Legacy Honors
During Homecoming week, the Strome College of Business hosted the second annual Legacy Honors Awards to recognize and celebrate distinguished alumni and faculty. The awards honor Strome Monarchs who have built or are building meaningful legacies of success, integrity, and community engagement.
There are three categories in which faculty and alumni can be nominated: Legacy Alumni, Legacy Faculty and Rising Legacy. Legacy Alumni are those who, over the course of their career, have achieved significant outcomes professionally, served as leaders in their community, and demonstrated integrity in their spheres of influence. Legacy Faculty are nominated by alumni and must meet the requirements of having taught full-time for five years or more and currently being retired for five years or more. Finally, Rising Legacy are alumni who, in the first ten years after graduation, have established themselves as leaders of distinction with high potential for a lifetime of significant impact and achievement.
This year we honored Deborah Stearns '80, Senior Vice President of JLL, and Brian Holland '93, CEO of Atlantic Bay Mortgage Group, as the Legacy Alumni. Our Legacy Faculty was Dr. Leonard Ruchelman who founded the Department of Urban Studies and Public Administration (now School of Public Service) and served as its chair for 15 years. This year's Rising Legacy recipient was Hamilton Perkins '08, founder of Hamilton Perkins Collection.
Stearns' 40-year career in a male- dominated field was marked by situations where she was often the first woman to serve in a given capacity. In her comments at the Legacy Honors reception, she spoke fondly of people like Bob Stanton (himself a Legacy Honoree) about how he and other men mentored her and helped to open doors for her in a time when, so few women were allowed that privilege. Since then, she has made it her aim to be the helping hand reaching back to pull more women along. She was nominated by several alumni, women and men, who related the impact Stearns had in their professional development through mentoring and sponsoring them to make the most of different opportunities.
A common theme among the award recipients was the importance of family support. Coming from modest means, Holland thanked his wife and daughter, as well as his parents, for their unwavering support, understanding, and encouragement over the years. He spoke about the professional family culture he has built at Atlantic Bay and his vision for the positive impacts he plans to make in his community. Like Stearns, Holland attributed much of his success also to the opportunities and education provided by ODU and the Strome College of Business.
Perkins thanked his wife, as well as the Strome College of Business for the resources he was provided while getting his education at ODU. When introducing Perkins, Dean Tanner noted that he can often be found in the Strome Entrepreneurial Center working with students and other would-be entrepreneurs. The Hamilton Perkins Collection of upscale recycled handbags and luggage has been featured in Forbes, Money Magazine and The Washington Post and is offered in over 100 department stores across the Unites States, Canada and Europe.
While Dr. Ruchelman was unable to attend, former students were fervent in their praise. As Dean Tanner noted, "The Legacy Faculty award was created because all alumni have that favorite faculty member that inspired them, influenced their life choices, and made their Monarch experiences memorable. Dr. Ruchelman clearly more than met that standard."
Holland shared some inspiring words of encouragement as follows, "The lesson I learned early on is this... Whatever you do, do it to the best of your abilities. As I have studied successful people over the years, I have noticed that most started somewhere small and simply did great things right where they were. Do the best you can, exactly where you are and remain confident. Success will follow - stay confident in that!"
