Peter S. Kraus ’74, Receives College’s Highest Alumni Honor
HARTFORD, Conn. – Peter S. Kraus ’74, was presented with the Eigenbrodt Cup Award, the highest alumni honor that Trinity bestows, while six graduates received awards from the Trinity College National Alumni Association during the school’s annual Reunion Weekend, which took place June 4 through June 7.
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In addition to Kraus, the award winners included Emilie East ’94, John S. Hamblett ’84, Albert L. Smith ’54, and Jocelyn Jones Pickford ’99. All four received Alumni Medals for Excellence. The Gary McQuaid Award was given to W. Townsend Ziebold ’84, and the Alumni Achievement Award went to Michael D. Loberg ’69.
Kraus is chairman of the board of directors and chief executive officer at AllianceBernstein in New York City. The Eigenbrodt Cup Award, which was created by Sallie Eigenbrodt in memory of her brother, David L. Eigenbrodt, who graduated in 1831, honors a Trinity graduate of national or international prominence for outstanding contributions and service on behalf of the College. Kraus received the award at his 35th class reunion.
Kraus has been with AllianceBernstein, a leading global investment management firm, since December 2008. Previously, he was head of global strategy, and a member of the Management Committee at Merrill Lynch. From 1986 until 2008, Kraus worked for Goldman Sachs and held leadership positions with its Management Committee, Investment Management Division, Strategy Committee, Private Wealth Management Group, and Financial Institutions Group. He was named a partner of the company in 1994 and managing director in 1996. Later, he served as an executive vice president.
As chair of Trinity’s Investment Committee, Kraus has used his expertise to strengthen the College’s investment strategy. From 1998 until 2006, he served on Trinity’s Board of Trustees. He also served his alma mater as a class agent, a member of the Reunion Gift Committee and Class Executive Board, and as program chair of the Reunion Committee. In 2004, at his 30th reunion, Trinity honored Kraus with its Alumni Medal for Excellence.
In 2005, Kraus honored his former professor and mentor, Ward S. Curran ’57, by establishing the Ward S. Curran ’57 Distinguished Professorship in Economics, which Curran currently holds. In 2008, Kraus and his wife established the Jill G. and Peter S. Kraus ’74 Fund for Presidential Scholars at Trinity.
As an economics major at Trinity, Kraus received the Peter J. Schaefer Memorial Prize, which is given annually to a freshman receiving the highest grades in introductory economics. At his graduation, he was honored with the Ferguson Prize in Economics and the Faculty Economics Award. He holds an M.B.A. from New York University.
A Boston resident, Loberg received the Alumni Achievement Award, which is presented annually by Trinity College President James F. Jones, Jr., to a graduate who has achieved distinction in his or her field of work. Loberg’s career in pharmaceutical research has spanned 30 years, and he was a member of the team that developed BilDil, a drug that has been praised for its treatment of African Americans and others with heart disease.
Today, Loberg is chairman of the board of directors of Inotek Pharmaceuticals Corporation, a developer of ophthalmic medicine, and he recently served as the company’s interim chief executive officer.
Loberg began his career at Bristol-Myers Squibb in 1979, and founded the company’s diagnostic business unit. He then moved on to head other divisions of the company, including its domestic and international enterprises. From 1997 to 2006, he was chief executive officer and a member of the board of directors of NitroMed Inc., the pharmaceutical company that created BilDil. He served as NitroMed’s president from September 2003 to March 2006.
In 1998, Loberg reestablished Trinity’s Joseph V. Getlin Scholarship, which honors the first Trinity student to die in the Vietnam War.
Loberg came to Trinity from St. Louis, Mo., and was the College’s first Getlin Scholar. A chemistry major and member of Pi Kappa Alpha, he was also a member of the fencing team. He holds a Ph.D. in chemistry from Washington University in St. Louis.
A member of Trinity’s Board of Trustees since 2004, Loberg also served on the College’s Board of Fellows and as an admission volunteer and career adviser. He has taught chemistry seminars at Trinity and served on the College’s Reunion Gift Committee and Reunion Class Committee.
The Gary McQuaid Award – which was presented to W. Townsend Ziebold’84, -- was established by family and friends in memory of Gary McQuaid ’64, in recognition of his leadership as a Trinity undergraduate and his subsequent success in the business world. The award is given annually to a graduate who demonstrated leadership as an undergraduate and has had subsequent success in the business world. Ziebold was presented with the McQuaid Award at his 25th reunion.
Ziebold, of New York City, joined Wasserstein Perella & Company in 1988, and became a managing director in 1994. When the company became Wasserstein & Co. in 2001, Ziebold became a managing director and president of Wasserstein Ventures.
Ziebold played a leading role in several of Wasserstein & Co.’s private equity investments, including Maybelline Inc.; Collins & Aikman Corporation; Imax Corporation; Digital River; Loudeye; and Venetec, serving on the board of directors of many of these companies. From 1998 to 2003, he was a director and non-executive chairman of the film projection company, Imax Corporation.
He served two terms on Trinity’s Board of Fellows, and is a former class agent and a Long Walk Societies volunteer. As a career adviser, he shared his insight and experience with Trinity students. He has consistently been involved in the planning of class reunions, serving on Reunion Gift Committees and the Reunion Class Committee. From 2004 to 2007, he served on the National Alumni Association’s Executive Committee.
As an undergraduate at Trinity, Ziebold majored in economics and was a member of the lacrosse team. He also wrote for Trinity’s student newspaper, The Trinity Observer, and was an officer of the Interfraternity Council. He holds an M.B.A. from the Stanford University Graduate School of Business.
The four recipients of the Alumni Medal for Excellence, which is given annually to graduates who have made significant contributions to their communities and to Trinity, include:
• Emelie East of Seattle, WA, who is director of intergovernmental relations for the city of Seattle. She was honored at her 15th reunion. East is responsible for overseeing Seattle’s Office of Intergovernmental Relations.
Prior to becoming director, East was director of Council Relations and worked with Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels as the primary liaison between the mayor’s office and city council members and staff.
In 2002, East co-founded McBee Strategic Consulting, which counted among its clients Fortune 100, multinational, technology, education, and defense entities, as well as local governments. Before that, she was a vice president with Denny Miller McBee Associates.
After graduating from Trinity, East worked as a staff assistant for U.S. Rep. Norm Dick, a Washington Democrat. Later, she was a staff member of the Senate Appropriations Committee.
East became an admission volunteer for Trinity upon graduation and continues to visit high schools and talk with prospective students. While in Washington, D.C., she arranged for Trinity students to have special tours of the Senate. She was president of the Trinity Club of Washington, D.C., and served as a member of the National Alumni Association’s Executive Committee. From 2004 to 2007, she was a member of Trinity’s Board of Trustees.
At Trinity, East created her own major in race, class, gender, and American institutions. Her senior thesis focused on inequality in the U.S. education system. As an undergraduate, she was a legislative intern for state Sen. George Jepsen of Stamford. She was a member of the Student Government Association and Kappa Kappa Gamma. At graduation, she was honored with the Peter J. Schaefer Memorial Prize and a Senior Achievement Award. She earned her law degree from Georgetown University.
• Hamblett, a principal in client services and business development at Cooke & Bieler, was honored at his 25th reunion. At the Philadelphia-based investment-counseling firm, Hamblett assists the company’s portfolio managers and institutional clients, and also its marketing and new business development.
Following his graduation from Trinity, Hamblett gained client service and sales experience in the institutional fixed income department of CS First Boston in Philadelphia. In 1989, he received his M.B.A. in finance from the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania.
After working as a consultant for two years, he continued in sales and client services, first rejoining CS First Boston and later working with Starboard Capital Markets. He spent eight years as a vice president and relationship portfolio manager at Rittenhouse Asset Management in Radnor, PA, before joining Cooke & Bieler.
Hamblett served on the Executive Committee of Trinity’s National Alumni Association and volunteered as a career adviser for the College. He played leadership roles in the planning of his 20th and 25th reunions, serving on the Reunion Gift Committee and the Reunion Class Committee. He is also a leader of the Trinity Club of Philadelphia.
At Trinity, Hamblett was an economics and computer science major and captain of the ski team.
• Pickford, who is education director for the Hope Street Group in Washington, D.C., was honored at her 10th reunion. The Hope Street Group is a public policy nonprofit dedicated to giving all Americans the opportunity to realize the American Dream.
She began her career as a writer and editor in New York City before moving to Washington, D.C. in 2001. She earned her master’s in secondary education in English from George Washington University and spent four years teaching in the Fairfax County public schools. There she helped secure the passage of a Teacher Leadership Initiative aimed at improving student achievement and assisted in writing a grant proposal that resulted in her school receiving a $1 million award.
In 2006, she was selected to the White House Fellows Program, one of the nation’s most prestigious programs for leadership and public service, and spent a year studying government, policy, and leadership on Capitol Hill.
After her fellowship, she served as special assistant in the Office of the Secretary at the U.S. Department of Education, where she developed a program to connect classroom teachers to national education policy discussions and decisions. A position as chief of staff in the Office of Legislation and Congressional Affairs followed.
Pickford is a member of Trinity College’s National Alumni Association Executive Board. She also serves her alma mater as an admission volunteer and as vice president of the Trinity Club of Washington, D.C.
At her graduation, Pickford was inducted into Phi Beta Kappa, named the President’s Fellow for English, and received numerous awards, including the Miles A. Tuttle Prize and the Academy of American Poets Prize. She was named a Connecticut Circuit Poet and selected to USA Today’s 1999 All-USA College Academic Team.
• Smith, of Oxford, MD, is a retired managing director of Continental Can Ltd. and founding board member of Talbot Mentors Inc. He received his Medal for Excellence at his 55th reunion.
Continental Can Company (now Continental Group Company) recruited Smith in 1954. He was responsible for the company’s largest sales district and then become an area manager for the Northeast, with 13 factories and two sales offices. Later, he was vice president of sales and marketing for the company’s international operations, Continental Can Ltd., and led its European reorganization. He retired in 1994.
Smith received his U.S. Air Force R.O.T.C. commission at his Trinity graduation. He trained as a pilot and became a senior director at an early warning site for the Air Defense Command in Highlands, NJ, attaining the rank of captain.
He led Trinity’s Capital Fund Drive in upstate New York and served on the planning committee for his 25th and 40th reunions. He was vice chair for his 50th reunion, chaired his 55th reunion, and currently serves as class president. Since 2004, he has been a member of Trinity’s Class Executive Board.
Smith serves on the boards of many nonprofit organizations, including the Academy Art Museum, the Historical Society of Talbot County, and the Oxford Community Center. He is vice president of the Talbot Hospice Foundation, and as co-chair of the Oxford Fire Company Building Fund Drive, helped raise more than $1.5 million to build a new firehouse in that town.
He is also a founding board member of Talbot Mentors, Inc., which teams up adult mentors with young people in Talbot County, MD. He was president of the organization’s board from 2002 until 2007 and currently serves as a mentor. In recognition of his community work, he received Talbot County’s “Most Beautiful People” Award in 2006.