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All alumni are invited to join the award recipients and their families at the breakfast on Saturday, Oct. 23, at 8:15 a.m. in Johnston Hall Alumni Center. The cost is $15 per person. Please register using the online form, available by clicking the link to the right.

Distinguished Alumnus of the Year: Jack R. Lindley ’56 P’83

In the more than five decades since his graduation from Elon College, Jack has worked tirelessly to foster economic vitality and community growth in his native Alamance County. Following a 28-year career in the property and casualty insurance industry, Jack took the reins of local firm Industrial Paper Products, which has since flourished to become a key cog of the regional economy. He also played a significant role in making the Burlington Outlet Mall a reality during the 1980s shopping mall boom.

Devoted to his alma mater, Jack has served on Elon’s board of trustees since 2001 and sat on the board of visitors from 1988 to 2001. He and his wife, Dorothy “Dot” Lindley, have long been loyal donors to the university, and their son, Jay, is a 1983 alumnus.

Distinguished Alumna of the Year: Kebbler McGhee Williams ’98

Since graduating from Elon, Kebbler has developed a reputation as a dynamic administrator in the Wake and Randolph County school systems. She also has channeled a love for her alma mater into devoted service to Elon as a valued member of the board of trustees. Yet she’s no stranger to the board; upon graduation in 1998, Kebbler was selected to be an Elon youth trustee, becoming the first African-American woman to be so honored.

Kebbler completed her master’s degree in school administration in 2004 and served as an assistant principal at Middle Creek High School in Apex, N.C., for five years before being named principal of Franklinville Elementary School in Franklinville, N.C., in 2009. Currently pursuing a doctoral degree in educational leadership at UNC-Chapel Hill, Kebbler has guided her schools to unprecedented levels of excellence, making a difference in the lives of hundreds of young people in the central North Carolina area.

Young Alumna of the Year: Michelle C. Pautz ’03

An outstanding student during her time at Elon, Michelle went on to receive master’s and doctoral degrees in public administration from Virginia Tech and now serves as an assistant professor in the University of Dayton’s Department of Political Science.

A gifted young scholar, Michelle demonstrates a unique ability to produce rigorous scholarship that also has mainstream appeal. This year, research she conducted with Laura Roselle, professor of political science at Elon, appeared in the winter issue of Public Voices, a leading journal in the political science field. Their research about civil servants’ portrayal in American cinema earned mention in several national newspapers. Last year, Michelle’s undergraduate research about the decline in cinema attendance during the 20th century earned mention in a front-page story in the New York Times.

Alumni Service Award: Charles “Chuck” and Carole Ann Collard ’89

When Chuck and Carole Ann’s adopted daughter, Carly Cottone, died of an aggressive form of cancer in 2002, the couple devoted their lives to making Carly’s dream of helping other children and families suffering from the disease a reality. Through Carly’s Club, the Collards have turned a deeply personal tragedy into a thriving nonprofit organization that supports nearly 300 pediatric cancer patients in the greater Buffalo, N.Y., area.

In the ten years since Chuck and Carole Ann founded Carly’s Club was founded, the organization has raised more than $3 million for cancer research and family-centered support programs at Buffalo’s Roswell Park Cancer Institute, where Carly received her treatments. The success of Carly’s Club has inspired the couple to begin a new organization, Healing Hearts of WNY, which provides support and guidance to families who have lost a child.