UB to honor distinguished alumni at annual awards ceremony

BUFFALO, N.Y. – The University at Buffalo will recognize 12 distinguished alumni at the UB Alumni Association Achievement Awards ceremony to be held at 6 p.m. Friday, Oct. 12, in the UB Center for the Arts.

The annual on-campus celebration, which includes alumni, colleagues, family and friends, will honor individuals who have had a significant impact on society and the university community. The ceremony is a part of Homecoming and Family weekend, which takes place Oct. 11-14.

This year's recipient of the highest honor, the Samuel P. Capen Award, is Stephen Still (BS '76), managing director and co-founder of Seabury Consulting, now part of Accenture. He has more than 35 years of experience in consulting and management of transportation systems, including hands-on experience in aviation planning.

In 2017, Still created an endowment at UB to support the Institute for Sustainable Transportation and Logistics (ISTL), a center that unites the engineering and management schools to address the growing new field of transportation, logistics and supply-chain management. To recognize his generous gift to the Boldly Buffalo campaign, UB renamed the institute in his honor.

“This university changed my life,” Still said when speaking about the university. “I have been blessed far beyond my expectations and the origins can be traced back to this very place. From the faculty who taught with passion and commitment to the lifelong friends made here, this place was truly transformational.”

Other awardees include:

Community Leadership Award
Gale Burstein (MD '90) is health commissioner for the Erie County Department of Health. She's also a practicing physician with Endeavor Health Services adolescent substance use treatment program; a clinical professor in the Department of Pediatrics, Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences; and a research professor in UB's School of Public Health and Health Professions.

Walter P. Cooke Award
A senior executive with more than 30 years of experience, Lawrence Castellani started stocking shelves in 1962 for his family's upstate New York supermarket chain, which became Tops Friendly Markets. He became CEO of Tops in 1991, and remained in that role until 1998, when he stepped down to run Latin American operations for Royal Ahold NV, a Dutch supermarket operator. He finished his retail career as CEO and chairman of Advanced Auto Parts, and now serves as a consultant for Freeman Spogli & Co. 

Distinguished Alumni Awards
Known for his student-centered philosophy, commitment to the community and inclusive leadership style, Robert Davies (PhD ’05) is the 15th president of Central Michigan University. He is a strong advocate for higher education and has authored numerous papers and given many presentations on university leadership.

Milton Ezrati (BA '69) is chief economist at Vested, a financial communications agency. He has been an engaged member of the dean's advisory council for the College of Arts and Sciences since 2007, and has served as an associate for the Center for the Study of Human Capital and Economic Growth since 2005. In 2015, he received the College of Arts and Sciences Julian Park Award.

Karen Maricle (MS '88, BS '72) is president of Maricle Health Advisors LLC and a fellow in the American College of Healthcare Executives. Maricle is an adjunct assistant professor in the School of Nursing and served as a member of the UB Health Sciences Institutional Review Board. In 2008, she received the School of Nursing Distinguished Alumni Award.

Robert Noonan (BA '71), known today as Willie Nile, has released 12 critically acclaimed studio albums, multiple live albums and built a loyal international fan base. A Buffalo native, Nile was inducted into the Buffalo Music Hall of Fame in 2005. He has toured across the U.S. with The Who and has performed with Bruce Springsteen, Ringo Starr, Lucinda Williams and Richard Thompson.

Clifford C. Furnas Memorial Award
Mark Schulz (PhD '93, MS '84) is a professor of mechanical and materials engineering at the University of Cincinnati. He also is co-founder and co-director of Nanoworld Laboratories, a series of research and teaching laboratories at the University of Cincinnati; co-founder of General Nano LLC, a nanomaterials company; co-founder of Inovasc LLC, a medical device start-up company; and deputy director of the National Science Foundation Engineering Research Center for Revolutionizing Metallic Biomaterials.

International Distinguished Alumni Award
Moeez Nakhoda (BS '91) and his brother Aamir Nakhoda are directors of F.M. Noordin & Co. Pte. Ltd., where they handle day-to-day operations. Moeez Nakhoda's gratitude for his UB education as an international student led him in 2007 to endow the Amena and Hatim Nakhoda Family Scholarship, named in honor of his parents, for School of Management undergraduate students. To date, 32 individuals have benefited from the generosity of the Nakhoda family.

Richard T. Sarkin Award for Excellence in Teaching
Charles Severin (MD '97) is associate dean for medical education and associate professor of anatomy in the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences. He oversees the educational performance of first- and second-year medical students and monitors their research and clinical work. He is the past chairman of the school's medical admissions committee.

George W. Thorn Award

Joseph Hanna (JD '05, BA '02) is a commercial litigator and legal adviser at Goldberg Segalla. He was the first associate the firm hired directly out of law school, and he soon became the youngest attorney to be named partner. He received Law 360's Rising Star honor in 2014, was named the youngest-ever Lawyer of the Year by the Bar Association of Erie County in 2015, and was placed on the American Bar Association's On the Rise—Top 40 Young Lawyers list in 2017.

Philip B. Wels Outstanding Service Award

Terese Kelly (MLS '73, BA '68), a librarian for the Rochester Public Library, always dreamed about working in business. That's why, in 2011, she helped four students from the UB School of Management achieve a dream of their own: to start a student-run investment group, today known as the Terese Kelly Investment Group.