continue to shape their lives long after graduation. She said what makes ���ϲ����� stand out — its unique culture of support and care that prioritizes community — it’s something that continues to draw students to ���ϲ�����. Incoming families often have positive interactions with ���ϲ����� alumni, Book added, which speaks volumes about the quality of ���ϲ����� graduates and their embodiment of the institution’s values.

“Thank you for the opportunity of letting the university recognize you all as outstanding alumni and lifting up you as exemplars of what we’re working to do as a university,” Book said, adding that hearing how ���ϲ�����’s mission continues to permeate their lives is “a rich reward” for those who work at the institution.