UC Alumni Association Selects 2012 Distinguished Alumni Celebration Honorees

The University of Cincinnati Alumni Association (UCAA) is proud to announce the recipients of the 2012 distinguished alumni awards. The award recipients were selected for representing UC’s high standard of excellence through their professional accomplishments and impactful contributions to UC and their communities.

Each of this year’s five honorees – ranging from a renowned real estate developer to the director of Cincinnati’s parks district – will receive one of the UCAA’s four longstanding alumni awards. They will be recognized among university leaders, colleagues and friends at the UC Alumni Association’s annual Distinguished Alumni Celebration on June 14. Award recipients include

William Howard Taft Medal for Notable Achievement

• Thomas H. Humes, Jr., (Carl H. Lindner College of Business ‘71, McMicken College of Arts & Sciences ’77)
  President, Great Traditions Land & Development Company – Cincinnati, Ohio

Alumni Distinguished Service Award

• Thomas Horwitz, (College of Design, Architecture, Art, and Planning, ’78, ’81)
  Principal, FRCH Design Worldwide – Cincinnati, Ohio

Jeffrey Hurwitz Young Alumni Outstanding Achievement Award

• Joseph P. Judge, (Carl H. Lindner College of Business, ’00)
  Managing Director of Tenant Representation, Jones Lang LaSalle, Inc. – Washington D.C.
  

• Andrea Zahumensky, (College of Engineering & Applied Science, ’00)
  Associate Marketing Director, Global Oral Care Expansion, Procter & Gamble –
  Cincinnati, Ohio

UC Alumni Association Mosaic Award

• Willie F. Carden, Jr., (University College, ’80, Carl H. Lindner College of Business, ’86)
  Director of Parks, City of Cincinnati; Executive Director, Cincinnati Parks Foundation

“UC’s Distinguished Alumni Celebration is the university’s opportunity to formally recognize those alumni who have gone on to become remarkable leaders and difference-makers at UC and in our communities,” said UC Alumni Association Executive Director Myron Hughes. “The university is honored to have played some part in their successes and to have such a high caliber of alumni representing UC’s academic profile around the world.”

The William Howard Taft Medal for Notable Achievement is the highest honor awarded to a UC alum, recognizing an individual for lifelong excellence in his or her chosen field. Beginning by rehabbing old homes in Clifton, Humes now serves as the president of Great Traditions Land & Development Company. He has developed more than 4,000 acres, including 35 communities that produced over 5,000 home sites for families throughout southwestern Ohio.

These accomplishments have garnered such distinctions as four times being named “Cincinnati’s Developer of the Year”, and “Builder of the Year” by the Cincinnati Homebuilders Association; the Cincinnati Enquirer’s Bicentennial Listing among “Cincinnatians Who Is, Was and Will Be Important to Cincinnati”; a Distinguished Achievement Award from UC’s Department of Real Estate; and receiving the construction industry’s highest honor, “The Spirit of Construction Award”.

Humes’ personal investment in his community has manifested itself through service with many organizations, including serving as a board member of the Cincinnati USA Regional Chamber, the Greater Cincinnati Port Authority, and the Leadership Council of the Metropolitan Growth Alliance.  He also served as an original member of the Riverfront Advisors that concepted the Banks project in 1999.

The Alumni Distinguished Service Award recognizes alumni who have rendered outstanding, faithful and selfless service to their alma mater. As a principal with Cincinnati-based FRCH Design Worldwide, Horwitz is responsible for the firm’s hospitality and restaurant practice, working with clients nationally and internationally on requirements ranging from brand consulting and image positioning to the creative and technical disciplines of planning, design, graphic communications and architecture.

Largely through his efforts, FRCH has become an active partner of UC’s College of Design, Architecture, Art & Planning. Horwitz has been instrumental in guiding FRCH’s involvement in UC’s co-op system, which includes hiring interior design, architecture and graphic design students. He also remains committed to students’ professional development, going above and beyond to host fifth-year Professional Practice course students, participates in fifth-year studio midterm and final reviews, performs individual student desk reviews during studio hours, and much more.

The Jeffrey Hurwitz Young Alumni Outstanding Achievement Award is presented to a UC graduate (35 years or younger) on the basis of significant professional achievement in his or her field of endeavor, and continued service and involvement with the university and community – both qualities of award recipients Judge and Zahumensky.

After interning with The Staubach Company (a global real estate advisory firm) as a student, Judge joined the company after graduation. His skills propelled him to a vice-president role in the Cincinnati office, then to a leadership position in the company’s Washington D.C. region. Staubach became part of Jones Lang LaSalle, Inc. in 2008, his upward trajectory continuing when he was named to the “35 Under 35 Rising Stars in Commercial Real Estate” industry honor roll nationally. He is now the company’s Managing Director of Tenant Representation for the Washington D.C. office.

Judge is involved with about 40 charitable causes throughout the D.C. area, nationally and internationally. In the years immediately following graduation, he led the UC Alumni Association’s Young Alumni efforts, and he is currently part of the Proudly Cincinnati Campaign Leadership Committee for Washington D.C. A former placekicker for the UC football team, he also continues to be engaged with the football program and in developing scholarships for future students.

Following a career start in information technology, Zahumensky accelerated her career to Brand Manager for Procter & Gamble’s North America Crest Toothpaste business, where she led a surge in sales and market share growth to reach record levels. In 2011, she became Associate Marketing Director, Global Oral Care Expansion, responsible for overseeing the division’s expansion across four continents, a top corporate investment priority for P&G.

Community projects have also benefited from Zahumensky’s leadership, most notably the Shemenski Foundation. She was one of the founders and original board members of the non-profit in 2009 to raise funds to beat cancer in honor of UC alumnus John Shemenski. She continues to serve on the board and her ongoing volunteer efforts have helped raise more than $100,000 and foster a new partnership with the UC Brain Tumor Center.

The UC Alumni Association Mosaic Award is presented to an individual whose collaborative community leadership enhances a shared community by championing the cause of the underrepresented and promoting greater equity and opportunity for others. Native Cincinnatian Carden took advantage of timely insights and emerging opportunities to build a successful career with the city. Today, as the Director of Parks for the City of Cincinnati and Executive Director of the Cincinnati Parks Foundation, he is recognized for his unique brand of leadership in running one of the nation’s top 10 urban park systems.

In rising to his current position, which he has held for a dozen years, he demonstrated patience and integrity in overcoming episodes of discrimination. He helped his city and its citizens see and share his vision for Cincinnati’s park system, including innovative new concepts for funding its operations. He worked to enrich his community through environmental awareness, civic beautification and principled leadership, becoming through the process an advocate and role model for other minorities.

Carden is the two-time recipient of the City of Cincinnati Executive Leadership & Management Award, the YMCA Black Achiever Award, and the Downtown Cincinnati Beautification Award (for restoration of the Tyler Davidson Fountain).

Tickets for this year’s UC Distinguished Alumni Celebration are available to the public (regular admission – $100; young professionals – $75; students – $50). To purchase tickets or read more about the 2012 event and honorees, please visit www.uc.edu/alumni/dac.