Each John Carroll Weekend culminates with a banquet celebrating the John Carroll and Patrick Healy Award recipients and their distinguished service to Georgetown and their communities, their lifetime achievement and dedication to advancing Georgetown's mission of distinguished service and leadership.

Watch this bold tribute to the careers, lives and accomplishments of six supremely deserving members of the Georgetown community:

The John Carroll Award

The John Carroll Award was established by the Georgetown University Alumni Association in 1951 to honor alumni whose achievements exemplify the ideals and traditions of Georgetown University and its founder, Archbishop John Carroll. The John Carroll Award is the highest honor bestowed by the alumni association. All recipients have distinguished themselves through lifetime achievement and outstanding service to their alma mater. Five John Carroll Awards are presented each year.

2011 John Carroll Award Recipients

• Mary Taylor Behrens (C'83)
• Philip T. Inglima (C'84, L'88)
• The Hon. M. Margaret McKeown (L'75, H'05)
• Paul F. Pelosi (F'62)
• Michael L. Vespoli (B'68)

The Patrick Healy Award

The Patrick Healy Award is the highest honor bestowed by the alumni association upon distinguished individuals who are not alumni. Established in 1969 and named for Rev. Patrick Healy, S.J., the first black president of a major American university and Georgetown's "second founder," the Patrick Healy Award symbolizes the deep admiration that the university holds for these unique individuals and special friends of Georgetown. The alumni association presents one Patrick Healy Award each year.

2011 Patrick Healy Award recipient

• C. Richard Schlegel, M.D., Ph.D. (Faculty)

Nomination Process

There are four criteria for selection: lifetime achievement, dedication to the principles of Georgetown, volunteer service to Georgetown and community and public service. A nomination form is sent to all alumni. Approximately one month after the nomination deadline, a selection committee of the board of governors meets to choose the recipients.

Biographies

Mary Taylor Behrens (C’83)
Bronxville, NY
From her days as a star student-athlete to her recent years of support for Georgetown Athletics, Mary Taylor Behrens’ dedication to her alma mater knows no bounds.

A four-year letter winner on the track and field team, she was a member of three school record relay teams and the school record holder for the indoor 300-meter run. As a senior, Mary was co-captain of the team and received the James A. Gallagher Memorial Award as the Hoyas’ outstanding track and field competitor.

After graduating from Georgetown with a degree in government, Mary began her career in New York at Chase in 1983. She joined Merrill Lynch in 1989 and soon earned a senior position in the healthcare group before becoming head of human resources and a member of firm’s executive committee. At the time of her retirement from Merrill Lynch in 2003, Mary was head of the Merrill Lynch Investment Managers Americas region and the most senior woman in the company.

With a deep expertise she honed on Wall Street, Mary formed Newfane Advisors, a private consulting firm that she oversees as president. She has been a member of the board of Manor Care and is on the board of Sagent Pharmaceuticals.

Mary served on the board of regents for seven years, including five years as the head of its athletics committee, and served on the board of directors’ ad hoc committee on athletics. Remembering the scholarship that paved the way for her to attend Georgetown, Mary and her husband, Chris, established an endowed scholarship for a women’s track and field student-athlete and endowed the coaching chair for women’s track, which earned her the Hoyas Unlimited Outstanding Contribution to Athletics award. Mary also co-chaired fundraising efforts for the Class of 1983’s 25th Reunion.

Mary is a member of the board of the Lawrence Hospital Center and recently served as chair of the Bronxville School Foundation and senior warden of her church. Mary has also served as president of the Winthrop H. Smith Foundation and was on the board of the YMCA of Greater New York.

Mary and Chris have two sons, Christopher and Matthew.

Philip T. Inglima (C’84, L’88)
Washington, D.C.
An exemplar of the Jesuit tradition of women and men for others, Phil Inglima has found no shortage of ways to give back to the alumni community.

As an undergraduate, Phil served as a resident assistant and a member of the Homecoming Review Committee. He was introduced to the alumni association as the co-chair of his senior class gift committee, and he has continued to be an active member ever since.

After graduating with a degree in English, Phil remained at Georgetown as an assistant to the Rev. Timothy S. Healy, S.J., then president of the university. He spent two years working closely with Father Healy while studying at the Georgetown University Law Center. His dedicated work for the Juvenile Justice Clinic earned him the honor of being named “Outstanding Advocate.”

Phil began his law career as a clerk to the Honorable June L. Green of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia before entering private practice with criminal defense legend Plato Cacheris (F’51, L’56). Since then, he has amassed more than two decades of experience in as a litigator specializing in white collar criminal law, including two years as a special prosecutor.

Now a partner at Crowell & Moring LLP, Phil defends criminal and civil matters in trial and appellate courts. He has been recognized repeatedly in the premier legal review guide, Chambers USA, as well as in Super Lawyers and The Best Lawyers In America, as a leading lawyer in white collar criminal defense.

It would be hard to find a volunteer post at Georgetown that Phil hasn’t occupied. He has chaired many of his undergraduate and law classes’ reunion committees, served on the board of regents and worked as vice chair of the law annual fund. A member of the board of governors since 1997, Phil served as president of the alumni association and a well-respected member of the board of directors for two years. He also teaches a course in federal white collar crime at the Law Center.

Phil and his wife, Elizabeth Wieser (C’86, L’92), have three children—Joseph, Rosalia and Paulina—who were all born at the Georgetown University Hospital.

The Hon. M. Margaret McKeown (L’75, H’05)
San Diego, California
A trailblazer in the field of law, Judge M. Margaret McKeown couples a strong commitment to justice with a compassionate spirit that drives her career and volunteer work.

Before matriculating at Georgetown Law, where she edited the Georgetown Journal of Law and Policy in International Business, Judge McKeown studied at the University of Madrid and graduated Phi Beta Kappa from the University of Wyoming. She also holds an honorary doctorate from Georgetown.

When Judge McKeown began work at Perkins Coie LLP, there were no female partners or women on the executive committee. That didn’t stop her from reaching these senior positions and founding the firm’s Washington, D.C., office and its intellectual property practice, where she earned the honor of being named among the “Fifty Most Influential Women Lawyers” by the National Law Journal and one of “Washington’s Winningest Trial Lawyers” by Washington Law.

President Bill Clinton (F’68) appointed Judge McKeown to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in 1998, where she has authored more than 300 precedential opinions. Margaret’s esteemed judicial work has earned her wide recognition, including the American Bar Association’s 2010 Margaret Brent Women of Achievement Award and the Federal Bar Association Community Service Award. She was named an “Outstanding Alumna” by both of her alma maters and has been recognized as an “Outstanding Mentor” and a “Cool Woman” by the Big Sisters and the Girl Scouts, respectively.

Judge McKeown is an adjunct professor and jurist in residence at the University of San Diego Law School. She has also taught “The Constitution and the Internet” at Georgetown Law and is the incoming chair of its board of visitors, on which she has served since 2002. Her dedication to justice has translated into devoted service as a board member of Girl Scouts of the USA, Volunteers of America, the ABA Rule of Law Council and the La Jolla Music Society.

Judge McKeown and her husband, Peter Cowhey (F’70), are the proud parents of Haruka.

Paul F. Pelosi (F’62, Parent’88, ’89, ‘91)
San Francisco, California
An integral member of the Georgetown alumni community, Paul Pelosi has seamlessly translated his business expertise into shrewd leadership for the university.

Since he graduated from the School of Foreign Service and studied at the graduate business schools of Harvard and New York University, Paul has achieved monumental success in his more than 40 years of work in finance and management. He held senior positions at Citibank in New York and Boothe Financial Services in San Francisco before founding Financial Leasing Services, Inc., a San Francisco-based real estate and venture capital investment and consulting firm, where he now serves as president. Paul was instrumental in establishing the professional United Football League and owns the Sacramento Mountain Lions.

Over the past several decades, Paul has lent his business savvy to numerous organizations in the private and nonprofit sectors. He serves on the San Francisco War Memorial and Performing Arts Center Board of Trustees and the National Institutes of Health Children's Inn Board of Directors.

Paul and his wife, Nancy, established the Paul and Nancy Pelosi Charitable Foundation in 2002. In addition to supporting Georgetown, the foundation gives generous financial backing to a variety of museums and nonprofits. Nancy, the current minority leader of the US House of Representatives, received an honorary degree from Georgetown in 2002.

Paul has never hesitated to work beyond the call of duty in service of his alma mater, ever since his time spent as an active member of the Georgetown Club of New York City in the 1960s. In the 1980s, Paul co-chaired the Northern California capital campaign for Georgetown, making vital connections between donors and the university. Paul has been a loyal supporter of the Wall Street Alliance, a two-term member of the board of regents and currently serves as chair of the School of Foreign Service’s Board of Visitors. As the chair of this year’s John Carroll Weekend Volunteer Leadership Team, Paul has worked tirelessly to orchestrate this weekend of social, cultural and intellectual engagement.

Paul and Nancy have five children—Nancy Corinne, Christine (F’88), Jacqueline (C’89), Paul Jr. (C’91, L’95, MBA’95) and Alexandra—and eight grandchildren.

Michael L. Vespoli (B’68)
Guilford, Connecticut
Whether on the water or in the boardroom, Mike Vespoli’s passion and decisive leadership have always made him a true champion.

 Raised by entrepreneurs who taught him the value of hard work and sacrifice, Mike was able to grasp an opportunity that his parents never had—the chance to attend college. He had never rowed before walking onto the team during his freshman year at Georgetown, but Mike fell in love with the sport and by his senior year, he and his teammates took first place at the 1968 Dad Vail Regatta.

After graduating from the business school, Mike taught and coached crew at St. Joseph’s Prep in Philadelphia and the University of Massachusetts, where he received a master’s degree in education. He also continued rowing competitively, winning six national championships before joining the U.S. Olympic Team and placing 5th at the Munich Games. In 1974, the rowing world was stunned when Mike and his eight-oared crew became the first U.S. team to win the world championships since 1930. Once he retired from competitive rowing, Mike reunited with his Georgetown coach, Tony Johnson, to lead Yale’s crew to national success.

Mike revolutionized the sport in the United States when he founded the first racing shell manufacturing company to use high-tech materials instead of traditional wood. Today, Vespoli USA is the largest racing shell builder in North America.

A member of both the National Rowing Foundation Hall of Fame and the Georgetown Athletic Hall of Fame, Mike has maintained a strong connection to the Georgetown crew program that launched his professionally and personally rewarding career. He served as the chair of the rowing association’s board of directors for 16 years and has been a member of the board of regents for another 16. In 2000, Georgetown honored Mike with the Outstanding Service to Athletics award. Mike and his wife, Nancy, are members of the Georgetown 1789 Society and have endowed the Vespoli Family Crew Scholarship, which provides need-based financial assistance to rowers.

Mike and Nancy have one daughter, Lauren.

C. Richard Schlegel, M.D., Ph.D.
Rockville, Maryland
Few individuals exemplify Georgetown’s commitment to cura personalis and “smart science with a heart” more than Dr. Richard Schlegel.

 After attending Rutgers University as an undergraduate, Dick earned an M.D. and Ph.D. in Microbiology from Northwestern University and completed his residency and postdoctoral work at Harvard Medical School. Dick worked as an investigator and senior investigator at the National Institutes of Health’s National Cancer Institute, where he eventually served as Chief of the Cell Regulation and Transformation Section in the Laboratory of Tumor Virus Biology.

Dick’s work attracted Georgetown’s attention, and he was recruited as a professor in the Department of Pathology in 1990 to join forces with immunology and pathology experts who were researching the connection between cervical cancer and HPV. Dick became chair of the department in 2003, and has served as the Oscar B. Hunter Chair of Pathology since 2009.

In 1992, Dick and his research team changed the cancer landscape forever when they disclosed the invention of a vaccine that would block the two strains of human papillomavirus responsible for about 70 percent of cervical cancer cases. Since its approval by the Food and Drug Administration in 2006, more than 33 million doses of the vaccine, Gardasil, have been administered to young women and men across the country.

Cervical cancer is the most common form of cancer and the leading cause of cancer deaths among women in developing nations—but because of Dick’s diligent work and innovation, millions of women and men around the world will enjoy significantly longer and healthier lives. Dick and his team were awarded a $3.5 million grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the National Institutes of Health to work on further generations of preventive, therapeutic and low cost HPV vaccines for distribution in the developing world.

In recognition of his contributions to the advancement of global health, Georgetown President John J. DeGioia awarded Dick with the 2006 President’s Medal. Dick also received Georgetown’s Vicennial Medal in 2010 for his 20 years of devoted service to the university.

Dick and his wife, Susan, have three children—Matthew, Jennifer and Kimberly.