Awards Gala Will Celebrate Distinguished Alumni, Supporters
By: Jeff Joiner | February 13, 2023
On Saturday, March 25, distinguished alumni and supporters will be honored at the 2023 UT Dallas Awards Gala. For only the second time in UT Dallas’ history, the University will bestow its Lifetime Achievement Award to an alumnus, recognizing the personal and philanthropic accomplishments of Naveen Jindal MBA’92.
Six other individuals receive awards celebrating their outstanding professional achievements, community engagement and service to UT Dallas. Meet this year’s honorees below.
Lifetime Achievement Award
Naveen Jindal MBA’92 became one of UT Dallas’ premier benefactors after graduation. In 2011, he made a significant pledge to UT Dallas’ business school, creating endowed faculty positions, scholarships, fellowships and the Naveen Jindal Institute for Indo-American Business Studies. At the time, Jindal’s gift was the largest ever made by a UT Dallas alumnus. The Naveen Jindal School of Management now bears his name in recognition of his impact.
Jindal is chairman of Jindal Steel and Power and is also the founder and chancellor of O.P. Jindal Global University in Haryana, India. He previously served two terms as a member of parliament in India, representing his home district of Kurukshetra.
While a student at UT Dallas, Jindal served as both Student Government vice president and president and earned the Student Leader of the Year Award. He was recognized with the University’s Distinguished Alumni Award in 2010.
Gifford K. Johnson Community Leadership Award
James R. Huffines is a commercial banker with more than 35 years of experience in banking and finance. He currently serves on the board of directors for The Greenbrier Companies and Susser Bank and is chair of Southwestern Medical Foundation’s executive committee. Previously, he served as president and chief operating officer of PlainsCapital Corp. from 2010 to 2015 before becoming chief operating officer for subsidiaries of Hilltop Holdings.
Huffines was appointed to a number of Texas state commissions during his career, including the State of Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission and the COVID Strike Force to Open Texas. He is a former chairman of The University of Texas System Board of Regents, a position he held from 2004-2007 and 2009-2010. He was also a member of the board of directors for UTIMCO, which manages the UT Systems’ $35 billion endowment.
A graduate of UT Austin, Huffines has been honored by his alma mater with the Texas Exes Distinguished Alumnus Award, the Presidential Citation Award and the Robert C. Jeffrey College Benefactor Award. At UT Dallas, he served as co-chair of Realize the Vision: The Campaign for Tier One and Beyond, the University’s first comprehensive campaign.
Green and Orange Award
Archie D. Nettles Jr. BS’11, MPA’18 is a development officer at the George W. Bush Presidential Center, where he creates and builds relationships across the North Texas region to advance the center’s programming and fundraising needs. He was selected as the 2018-19 Texas Instruments Founders Leadership Fellow in UT Dallas’ Office of Development and Alumni Relations and subsequently worked as assistant director of development for the Naveen Jindal School of Management. A veteran of the U.S. Army and Army Reserves, Nettles served as a veteran liaison at UT Dallas.
Distinguished Alumni Awards
Gorden Cheng BS’03 has over 20 years of experience in the information security and IT fields, currently serving as deputy corporate security architect for Oracle Inc., the world’s largest database management company. The Chongqing, China, native studied computer science at UT Dallas, but was also heavily involved with the undergraduate chamber music ensemble Musica Nova. Today, Cheng competes in amateur piano competitions, earning top-three prizes in Chicago, Boston, Colorado Springs, Paris, Warsaw and Washington, D.C.
Daniel J. Healy BA’00 is the founder and CEO of Civitas Capital Group, an alternative investment management company specializing in U.S. real estate where he has overseen over $1.9 billion of investments. A real estate finance veteran with over 22 years of experience, Healy is an active member of the Dallas business and civic community. He is a member of the Dallas Citizens Council and an advisor to the Child Poverty Action Lab, a nonprofit dedicated to ending childhood poverty in Dallas. In 2021, he was named to the D CEO’s Dallas 500 list of most influential business leaders in North Texas.
Lauri Hudgins-Boudreaux BA’93 is president and CEO of NOVA Electronic Materials, a supplier of silicon wafers and other materials for semiconductor manufacturing. She has worked in the semiconductor industry since 1988, joining NOVA in 1991 before purchasing the company in 1995. Hudgins-Boudreaux received the Woman of the Year Award from American Biographical Institute in 2002 and was named to the Who’s Who in Executives and Businesses list in 1998 and 2001. In a volunteer capacity, she has supported Crossroads Bible Church, Pilots for Kids, Salvation Army, the Girl Scouts and the Boy Scouts of America.
Allison A. Lawrence MBA’13 is president of global eCommerce for Stanley Black & Decker. A 20-year veteran with the company, Lawrence has held leadership roles in eCommerce, channel marketing and sales, among other positions. During her tenure, she became the first African American to lead both the Black+Decker business and the eCommerce business. She is a member of several nonprofit boards, including Hartford Hospital, A Better Chance and Sparrow Collective.
John Ryals MS’80, PhD’82 is a veteran of the biotech industry with over 35 years of experience in a variety of senior leadership and research positions. He is CEO of Integrated Precision Biosystems and was previously the founder or co-founder of Paradigm Genetics, Metabolon, AgBiome and Paradigm Botanicals. He has also held the positions of CEO, president, chief science officer or board member for these and other companies. Ryals is a member of the advisory board for the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at North Carolina State University.