Recipient of the 2021-2022 Dartmouth Alumni Award
Growing up in Weston, Massachusetts, your family took a serendipitous trip to Hanover while you were in junior high. While staying at the Hanover Inn, you saw Dartmouth students lined up late on a Saturday night waiting to celebrate the football team when it returned from a victory against Cornell. That memory stuck in your mind, and when your long-time plan to attend the United States Naval Academy fell through due to your color-blindness, you remembered that moment. You applied to Dartmouth early decision, and the rest is history.
You took a math course your first term taught by famed professor James Lauri Snell and President John Kemeny, an impressive way to kick off a career as a math major. While you excelled with numbers, you have a deep appreciation for the liberal arts and fondly remember taking classes from across the curriculum. However, you do also admit to taking a few naps in the Baker Treasure Room amid your studying.
In the winter months, Occom Pond became your home turf. You spent countless hours skating, often out on the ice six or seven days a week, no matter how low the temperatures dropped. When the ice thawed, you returned to your spring role as manager of the baseball team, and you fondly remember an annual two-week road trip for practices and games.
After college, you enlisted in the United States Navy’s officer candidate program. When your service was complete, you attended Harvard Business School, to your father’s delight. You quickly built a successful career, rising to become the CFO of a real estate development firm. However, when you became a single father, you rearranged your entire life to prioritize your children, Justin and Rachel. You took over your father’s failing bill collection firm and turned it around, allowing you to create a schedule that maximized your time with family.
When you first became involved with fundraising for your class around your fifth Reunion, you learned that the ’67s were doing so poorly that they were actually on a College list of underperforming classes. That changed quickly after you stepped up to become Class President. In fact, in 1989 the ’67s won Class of the Year. You note that your classmates learned to beware of your calls, knowing that an ask was coming. Nevertheless, you continue to enjoy the opportunity to connect with fellow alumni and bring your more disconnected peers back into the fold. Over the years, you have built some of your most powerful Dartmouth bonds with your fellow class officers, even those who you never knew as a student.
As a class leader, you’ve made space for your classmates to pursue initiatives that mattered to them, like the Class of ’67 Bunkhouse at Moosilauke and the Class of ’67 Space for Dialogue in the Hood Museum. You’re particularly proud of the ’67 Memorial Grove, near Occom Pond, which you always stop to visit when you’re on campus. As President of the Class Officers Association, you shared your unique wisdom with leaders from across the whole range of Dartmouth classes. You’ve also proudly served as an Alumni Councilor and a leader of the Dartmouth Club of Cape Cod.
As you’ve demonstrated plainly throughout your life and career, your family is your proudest accomplishment. Your son Justin attended Vassar, and your daughter Rachel followed in your footsteps, graduating from Dartmouth in 1998. Throughout their college careers, you regularly drove hundreds of miles to see them for an evening or catch a game. You are also deeply devoted to your wife, Hal, who has been a steadfast supporter of all of your endeavors for Dartmouth and beyond.
Bill, we thank you for your steadfast and passionate service to Dartmouth. In recognition, we are proud to present you with the Dartmouth Alumni Award.