The University of Pennsylvania will honor distinguished alumni at the 80th Annual Alumni Award of Merit Gala on Friday, Oct. 31.

Richard Saul Wurman, founder of TED, and James S. Riepe, chairman of Penn’s Board of Trustees from 1999 to 2009 and for whom Riepe College House is named, are among seven alumni who will receive honors at the annual black tie event.

A renowned author, architect and an award-winning graphic designer, Wurman will receive the Creative Spirit Award for his life-long commitment to and excellence in the arts. He earned both a bachelor’s and master’s degrees in architecture at Penn and received the Arthur Spayd Brooks Gold Medal, as well as two graduate fellowships. Widely known as an innovator, Wurman is also credited with coining the term “information architecture.”

Riepe, who will receive an Alumni Award of Merit, earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Wharton in 1965 and 1967. During his tenure as chair of Penn’s Trustees, he launched the Making History campaign, which raised $4.3 billion; chaired the search committee that brought Amy Gutmann to Penn as president; and developed the Penn Connects campus expansion plan. Riepe and his wife, Gail Petty Riepe, a 1968 alumna of the College, are avid supporters of the Wharton School, athletics and scholarships, establishing the James and Gail Riepe Scholarship Fund, the James Riepe Trustee Scholarship and a recent gift enhancing one of the President’s Engagement Prizes. He received an honorary degree from Penn in 2010.

Sharing the spotlight with Wurman and Riepe that evening will be John C. T. Alexander, William L. Derby and Denise Green Winner who will receive the Alumni Award of Merit, along with Nicole E. Oddo and Warren L. Wang who will accept the Young Alumni Award.

Known to Quaker football fans for his 50-tear tenure as “The Voice of Franklin Field,” Alexander earned his bachelor’s degree from Wharton in 1956. After service in the Marine Corps, he had a career in banking, business, marketing and public service. This included volunteer service under two presidential administrations, as chief of the International Voluntary Visitor Program under Ronald Reagan and director of a grant program for the Department of Education’s Center for International Education under George H.W. Bush. His service to Penn extends beyond Franklin Field to his consistent championing of the Class of 1956 Scholarship and support of reunions, including the reunion project, the Class of 1956 Trolley, which now sits at 37th and Spruce streets, and as president of his class for the past 15 years.

William L. Derby, a 1961 graduate of the College, received an M.B.A. from Wharton in 1965. A distinguished career culminated in his role as senior vice president at Bank of America Corporation. As a student at Penn, he was a star athlete and a member of the Friars Senior Honor Society, the Inter-Fraternity Council and the Varsity Council. He has led the Class of 1961, serving as class president for five years and bringing his dedication to the planning of its successful 45th Reunion, which set records for both 45th Reunion giving and Alumni Day attendance and won the David N. Tyre Award for Excellence in Class Communications. He also established the Derby Family Scholarship in 2006 and supports the Class of 1961 Scholarship.  

Green Winner brings a high level of energy to Penn both as a volunteer leader of the Penn community in Los Angeles and as executive vice president of the Class of 1983. She balances this along with a successful career in financial engineering and computer programming with her own company, Winner Squared Inc., and her athletic skill as a marathon and ultra-marathon runner. In the 1997 New York City Marathon, she was the fastest American ultra-marathoner and the fourth fastest in the world, winning gold medals at the Maccabiah Pan Am Games in 1986, the Australian Carnival in 1988 and the Master’s Half Marathon at the Maccabiah Games in 2013.    

Nicole E. Oddo graduated from the College in 2005. While at Penn, she was a percussionist in the Penn Band. As her career moved her to Phoenix, Chicago and Philadelphia, she has continued to raise the Quaker spirit as a volunteer leader, serving in leadership roles with each city’ies Penn club. Upon finishing her term as president of the Penn Alumni Club of Philadelphia, Oddo became the new chair of the Regional Clubs Advisory Board.

Warren L. Wang earned dual degrees from the School of Engineering and Applied Science and Wharton in 2000. He has served on the board of the Wharton Club of Southern California, as a club liaison for Penn Club of Los Angeles, as a member of the Regional Clubs Advisory Board, and as a leader of the Los Angeles chapter of the University of Pennsylvania’s Asian Alumni Network. He is currently president of the Wharton Club of Western Pennsylvania.

The Class of 1989 will receive the Class Award of Merit for its leadership, teamwork, organization and innovative programming, planning seven reunion pre-parties across the country that led to exceptional results. The Class broke the previous attendance record with 759 participants and raised $5.6 million with its 25th reunion.

The Class of 2009 will receive the David N. Tyre Award for Excellence in Class Communications for its use of various platforms to connect with classmates about its fifth reunion. The campaign resulted in 797 attendees, the largest fifth reunion attendance and the largest class attendance of any Penn reunion, setting a new record for donor participation in a fifth reunion with a gift of $310,760.

The Penn Alumni Club of Westchester and Rockland Counties will receive the 2014 Club Award of Merit. The club has attracted new members through creative events that leveraged the talents of local alumni, while also mentoring and supporting other Penn alumni clubs and club leadership.