Holy Cross Honors Five Alumni for Professional Achievement and Commitment to Service, Faith and Justice

The College of the Holy Cross has honored five alumni with the Sanctae Crucis Awards. The highest non-degree recognition bestowed by the College on a graduate, the annual awards are presented to alumni who are leaders in business, professional or civic life, who live by the highest intellectual and ethical standards, and who are committed to the service of faith and promotion of justice.

The 18th annual awards presentation took place at a dinner on campus on Sept. 18, 2015.  During the day, recipients participated in a series of campus events, including a panel discussion, and seminar-style conversations with faculty and students about how their lives and career paths were shaped at Holy Cross.

Congratulations to this year’s recipients:

David G. Butler, M.D. ’61 A physician who has traveled annually for 23 years to the village of Milot in Haiti to conduct medical missions and work with the community.

A fellow in the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, Dr. Butler has worked in private practice in Englewood, N.J. for 40 years. In 1992, he first went to Haiti, at the urging of a cousin who volunteered at the Hopital Sacre Coeur in the village of Milot. Every year since, he has returned multiple times, witnessing — thanks to his fundraising leadership — the hospital’s growth from 16 beds to 120 beds today, and a significant increase in modern treatment options. In 2012, he was named president of the CRUDEM Foundation which supports the hospital, the largest private hospital in the north of Haiti, and other activities in the village. Dr. Butler also serves on the Board of Trustees of Holy Named Medical Center in Teaneck, and is the former chair of that board.

Shannon C. Carroll ’92 President and CEO, Genesis Center, which serves immigrants, refugees and low-income families.

Carroll is president and CEO of the nonprofit and nationally acclaimed Genesis Center in Providence, R.I. The multi-service organization offers a full range of services to immigrants, refugees and low-income families, and serves more than 600 in its adult education and workforce development programs and more than 100 in its childcare program. In just the past year, a record 150 Genesis students have entered, re-entered, or increased their employment—a full 30 percent of adult education placements in the state. An economics/accounting major with a concentration in Asian Studies at Holy Cross, Carroll decided in her senior year to teach English in China.  She stayed five years, teaching and improving her Mandarin before returning to the U.S. and beginning her career in teaching and workforce education. She was recently appointed by Governor Gina Raimondo of Rhode Island to the state’s Board of Trustees on Career and Technical Education, and is a member of the State’s Permanent Legislative Committee on Child Care.

Joan Hogan Gillman ’85 Executive vice president and chief operating officer of media services, Time Warner Cable

Gillman is executive vice president and chief operating officer of media services for Time Warner Cable, where she has worked for nine years.  During that time, she grew TWC's business to $1 billion, while achieving long-term financial and strategic goals. She has been on the cutting edge of new technology in media and advertising since she first joined the internet industry in 1995, working for Physicians’ Online, the leading ISP for the healthcare industry. She also headed up the business development, regulatory and legal teams for British Interactive Broadcasting, before returning to the U.S. where she served as president of Static2358, the interactive TV, games and production subsidiary of OpenTV. Prior to her business career, she worked in politics for former U.S. Sen. Chris Dodd of Connecticut, serving as his legislative director, state director, assistant press secretary and legislative aide.  She is a member of the board of the directors of BlackArrow, NCC Media (National Cable Communications LLC, chair of Video Cable Bu Women in Cable Telecommunications, and the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB).  She is also a member of the Advisory Board of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute, and serves on the Board of Directors of the Jesuit Volunteer Corps. She is a former member of the Holy Cross Board of Trustees and the City Parks Foundation in New York City.

William K. Olsen, Jr. ’86 Principal, Rutland High School, Vermont, where he has led and taught social studies since 1999, and which is recognized as a model of innovation.

An economics major at Holy Cross, Olsen is principal of Rutland (Vermont) High School, where he has led and taught social studies since 1999. He was named Principal of the Year in 2014 by the Vermont Principals Association, and his high school is nationally recognized as a model of innovation, with the introduction of a Professional Leaning Community, a Global Studies Program and STEM Academy frequently cited and honored. He is credited with creating an environment in which students successfully countered the negative and cyber-bullying effects of a social media app. He previously taught and coached at Barstow Memorial School (Chittenden, Vermont), Canterbury School (New Milford, Conn.) and the American International School (Salzburg, Austria).

Rev. John H. Vaughn ’82 Executive vice president, Auburn Theological Seminary, the premier leadership development center for the multifaith movement for justice.

Rev. Vaughn is executive vice president at Auburn Theological Seminary. Located in New York City, Auburn is the premier leadership development center for the multifaith movement for justice. At Auburn, Rev. Vaughn leads overall strategic planning and management as Auburn works to identify and strengthen leaders, build communities, bridge divides, pursue justice, and heal the world. Before joining Auburn Seminary, Rev. Vaughn served as the program director for the Twenty-First Century Foundation, and prior to that, was minister for education and social justice at The Riverside Church, both in New York City. He is an ordained minister in the American Baptist Churches and received his M.Div. from the Pacific School of Religion in Berkeley, Calif. He writes and lectures frequently on issues related to justice, race, economic equity, education, and community-building. His work has appeared in The Huffington Post, The Living Pulpit, among other publications, and he is contributor to “Class Lives: Stories from Across Our Economic Divide” (Cornell University Press, 2014).

For more on the Sanctae Crucis Awards, including the program’s history and past recipients, please visit http://www.holycross.edu/sanctae-crucis-awards