Alumni Awards
JOHNSON CITY (May 4, 2018) – The East Tennessee State University National Alumni Association presented its 2018 Alumni Awards on Friday, May 4, during the association’s Awards Banquet and Annual Meeting, which is held as part of the university’s spring commencement weekend.
Outstanding Alumni
Pamela Prince-Eason of the ETSU Class of 1985 was named Outstanding Alumna for her dedication to women’s business leadership as illustrated in her many professional and personal roles. She has been president and CEO of the Women’s Business Enterprise National Council (WBENC) since 2011 after serving on its board as a representative of Pfizer Inc., where she was vice president of Worldwide Procurement from 1999-2011. The WBENC is the largest certifier of women-owned businesses in the United States and is a leading advocate for women business owners and entrepreneurs.
After obtaining her bachelor of business administration degree in accounting from ETSU, Prince-Eason graduated magna cum laude with a master of administrative science degree in international business and finance from Johns Hopkins University. While at ETSU, she was a member of President’s Pride, Omicron Delta Kappa honor society, Phi Mu sorority and several business clubs.
Prince-Eason began her professional career in the accounting department of Texas Instruments (TI) in Johnson City due to a co-op assignment while attending ETSU. She held positions of increasing importance with TI from 1984-95, and was part of a transition team that acquired a business in Baltimore. She served as accounting manager there until she started a consulting partnership, RMR Associates LLC. As president of RMR, she led engagements with companies in the power and pharmaceutical industries and became a key facilitator in business process design.
Among Prince-Eason’s numerous honors and awards are the 2014 Woman of Achievement Award from the National Association of Female Executives and induction earlier this year into the Enterprising Women Hall of Fame.
Lt. Gen. (Ret.) Ronald V. Hite, the 2018 Outstanding Alumnus, grew up in Fall Branch and graduated from ETSU in 1964 with a degree in chemistry. As an ROTC cadet, he was recognized as a Distinguished Military Graduate and commissioned as a second lieutenant in the infantry of the U.S. Army. In 1974, he earned a master’s degree in management science from the Florida Institute of Technology; he also graduated from the Army Command and General Staff College with honors in 1973 and from the Industrial College of the Armed Forces in 1984.
Hite served the nation for 33 years, commanding at virtually every level with assignments throughout the U.S., Germany, Vietnam and Korea. He retired from the Army in 1997 and joined Cypress International, where he served as chairman and CEO until retiring again in 2005.
Hite’s awards and decorations include two Distinguished Service medals; four Legion of Merit awards; the Bronze Star Medal; three Meritorious Service medals; the Army Commendation Medal; a Meritorious Unit Citation; Expert Infantryman’s, Parachutist and Army General Staff badges; the Ranger Tab; and various other decorations for foreign service.
Hite currently serves on various boards, including the ETSU Foundation board of directors and the advisory board of the College of Business and Technology, and is a past president of the ETSU National Alumni Association. A recipient of the ETSU Distinguished Alumnus in the Armed Forces Award, he was one of the first members inducted into the ETSU ROTC Hall of Fame and is a member of the College of Business and Technology Hall of Fame. He was also an inaugural inductee into the U.S. Army National ROTC Hall of Fame and is a member of Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity.
Awards of Honor
David W. Purkey earned many accolades as a college freshman for saving a young boy’s life using CPR. He graduated from ETSU in 1981 with a degree in public health and interned with the Tennessee Division of Emergency Medical Services. He also earned a master’s degree in public health in 1987 from the University of Tennessee, where he interned with the Tennessee Department of Safety.
Purkey’s first government position was as judicial assistant to his mentor, Judge James K. Miller. He also held posts as a 911 dispatcher, Morristown-Hamblen County emergency management director, Tennessee state trooper, Tennessee Bureau of Investigation special agent, and police accreditation manager for the city of Morristown. In addition, he served as an officer in the Tennessee Army National Guard and U.S. Army Reserves for eight years.
In 1995, Purkey was appointed to the vacancy of Hamblen County mayor and went on to be elected as mayor four times before retiring in 2010. His retirement was short-lived, however, as Governor-elect Bill Haslam tapped him as the fourth Governor’s Homeland Security advisor and assistant commissioner for the Department of Safety and Homeland Security in 2011. Five years later, he was appointed commissioner of Safety and Homeland Security.
Melissa Steagall-Jones began working for Blackburn, Childers and Steagall in 1987 after graduating from high school, and joined the firm in 1991 after completing her bachelor’s degree at ETSU. She earned her CPA designation in 1993 and became a partner with the firm in 2002. She currently leads the employee benefit plan audit team and also performs audit services for governmental agencies and health care clients. In addition, she teaches continuing professional education courses on various auditing and accounting subjects.
Steagall-Jones is a member of the ETSU Government Relations Advisory Council and Roan Scholars Leadership Program Steering Committee, as well as a past board member of the ETSU Foundation. She and her family are supporters of ETSU Buccaneer football and basketball.
Steagall-Jones and her father, Charles Steagall, are the only father/daughter duo to be both ETSU College of Business and Technology Hall of Fame inductees and National Alumni Association Award of Honor recipients, as well as the first father/daughter to be presidents of the Chamber of Commerce of Johnson City/Jonesborough/Washington County. In addition, she and her husband, Jeff Jones, a 1988 graduate of ETSU, are the first husband and wife to be presidents of the Chamber, and she is the youngest person ever inducted as chair of the Chamber.
Kevin R. Triplett, a native of Clintwood, Virginia, graduated from ETSU in 1987 with a degree in communication and joined the staff of the Bristol Herald Courier. After two-and-a-half years, he moved to the Gazette in Gastonia, North Carolina, and before the age of 27, he had covered some of the biggest events in sports, including the World Series and Super Bowl.
Triplett soon received an offer from a sports/marketing company to handle media and public relations for some of its clients, which included the late NASCAR superstar Dale Earnhardt. In 1993, another opportunity arose when NASCAR offered him the chance to move to its headquarters in Daytona Beach, Florida, to assist with media and public relations.
After a 10-year stint with NASCAR, during which he was twice named by the Charlotte Observer as one of the 20 most influential people in NASCAR racing, Triplett moved his family back to the Tri-Cities region. He soon joined the team of Bristol Motor Speedway, where he did “a little bit of everything” for 10 years and became active in the community in numerous roles.
Since 2015, Triplett has served on Haslam’s cabinet as commissioner of the Tennessee Department of Tourism.
Honorary Alumnus
Joseph L. Trujillo grew up in a military family, spending most of his school years helping his father, a veteran of the Korean and Vietnam wars, operate a large family farm in Elizabethtown, Kentucky. At the age of 26, he entered the automobile business as a salesperson. His success in sales led to ownership when he moved to the Tri-Cities area in 2004 to take over Johnson City Honda. Under his leadership, the dealership has earned the Honda President’s Award 10 times and consistently ranks in the top three dealerships in Tennessee for new Honda sales. Trujillo is also the owner of two Honda dealerships in Missouri.
Since he moved to East Tennessee, Trujillo’s contributions to the community have included support for public and private schools throughout the region, numerous charities and athletics at all levels, from Little League to collegiate teams. His support of ETSU extends throughout the university. Every two years, he provides a vehicle for ETSU to present as the Bert Bach Leadership Award, which recognizes an employee for exceptional support of student success and helping students persist to graduation.
Distinguished Alumna in the Arts
Sara Beth Brimer Davey, a native of Greeneville, began her singing career in high school, competing in state and regional choir festivals and participating in numerous community- and school-based productions. She entered ETSU in 2001 to study music education. While at the university, she performed in “The Pirates of Penzance,” “Le Nozze di Figaro,” “La Divina,” “Dido and Aeneas,” “Carmen” and other operas; toured in Germany with the ETSU Chorale; and occasionally sang with the a cappella group TenBucsWorth.
After graduating from ETSU in 2008, Davey successfully auditioned for The Swingle Singers, a world-renowned a cappella ensemble based in London. For the past 10 years, she has performed in 46 countries with the group as its high soprano, and has also led The Swingles’ educational outreach, conducting workshops and master classes and providing individual coaching for all age groups.
In addition to her work with The Swingles, Davey has sung backing vocals for such artists as Jamie Cullum and Gareth Malone, and has recorded vocals for many film soundtracks, including “The Hunger Games,” “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them,” “Wonder Woman,” “Avengers” and “Genius.” She has also provided vocal coaching for the hit United Kingdom TV show, “Sing: Ultimate A Cappella.”
Davey is on her final tour with The Swingles and plans in the near future to pursue a musical career closer to her home in Cambridgeshire, England, where she lives with her husband.
Davey was presented her Distinguished Alumna in the Arts Award by ETSU President Dr. Brian Noland on March 1, when The Swingles performed in a concert here sponsored by ETSU’s Mary B. Martin School of the Arts.
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Established in 1915, the ETSU National Alumni Association is the university’s first and longest-operating organization.
The gathering of alumni on the evening before spring Commencement dates back to a candlelight ceremony to welcome the Class of 1929 “diplomats,” as graduates were then known.
The Alumni Awards are part of an annual program that began in 1970. A complete view of previous award recipients can be found at www.ETSU.edu/alumni. On the campus, the Alumni Gallery in the lower level of the D. P. Culp University Center displays permanent recognition for many award recipients.
For more details or to submit nominations for future awards, contact the ETSU National Alumni Association at 423-439-4218 or alumni@etsu.edu.