Baylor Alumni Association To Honor Outstanding Young Alums At Oct. 25 Pigskin
The Baylor Alumni Association will honor five Baylor University graduates as Outstanding Young Alumni during Pigskin Revue at 7 p.m. Friday, Oct. 25, at Waco Hall.
This year's honorees are: Joseph B. Armes of Dallas; Lori Watts Hirons of Roeland Park, Kan.; John L. Meredith of Houston; Eugene C. Roehlkepartain of Minneapolis; and Melissa A. Rogers of Washington, D.C.
Joseph B. Armes
Armes earned his bachelor's degree from Baylor in 1983 and his MBA in 1994. He is executive vice president and CFO of Southwest Sports Group LLC and Southwest Sport Realty LLC in Dallas, where he directs development of real estate surrounding the American Airlines Center and the Ballpark in Arlington. Previously he was vice president and general counsel for Suiza Foods Corp., as well as The Morningstar Group Inc. A 1991 graduate of the SMU School of Law, Armes is a member of the Baylor Board of Regents, the Hankamer School of Business Advisory Board, the Baylor Bear Foundation and the Endowed Scholarship Society of Baylor. Armes lives in Dallas with his wife, Kelly Erickson '84; son, John; and daughter, Annie.
Lori Watts Hirons
A 1984 Baylor graduate, Hirons is vice president and director of public affairs for Citigroup in Kansas City, handling communications, legislative affairs and philanthropy in the company's cards division. Hirons also is mayor of Roeland Park, Kansas. Prior to joining Citigroup, she was principal of The Hirons Group, which concentrated on public policy and public relations. Hirons earned a master's degree in public administration from the University of Kansas and is currently pursuing an MBA. A graduate of the Greater Missouri Leadership Challenge and the Missouri Chamber of Commerce Leadership class, she has volunteered for the United Way and United Methodist Youthville. She is currently an executive board member of the Baylor Alumni Association. She lives with her husband, Frank, in Roeland Park.
John L. Meredith
Meredith, who earned his law degree from Baylor in 1988, is president and general counsel of Aspiring Youth of Houston and Aspiring Youth of America. He also earned a BBA at North Georgia College in 1984, an MBA in 1985 from Georgia Tech and a master's degree in public administration from Harvard in 1997. While practicing law at Woodward, Hall and Primm PC from 1988 to 1996, Meredith began after-school tutoring and mentoring programs for at-risk middle school students. In 1997, he founded the nonprofit Aspiring Youth organizations that now serve more than a thousand students each year nationwide. Meredith has been named Outstanding Young Lawyer of Houston and Outstanding Young Lawyer of Texas. He and his wife, Shirley, and their two children, Ben and Mason, live in Houston.
Eugene C. Roehlkepartain
A 1984 Baylor graduate, Roehlkepartain is the director of family and congregation initiatives and senior adviser to the president of Search Institute, a national nonprofit organization dedicated to the betterment and wellness of children and adolescents through societal understanding. Roehlkepartain manages major research, publishing, training and consulting projects centering on families and congregations of all faiths. He has authored or co-authored more than 20 books and reports and numerous scholarly and professional articles on youth development and religious youth work. He currently lives in Minneapolis with his wife, Jolene, and their children, Micah and Linnea.
Melissa A. Rogers
Rogers is executive director of the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life, which promotes a better understanding of how religion shapes American society. Previously she was general counsel for the Baptist Joint Committee on Public Affairs, an organization devoted to defending religious liberty. A member of Phi Beta Kappa, Rogers earned a bachelor's degree from Baylor in 1988. She graduated from the University of Pennsylvania School of Law in 1991 and joined Dow, Lohnes and Albertson, a Washington, D.C., firm specializing in telecommunications law. She has authored essays in the Washington Post and Legal Times and appeared on numerous television and radio broadcasts. She lives with her husband, Stan Fendley, and two sons, Adam and Carter, in Washington, D.C.
For more information, contact the Baylor Alumni Association at (254) 710-1121 or (800) BAYLOR-U, option 6.