Recipient of the 2017-18 Dartmouth Young Alumni Distinguished Service Award

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The first member of your family born in the United States, your childhood included time in Illinois and Maryland before your family landed in New York when you were 12. Inspired to apply to Dartmouth by a sign on your college counselor’s door, you were accepted and invited to campus for Dimensions. That weekend visit was the beginning of several fantastic friendships that sustained you through college and beyond.

Once matriculated, you quickly immersed yourself in your studies. Your rigorous academic schedule focused on engineering studies modified with economics. You were grateful for the camaraderie of the Integrated Math and Physical Sciences group and the additional support you received through the Dartmouth Society of Black Engineers. You spent a memorable term as an exchange student at Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia. Ultimately, you earned your bachelor of engineering and masters in engineering management.

Outside the classroom, you prioritized community service. As a member of Alpha Phi Alpha, the historically black fraternity, you took on a variety of leadership positions. Your role as vice president of the Afro-American Society was significant to you, and you were pleased to be part of this long-established group, through which you met many members of BADA (the Black Alumni at Dartmouth Association). A particular highlight was your involvement with the Dartmouth Alliance for Children of Color, which provided mentorship for children from the Upper Valley. You vividly remember walking by candlelight across the winter landscape of the campus each year, holding vigil in remembrance of Martin Luther King, Jr. A member of the senior honors society Casque and Gauntlet, you co-founded the InterCommunity Council, which brought together student leaders from across campus. You also enjoyed hosting a radio show and playing intramural sports.

Upon graduation, you joined Savin Engineers, P.C. as a professional environmental engineer. Looking for work with a quicker pace, you transitioned into software technology as lead business architect for Agora Group Inc. after a few years. Now an engagement manager and product lead for Oliver Wyman, you assist clients in working through complex business and technical issues.

Despite your highly demanding work schedule, you prioritize volunteering for Dartmouth. You’ve served as an alumni interviewer, as the regional coordinator and treasurer for BADA, as an alumni councilor, and as a current member of the Executive Committee of the Association of Alumni. In your work with BADA, you’ve particularly enjoyed bringing students and alumni together, and you fondly remember your work planning BADA’s 40th Reunion in 2012, which delighted you with its tremendous turnout and passionate alumni engagement. During your term on the Alumni Council, you relished meeting alumni of all backgrounds and hearing new ideas, and found interaction with students through the Student Affairs Committee particularly meaningful. In a similar vein, you also helped establish an alumni association for your fraternity, Alpha Phi Alpha, to continue building powerful bonds between students and alumni.

The mentoring process is crucial to you. Cognizant of the opportunity gap for women and minorities in technology, you’ve focused on issues such as public health by serving as COO of the Ethiopian Global Initiative; helped create access, awareness, and opportunities for top black and Latinx engineering talent with Code2040; and provided tutoring and programs for the rising leaders programs. Often on campus, you consider yourself an unofficial mentor to STEM students.

Your wonderful family visited campus often during your undergraduate days, and they appreciate this next phase of dedicated and extensive volunteerism for Dartmouth. Hobbs, for your devotion to your community and meaningful contributions to Dartmouth students and alumni alike, we are grateful and pleased to present you with the Dartmouth Young Alumni Distinguished Service Award.