Alumni of distinction
Distinguished Alumni Award
Jeff Hoagland ’91
Whether discussing professional success or personal connections, it all comes back to UD for Jeff Hoagland.
Hoagland studied political science and worked in city government across the region before landing at the Dayton Development Coalition. He’s a Cleveland native, but as CEO and president of DDC, he gets to make a direct impact on the community he’s made his second home.
“There’s something special about Dayton,” he said. “And I’ll say the Dayton community, but UD as well. The whole servant-leadership, Catholic faith — from work to roommates to spouse to kids, it all points back to UD.”
Hoagland is a public servant in any role he takes on. With the DDC, he’s worked on a number of local development projects that bolster economic prosperity. He works with private industry, local government and the Department of Defense, like Wright-Patterson Air Force Base.
Right now, one focus is on onMain, an innovation hub in development through a collaborative venture between the University of Dayton and Premier Health located on the edge of UD’s campus.
“Being able to work on projects in your community with the University you went to, it brings it all back to day one for me when I moved here in 1987,” Hoagland said. “I don’t look at it because it’s UD, it’s just the right thing to do for the region.”
Christian Service Award
Kelly Mallon Young ’91
Kelly Mallon Young’s drive — and her UD business administration degree — propelled her to success in executive sales. They also helped her turn a small nonprofit into a million-dollar enterprise.
Sisters Rising Worldwide is an organization dedicated to uplifting the missions of Catholic sisters working on the front lines of social change around the world. The effort had passion, purpose and leadership — but something was missing, and it turned out to be Young.
Joining forces with founder and president Sister Irene O’Neill, C.S.J., Young helped develop a cutting-edge technology platform that would eliminate some of the language and geography barriers between the 650,000 nuns and the world.
“Sisters are the largest movement of women for good,” Young said. “So why aren’t we talking about them? Celebrating them? And most importantly, supporting them?”
Whether through $5 monthly donations, peer-to-peer support or larger philanthropic goals, the money she’s helped raise totals more than $2 million in donations that goes directly to the communities the sisters serve.
“We’re all born with this sense of helping others, I just get this opportunity to take it to the next level,” Young said. “I’m very fortunate.”
Joe Belle Memorial Young Alumni Award
Mariana Lanzarini-Lopes ’15
Mariana Lanzarini-Lopes has a fulfilling career in engineering today. But 10 years ago, she was still a senior figuring out her first steps after graduation.
She wanted to take a break but was encouraged by Laura Kozuh Bistrek ’97, currently the Diversity in Engineering Center executive director, to pursue graduate school. It was the nudge Lanzarini-Lopes needed.
Now she’s helping improve clean water through her work on ultraviolet sanitation as an assistant professor at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and co-founder of Optical Waters, a company providing ultraviolet optical fiber solutions for disinfection.
“A lot of times, people think I work with different communities all over the world, which is true, and I say, ‘Yes, and I’m also working with a lot of United States utilities because we don’t have it figured out,’” she said.
As an academic, she pushes research forward while engaging young minds. Her teaching is influenced by UD faculty mentors and ETHOS student immersions. She even coaches Ultimate Frisbee, something she picked up as a Flyer.
“The main thing UD gave me is this idea that community is really important,” said Lanzarini-Lopes, who also met her spouse, Michael Ising ’15, at UD. “I don’t think I came into UD with this idea, but I definitely left with this drive to make community wherever I go; that has been incredibly beneficial … it shapes everything I do.”
Special Achievement Award
Don Dailey ’74
Don Dailey found moments of faithful inspiration as a UD accounting student. While he attended Mass regularly, that wasn’t the only place he heard a sacred calling to work for the common good.
“What I found unique about UD, and what I now cherish, is that these messages weren’t buried in a religion course,” Dailey said. He recalls an accounting professor speaking on Scripture about treating their lives as trusts in order to give their time and effort to the future so others may gain from them. “It was such a joy to be able to go and do that.”
After graduation, he spent 35 years with PricewaterhouseCoopers, L.L.P., before retiring as the office managing partner in Cleveland. Dailey climbed the corporate ladder, and he made sure the rung below him wasn’t empty by mentoring employees and supporting educational philanthropy with his wife, Mary Jo.
In support of his high school, he helped raise more than $5.5 million in scholarships — doubling enrollment — and key facility upgrades.
Dailey couldn’t resist a second career as an adjunct faculty member at John Carroll University for the following 15 years.
“To be at the front end of what turned out to be a thousand dreams over the 15 years, what a privilege; what an honor,” he said.
Special Achievement Award
Ankur Gopal ’00
Ankur Gopal is running a company that provides business IT solutions to Fortune 1000 companies while staying rooted in a core UD value — business for the common good.
“As an entrepreneur, it’s not just about the bottom line but also about how you embrace the responsibility,” he said. “It’s about how you create jobs and opportunities for people that may not have had that same luck that you’ve had.”
Gopal is founder and CEO of Interapt, an IT consulting, workforce development and business process outsourcing firm that has helped more than 3,000 individuals — including veterans and those who are unemployed or underemployed — launch careers in technology.
He earned his MBA at UD while working for LexisNexis. He took his new skills and applied them while creating Interapt. So when he started the company in his home state of Kentucky, he was set on lifting up his community in the process of his economic gain.
“Those values were set in me. And then UD’s Marianist philosophy — giving, impact on community, using your skills and talents to help humanity — that rang true to me,” Gopal said. “After building a career in Silicon Valley and Chicago, I found my greatest purpose back in Kentucky. The opportunity to serve clients in my home state, and nationally, and witness the real impact of our efforts has been far more meaningful than I could have imagined.”
Special Service Award
Destiny Watson ’20
Destiny Watson has always been a servant-leader, but her time at UD helped her develop the skills she needed to make her calling a career.
Watson came to UD having already started her own nonprofit, You Matter 2, which focuses on youth development and leadership through skill building and college prep. She returned after graduation to grow the nonprofit from a small organization to a community staple.
“One thing that comes along with my entrepreneurial spirit is that it’s never been about me personally, but ways I can help others, inspire them or provide resources,” she said.
Watson is known on campus for her leadership in the National Pan-Hellenic Council, especially the Divine Nine monument installation.
“Being a Black student, seeing our
culture represented on campus was something that was important to me,” Watson said. “I wanted to identify a way that when students and alumni come to visit UD, they see themselves represented on
campus.”
She is a voice for Black alumni and students, and was involved with the We Soar campaign. She recognizes Flyer friends, faculty and staff, including president Eric F. Spina, for supporting her ambitions.
“My favorite thing about UD has always been the people, whether my peers or faculty and staff, those relationships and connections built, I know they’re strong and lasting,” Watson said. “Whatever I can do to give back, I will forever cheer on UD.”
A version of this article appears in print in the Autumn 2025 University of Dayton Magazine, Page 50. EXPLORE THE ISSUE — MORE ONLINE