Cox School Honors Four Exceptional Alumni
SMU Cox will honor four alumni at its annual Distinguished Alumni and Outstanding Young Alumni Awards Luncheon on Friday, September 25. This year’s Distinguished Alumni Awards honorees are Kelly H. Compton, BBA ’79 and William (Bill) A. Hall, BBA ’67 and MBA ‘68. The 2020 Outstanding Young Alumni honors go to Mark A. Lau, BBA ’06 and Courtney N. Naudo, BBA ’01.
Awards to be Presented to Distinguished Alumni and Outstanding Young Alumni
Dallas, TX (SMU) September 18, 2020 — The SMU Cox School of Business will honor four alumni at its annual Distinguished Alumni and Outstanding Young Alumni Awards Luncheon on Friday, September 25. This year’s Distinguished Alumni Awards honorees are Kelly H. Compton, BBA ’79 and William (Bill) A. Hall, BBA ’67 and MBA ‘68. The 2020 Outstanding Young Alumni honors go to Mark A. Lau, BBA ’06 and Courtney N. Naudo, BBA ’01. The Cox School bestows the alumni awards at a small event held at the Beeman Hotel’s Grand Ballroom. Award nominations are submitted to the SMU Cox Alumni Association for consideration by a selection committee annually.
Distinguished Alumna Compton serves as executive director for The Hoglund Foundation, a nonprofit philanthropic organization. Since the organization’s founding in 1989, the Foundation has contributed more than $57 million in grants to over 575 agencies focused on education and family support in Dallas, Texas. Prior to joining The Hoglund Foundation, Kelly Compton served as vice president of Commercial Lending with NationsBank Texas and its predecessors. Since 2016, she has served on the Board of Directors for Atmos Energy Corporation, the nation’s largest fully-regulated, natural gas-only distribution company.
Distinguished Alumnus Hall is president of the Hall Family Foundation, a nonprofit philanthropic organization created by Joyce Hall, founder of Hallmark Cards, Inc., and his wife, Elizabeth. Bill Hall and Joyce Hall are not related. For more than 75 years, the Hall Family Foundation has supported programs and initiatives to help people and enhance quality of life in the Kansas City region. From 2014 to 2018 alone, the Hall Family Foundation contributed $150 million to community causes.
Outstanding Young Alumnus Lau serves as global brand director for EKIN and Athlete Marketing at Nike. EKIN is Nike spelled backward—a special Nike outreach team that consists of passionate Nike employees who evangelize the brand to stores athletes through personal and grassroots connections. Lau has been a part of the Nike family for 13 years, which he joined shortly after completing his BBA. He lives in Portland, Oregon.
Walmart International Vice President of International Technology Courtney Naudo joined the Walmart team in July 2019, after serving as a principal/partner with Deloitte Consulting. Prior to joining Deloitte in 2005, the Cox Outstanding Young Alumna worked at Booz Allen Hamilton and Arthur Anderson. Naudo lives in Rogers, Arkansas.
SMU Cox Distinguished Alumni candidates must hold an undergraduate or graduate degree from SMU and a position of distinction in the business community; demonstrate outstanding career success; be active civic leaders and community partners; and be active and involved with SMU and the Cox School. Those recognized as SMU Cox Outstanding Young Alumni must meet the same criteria, but can be no more than 40 years of age at the time of the awards luncheon.
For information about the SMU Cox Alumni Awards Luncheon on May 1 or for alumni nomination information, contact Kevin Knox, assistant dean of external relations and executive director of the SMU Cox Alumni Association at kknox@smu.edu.
About SMU Cox
In 2020, the Cox School of Business celebrates 100 years of business education at SMU. The Cox School of Business is committed to influencing the way the world conducts business via prolific research that provokes innovation, change and global thought leadership. SMU Cox offers a full-range of business education programs including BBA, Full-Time MBA, Professional MBA (part-time), Executive MBA, Cox MBA Direct, Online MBA and Master of Science degree programs, as well as Executive Education. Consistently ranked among the world’s leading business schools, SMU Cox maintains an active alumni network globally. SMU Cox is accredited by AACSB.
