2020
Service to Northwestern
Presented to alumni in recognition of leadership and service excellence rendered to the University via the Northwestern Alumni Association, an affiliated alumni group, school or unit, or other University associated program.
David Lefkowitz ’82
David Lefkowitz is chair of Northwestern’s School of Communication (SoC) National Advisory Council and has served as a member since 2011. He was fundraising chair and an organizer of the school’s CommFest celebration in 2018 that brought 2,700 alumni and friends to campus and involved more than 500 students. Lefkowitz is a retired partner of the international law firm of Weil, Gotshal and Manges LLP. Until his retirement in June 2016, he had a broad corporate practice and specialized in corporate finance. He was also one of the leaders of the firm’s securities practice for many years. Lefkowitz earned a BS in communication studies from Northwestern and a JD from Georgetown University Law Center.
Joseph Sun ’96 MBA
Joseph Sun is president of the NU Club of Taiwan and served as the inaugural president of the Kellogg Club of Taiwan. As director of Taiwan’s Alumni Admission Council, he spearheaded recruiting efforts in Hong Kong and Taiwan that led to more interviews, admissions, and final yields of both undergraduate and Kellogg School of Management students. Sun is the founder and managing partner of Solaris Capital Advisors, a Hong Kong-based multi-family office focusing on alternative assets. Before founding Solaris, Sun managed investment portfolios for Kingdon Capital in New York and Och-Ziff Capital in Asia. He holds an MBA from Northwestern’s Kellogg School of Management.
Bonnie Typlin ’70, ’74 MD
Bonnie Typlin has volunteered for the Northwestern Alumni Association for more than 45 years. A longtime member of the Feinberg School of Medicine’s Medical Alumni Board, she served as board president from 2007 to 2009. Typlin is also a founding member of the Council of One Hundred and a member of the NU Club of Tucson. Typlin was a pediatrician in Chicago for more than two decades before moving to Arizona, where she served as chief medical officer for a children’s rehabilitative outpatient facility and joined a pediatrics practice. After graduating from Northwestern with a BA in biology and an MD from the Feinberg School of Medicine, she completed her residency in pediatrics and an ambulatory fellowship at Ohio State University.
Club Leader of the Year
Presented to alumni in recognition of leadership and service excellence rendered to an affinity, international, and/or local club.
Zoe Goodman ’13
NU Club of Greater New York
Zoe Goodman is a board member of the NU Club of Greater New York. As the club’s co-president in 2018 and 2019, she helped spearhead a significant increase in events and club membership. Goodman is a lead consultant at LifeLabs Learning, a Brooklyn, New York, based company that provides leadership and management training to more than 700 global companies, including Google and the New York Times. Previously, she ran nonprofit leadership programs and taught 7th grade world history. Before earning a BS in education from Northwestern’s School of Education and Social Policy, Goodman served as Willie the Wildcat for three years.
Clubs of the Year
Presented to alumni clubs who have had exemplary alumni impact as well as club growth and innovation. Winning clubs must have also excelled in governance, finance/scholarship, programming, membership, and communication and achieved either the Wildcat or Arch levels in the Leading Strategies Model (LSM) in fiscal year 2020 (September 1, 2019–August 31, 2020).
Northwestern University Asian and Asian American (NU-A5)
NAA Campus Partner Award
This award is given to the unit, school or program that serves as a valuable and key player in partnering with the NAA on various initiatives to cultivate alumni relationships and connections to Northwestern.
Kevin Leonard ’77, ’82 MA
University Archivist
Kevin Leonard ’77, ’82 MA is University archivist for Northwestern University Libraries, a position he has held since 1980. As archivist, he directs efforts to identify and acquire key records of enduring historical, administrative, legal, or cultural significance. Leonard also promotes the use of the University Archives’ holdings to Northwestern constituencies and outside researchers. To foster appreciation of Northwestern history, Leonard makes frequent presentations to alumni, students, and community groups, and helps make historical content available through University and local publications, exhibitions, television, and social media. He earned a bachelor’s and master’s degrees in history from the Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences at Northwestern.
NAA Staff Appreciation Award
The NAA has a team of dedicated individuals that work to ensure diverse and robust programming and engagement opportunities throughout the year and around the world on behalf of all Northwestern alumni. The NAA Staff Appreciation award is given each year to recognize one member of the professional staff who embodies that vision for an engaged global alumni community.
Suresh Mudragada
Associate Director of Student Engagement
Suresh Mudragada has served as the NAA’s associate director of student engagement since September 2017. In this role, he engages undergraduate students and oversees the Arch Society student-alumni organization and Homecoming planning. In his work, he serves as constant advocate for all students and brings a thoughtful perspective and commitment to social justice and inclusion. He takes a critical eye to programming and applies strong negotiation skills to obtain the best outcomes for students and the NAA. Mudragada came to Northwestern from DePaul University, where he worked for the Center for Identity, Inclusion, and Social Change. Prior to DePaul, he worked in the campus activities office at Macalester College in Minneapolis. Mudragada earned a bachelor of science in business administration from Auburn University in Alabama, where he was raised, and a master of education from Loyola University Chicago.
Learn More About the Previous Service and Club Award Recipients
2023 recipients
2022 recipients
2021 recipients
2019 recipients
2018 recipients
2017 recipients