Michael B. French 1972 

Mike French is a retired marketing and strategy executive, having held senior leadership positions at some of the most prominent consumer goods companies in the world, including The Coca-Cola Company, Brown-Forman Corporation, and Altria Group.

Mike graduated from Princeton University in 1976, leveraging his learning from SHS baseball coach Ace Bell to enable him to share the Princeton and Ivy League pitching records for shutouts in a season and in a career, marks that still stand. Mike received his Master of Management from the Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University in 1978, joining the Procter & Gamble Company upon graduation. Through roles leading global research, corporate strategy, brand management, and innovation, Mike has led projects around the world, including in Australia, China, Switzerland, Norway, Germany, Great Britain, and Canada.

In 1994, as part of his role leading marketing for the Coca-Cola Company’s North American Fountain business, he was appointed to oversee the company’s operations planning for the 1996 Summer Olympic Games in Coca-Cola’s hometown, Atlanta, including competition venues, the Olympic Village, and Centennial Olympic Park. While Chief Marketing Officer at Altria, Mike was invited to join The Marketing 50, a group of the top marketing thought leaders in the U.S., who meet semi-annually to attempt to drive positive change within the global business community. That forum provided Mike the opportunity to interact with a diverse set of leaders including Condoleezza Rice, Mark Wahlberg, Sean Combs, Alan Greenspan, Doris Kearns Goodwin, and former President George W. Bush. For almost ten years, Mike has been a member of the National Board of Directors of Communities in Schools, an organization dedicated to keeping kids in school and helping them succeed in life.

Since his retirement, Mike has remained a sought-after advisor for companies and non-profit organizations on growth strategy, brand architecture, and leadership philosophy, and has been an invited speaker and panelist for the American Marketing Association.

 

Charles Gallagher  1980          

Charles A. Gallagher is professor and chair of the Sociology and Criminal Justice Department at La Salle University and a Senior Fellow at Yale University’s Urban Ethnography Project. His research focuses on social inequality, race relations and immigration and has published over 50 articles, reviews and books on these topics.

As a Fulbright Research Scholar at the University of Birmingham in the UK in 2016-17, Professor Gallagher researched attitudes on immigration and Brexit. Professor Gallagher has given over sixty talks on these topics around the country, serves as an expert witness on civil rights cases dealing with allegations of institutional racism, and is a frequent media source on these issues, appearing on CNN, Don Lemon, NPR, Dr. Phil, Katie Couric, Bill O’Reilly, KYW and appears frequently on Philadelphia’s Fox network. Most recently he appeared on The Problem with Jon Stewart as a panelist discussing white supremacy in the US. He has interviewed by the press or appeared in television and radio interviews over 150 times.

He is currently writing a book on how institutions create self- reinforcing accounts of colorblind egalitarianism that serve to maintain, normalize and reproduce racial inequality.

 

Doug Gramiak 1984

After graduating from Swarthmore College, Doug joined the sports staff at the Delaware County Daily Times and started covering high school and college sports. He worked his way up and earned the 76ers and Phillies beats before taking over as the Editorial Editor and, eventually, the City Editor. He moved on to The News Journal in Delaware where he served as the Political Editor. In leadership at The News Journal, Doug managed staff reporters and oversaw all political coverage, including the 2000 Republican National Convention in Philadelphia and the 2000 election for U.S. Senate. Shortly after that election, he accepted the position of Chief of Staff to then-Lt. Governor of Delaware John Carney and started a new career.

Doug spent most of the next two decades as Carney’s top advisor, including serving as his Chief of Staff for the first three years of his first term as Governor. As Chief of Staff, Doug advised on policy, legislative and political matters while managing 16 cabinet members and a staff of 35. He communicated and negotiated with members of the General Assembly and acted as liaison with trade organizations and stakeholder groups. Doug also served as Gov. Carney’s chief of staff when he was a U.S. representative. Prior to his time in Congress with Carney, Doug spent two years as executive director of Education Voters of Delaware, a nonprofit that built grassroots support to improve Delaware’s public education system. He also spent time as a government relations consultant at the firm of Young Conaway Stargatt & Taylor before being asked to serve as the governor’s Chief of Staff.

Doug has coordinated numerous campaigns over more than 30 years as a political organizer. He provided senior leadership and counsel for several races, including Carney’s run for the U.S. House of Representatives and for Delaware lieutenant governor, and served as campaign chairman in his successful 2016 and 2020 gubernatorial bids. Doug served on the finance staff for Paul Simon’s 1988 presidential campaign and worked on multiple campaigns for six-term Congressman Bob Edgar.

 

Susan Morgan Hallam 1979

Susan is recognized as one of the UK’s leading experts in digital marketing. She was awarded an MBE at the 2018 Queen’s Honours at Buckingham Palace for her services to innovation and entrepreneurship. She is the founder of the digital marketing agency that bears her name. Hallam was selected by Google as its top performing agency in Europe, Middle East and Africa for growing businesses online in 2019.

Susan has resided in the UK since 1985 after completing her undergraduate studies at Penn State and postgraduate studies at Drexel University. Formerly a Senior Lecturer in Computing at Nottingham Trent University, she has also held senior digital marketing roles at British Telecom and Capital One.

She is a Trustee of Nottingham Castle, is the Chair of Nottingham’s Creative Quarter. and serves on the Nottingham Economic Growth Board, planning the economic recovery and renewal strategy for the city.

She is Freeman of the Worshipful Company of Information Technologists and received the Freedom of the City of London in 2013.

Susan is very grateful for the opportunities offered to her at SHS, where she was Class President, sang and danced in school musicals, performed with the choir, played hockey.

 

BRAD MILLER 1973

Brad graduated in 1973 from both Springfield High and Hahnemann Hospital’s College Accelerated Program. It was during his college years at the University of Pennsylvania that Brad joined the Springfield Ambulance Corps. He followed his degree at Penn with an Allied Fellowship at Tulane University and received his MBA with honors with a specialty in finance.  At Tulane he was inducted into Beta Gamma Sigma, International Business Honor Society and Beta Alpha Psi, International Honor Organization for Financial Information Students. Brad then spent 10 years working for IBM, after which he established a private consultancy and has spent the last 30+ years as a management consultant in information technology.

Throughout those 45+ years, Brad has remained a member of the Springfield Ambulance. He has served in many positions including President, Finance Director and Lieutenant and has been on over 2500 calls. He has been awarded EMT of the Year, the President’s award, and has been honored on Springfield’s Volunteer Memorial Wall.

 

 

Jon Yost, Colonel (Retired), USAF 1985 

Jon is currently a Senior Aerospace Systems Engineer with Stellar Solutions, based in Palo Alto California. Living in Centreville, Virginia, Jon is a lead mission integrator for National Security space missions.

After graduating Springfield High School, Jon attended Elizabethtown College where he met his wife, Tracey. Shortly after graduation, Jon attended Officers Training School in Lackland AFB, Texas, accepting a commission in the Air Force and attending technical school at Vandenburg Space Force Base.  Jon started his military career as a Minuteman II and III Intercontinental Ballistic Missile Combat Crewman in Great Falls, Montana, then became an instructor at Vandenburg AFB, California.

Jon then went to the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO), the agency that designs, launches and operates the nation’s reconnaissance satellites. Jon found his true calling as a launch and on-orbit operator at Onizuka Air Base in Palo Alto, California.

Jon would simultaneously travel between Air Force staff assignments and the NRO for most of his career. With the Air Force, Jon served on the Joint Staff building requirements for future warfighters in Washington, DC. He deployed overseas for the Department of State and was charged with protecting vital US satellite technologies while launching commercial payloads on Russian and Chinese rockets.

Jon deployed for a year in Iraq where he led a team negotiating peace between Arabs and Kurds fighting over oil fields in Northern Iraq, then led a team of 13 joint service colonels serving as military advisors to the senior Iraqi civilian and military leaders rebuilding that war- torn nation. Jon was the Senior Military Advisor to the Iraqi 4-star Chief of Staff, Iraq’s highest ranking military officer.

Returning to the U.S., Jon served as the Chief of Staff for the Air Force Research Laboratory in Dayton, Ohio. He led the Commander’s staff, helping to direct $4.6 Billion in the Nation’s strategic technical investments.

Jon completed his career with the NRO in Virginia as a Deputy Director for the Mission Integration Division, where he managed the NRO’s relationships with the Intelligence Community, Department of Defense, civil and law enforcement communities.

Retiring from the Air Force in 2018 after 30 years, Jon became certified as an Emergency Medical Technician, and is an active volunteer with the Leesburg, Virginia, Fire and Rescue squad.