The 2011 Awardees

Mary Taylor Behrens

AB 1983
Bronxville, NY

Mary Taylor Behrens, a retired executive with Merrill Lynch, received the John Carroll Award in ceremonies held at the Fairmont Hotel, San Francisco, CA on April 30, 2011.

The awards release on Behrens noted the following: " A four-year letter winner on the track and field team, she was a member of three school record relay teams and the school record holder for the indoor 300-meter run. As a senior, Mary was co-captain of the team and received the James A. Gallagher Memorial Award as the Hoyas' outstanding track and field competitor.

"After graduating from Georgetown with a degree in government, Mary began her career in New York at Chase in 1983. She joined Merrill Lynch in 1989 and soon earned a senior position in the healthcare group before becoming head of human resources and a member of firm's executive committee. At the time of her retirement from Merrill Lynch in 2003, Mary was head of the Merrill Lynch Investment Managers Americas region and the most senior woman in the company.

"With a deep expertise she honed on Wall Street, Mary formed Newfane Advisors, a private consulting firm that she oversees as president. She has been a member of the board of Manor Care and is on the board of Sagent Pharmaceuticals.

"Mary served on the Board of Regents for seven years, including five years as the head of its athletics committee, and served on the Board of Directors' ad hoc committee on athletics. Remembering the scholarship that paved the way for her to attend Georgetown, Mary and her husband, Chris, established an endowed scholarship for a women's track and field student-athlete and endowed the coaching chair for women's track, which earned her the Hoyas Unlimited Outstanding Contribution to Athletics award. Mary also co-chaired fundraising efforts for the Class of 1983's 25th Reunion."


Philip T. Inglima

AB 1984 JD 1988
Washington DC

Philip T. ("Phil") Inglima, a Washington attorney and former president of the Georgetown University Alumni Association, received the John Carroll Award in ceremonies held at the Fairmont Hotel, San Francisco, CA on April 30, 2011.

The awards release on Inglima noted the following: "An exemplar of the Jesuit tradition of women and men for others, Phil Inglima has found no shortage of ways to give back to the alumni community. As an undergraduate, Phil served as a resident assistant and a member of the Homecoming Review Committee. He was introduced to the alumni association as the co-chair of his senior class gift committee, and he has continued to be an active member ever since.

"After graduating with a degree in English, Phil remained at Georgetown as an assistant to the Rev. Timothy S. Healy, S.J., then president of the university. He spent two years working closely with Father Healy while studying at the Georgetown University Law Center. His dedicated work for the Juvenile Justice Clinic earned him the honor of being named "Outstanding Advocate."

"Phil began his law career as a clerk to the Honorable June L. Green of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia before entering private practice with criminal defense legend Plato Cacheris (F'51, L'56). Since then, he has amassed more than two decades of experience in as a litigator specializing in white collar criminal law, including two years as a special prosecutor.

Now a partner at Crowell & Moring LLP, Phil defends criminal and civil matters in trial and appellate courts. He has been recognized repeatedly in the premier legal review guide, Chambers USA, as well as in Super Lawyers and The Best Lawyers In America, as a leading lawyer in white collar criminal defense.

It would be hard to find a volunteer post at Georgetown that Phil hasn't occupied. He has chaired many of his undergraduate and law classes' reunion committees, served on the board of regents and worked as vice chair of the law annual fund. A member of the board of governors since 1997, Phil served as president of the alumni association [from 2006-2008] and a well-respected member of the Board of Directors for two years. He also teaches a course in federal white collar crime at the Law Center."


Hon. M. Margaret McKeown

JD 1975, Honorary Degree 2005
San Diego, CA

Mary Margaret McKeown, a federal judge on the United States Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, received the John Carroll Award in ceremonies held at the Fairmont Hotel, San Francisco, CA on April 30, 2011.

Born in Casper, WY in 1951, McKeown was named Phi Beta Kappa at the University of Wyoming, graduating in 1972, and earned her law degree from Georgetown in 1975. In 1980, she was named a White House fellow and later served as a special assistant to the Secretary of the Interior.

The first women to be named partner at the Washington firm of Perkins Coie, McKeown worked in private practice until 1997, when she was nominated by President Bill Clinton to serve on the U.S. Court Of Appeals. Ratified by the Senate by a vote of 80-11, she has served as a judge for nearly 20 years.

Judge McKeown and her husband Peter Cowhey (F'70) are active Georgetown alumni. She has served on the Law Center Board of Visitors and taught a course on "The Constitution and the Internet. In 2005, she received an honorary degree from the University; in 2015, she received the Law Center's Robert F. Drinan, SJ Law Alumni Public Service Award.


Paul F. Pelosi

AB 1962
San Francisco, CA

Paul Pelosi, a San Francisco-based business executive and entrepreneur, received the John Carroll Award in ceremonies held at the Fairmont Hotel, San Francisco, CA on April 30, 2011.

The awards release on Pelosi noted the following: " Since he graduated from the School of Foreign Service and studied at the graduate business schools of Harvard and New York University, Paul has achieved monumental success in his more than 40 years of work in finance and management. He held senior positions at Citibank in New York and Boothe Financial Services in San Francisco before founding Financial Leasing Services, Inc., a San Francisco-based real estate and venture capital investment and consulting firm, where he now serves as president.

"Over the past several decades, Paul has lent his business savvy to numerous organizations in the private and nonprofit sectors. He serves on the San Francisco War Memorial and Performing Arts Center Board of Trustees and the National Institutes of Health Children's Inn Board of Directors. Paul and his wife, Nancy, established the Paul and Nancy Pelosi Charitable Foundation in 2002. In addition to supporting Georgetown, the foundation gives generous financial backing to a variety of museums and nonprofits. Nancy, the current minority leader of the US House of Representatives, received an honorary degree from Georgetown in 2002.

"Paul has never hesitated to work beyond the call of duty in service of his alma mater, ever since his time spent as an active member of the Georgetown Club of New York City in the 1960s. In the 1980s, Paul co-chaired the Northern California capital campaign for Georgetown, making vital connections between donors and the university. Paul has been a loyal supporter of the Wall Street Alliance, a two-term member of the Board of Regents and currently serves as chair of the School of Foreign Service's Board of Visitors."

Pelosi was a co-chair of the 2011 John Carroll events held that year in San Francisco.


Michael L. Vespoli

BSBA 1968
Guilford, CT

Michael ("Mike") Vespoli, a business executive and loyal supporter of Georgetown rowing, received the John Carroll Award in ceremonies held at the Fairmont Hotel, San Francisco, CA on April 30, 2011.

The awards release on Vespoli noted the following: " Raised by entrepreneurs who taught him the value of hard work and sacrifice, Mike was able to grasp an opportunity that his parents never had-the chance to attend college. He had never rowed before walking onto the team during his freshman year at Georgetown, but Mike fell in love with the sport and by his senior year, he and his teammates took first place at the 1968 Dad Vail Regatta.

"After graduating from the business school, Mike taught and coached crew at St. Joseph's Prep in Philadelphia and the University of Massachusetts, where he received a master's degree in education. He also continued rowing competitively, winning six national championships before joining the U.S. Olympic Team and placing 5th at the Munich Games. In 1974, the rowing world was stunned when Mike and his eight-oared crew became the first U.S. team to win the world championships since 1930. Once he retired from competitive rowing, Mike reunited with his Georgetown coach, Tony Johnson, to lead Yale's crew to national success.

"Mike revolutionized the sport in the United States when he founded the first racing shell manufacturing company to use high-tech materials instead of traditional wood. Today, Vespoli USA is the largest racing shell builder in North America.

"A member of both the National Rowing Foundation Hall of Fame and the Georgetown Athletic Hall of Fame, Mike has maintained a strong connection to the Georgetown crew program that launched his professionally and personally rewarding career. He served as the chair of the rowing association's board of directors for 16 years and has been a member of the board of regents for another 16. In 2000, Georgetown honored Mike with the Outstanding Service to Athletics award. Mike and his wife, Nancy, are members of the Georgetown 1789 Society and have endowed the Vespoli Family Crew Scholarship, which provides need-based financial assistance to rowers."