Webb Education: Tools for Life

1999

Like nearly all Webb Institute alumni, earning that dual bachelor’s degree in Naval Architecture and Marine engineering made for four of the most challenging years of my life. So when graduation day was upon me, I was more than ready for the real world. But first things first, let’s party like it’s 1999…because it was!

I headed back home to the Mississippi Gulf Coast, where I hired on at Ingalls Shipbuilding. Honestly, I was expecting it to be a short-lived job; just get my feet wet, so to speak and really just catch my breath after Webb. What I hadn’t expected was for my first job to lead to such interesting opportunities and challenges that I would find myself with the same corporation for the next 20 years.

Webb provided me with the necessary tools to succeed in over a dozen different roles throughout my career, including basic naval architecture tasking, field engineering, research and development, advanced ship design, and project leadership. Beyond the engineering, I had the opportunity to lead hundreds of millions of dollars in program pursuits and lead proposal developments across commercial and government sectors. With the experience gained through my varied roles, and a constant desire to make a significant impact within the company, I was given the opportunity to move into our Corporate Development and Strategy organization, where I am today.

2019

In my current role, I support senior leadership with enterprise strategy and key acquisitions, including those that led to the stand up of a third Huntington Ingalls Industries division, creating a path for growth beyond shipbuilding. My strong technical background and strategic experience has allowed me the opportunity to coordinate our enterprise focus on Unmanned and Autonomous Systems, truly the future of the maritime industry.

Work-Life Balance

Although my career doesn’t always allow me to be home as much as I’d like, I have to say I’ve been blessed. My wife, Jennifer and I have been married for 11 years and live in Mobile, Alabama, with our two amazing daughters, Riley (9) and Kennedy (7). My love for music and water sports continues, and I am fortunate to have outlets that support this. I am honored to be a member of the South Coast Church worship team playing acoustic guitar, an experience that has strengthened much more than musical skills. And living on the Gulf Coast allows me opportunities to surf, wakeboard, windsurf, sail, and much more. Truth is, time does really fly when you’re having fun.

Retrospective

Anyone who knows Webb’s mission knows that this school is unique in what it offers, and few schools can create opportunities and open doors the way Webb can. From life-long friendships around the globe to a fulfilling career chasing my personal aspirations, I’m truly thankful for what Webb has done for me.

Our Webb Alumni Fund (WAF) was another great success this past year! Your generous and record-breaking contributions provided Webb $2,561,658, surpassing our goal by 14% and last year’s total by 4.5%. Webb still boasts the nation’s leading alumni participation rate with 72% of alumni providing support. Thank you!

Many of our alumni embraced the call for action during the Campaign for Webb by increasing their giving, which formed the foundation for the success of this historic Campaign. Our challenge will be to maintain and grow this level of giving for future WAF years.

You can have a big impact on the future of our fundraising success and Webb’s financial well-being by:

Maximizing your current giving levels – The WAF average gift is $3,190 and the median gift is $720. Perhaps these are goals you can strive for or comfortably exceed, depending on your circumstances.

Giving as early in the giving years as possible – this allows everyone involved in this effort to spend more time cultivating alumni that either don’t give regularly or have not yet given at all.

Serving as an ambassador for the WAF and Webb – Help your fellow Class Agents by encouraging classmates to maximize their giving and to give as early in the giving year as possible. Sharing your giving strategies (monthly giving, gifts of stock, gifts leveraging donor advised funds,
charitable distributions from your IRA, etc.) may inspire a new gift or new giving levels from your peers!

I can’t thank the Class Agents, Group Leaders, and the Development Office enough for the work they do and for the generous gifts they contribute. The success of the WAF truly is a team effort! Thank you!

By Alana Duerr ’08

Strong, smart, witty, self-deprecating, kind, thoughtful, caring, hardworking, thrifty, creative—these are the first adjectives that come to mind when I think of Jo. Like all of us in our class, I have many fond memories of Jo, and words do not describe our collective heartbreak when we found out that her life had unexpectedly ended this summer after a very brief battle with cancer.

Given Webb’s small class sizes, each person leaves an indelible mark on his or her class, and the Class of 2008 is no exception. Jo was the girls’ girl who could keep up with the guys and put them in their place when needed. She was quick with a quippy (and often self-deprecating) joke and a laugh. She was also smart and driven, and she and her thesis partner won the Lewis Nixon Memorial Prize at graduation.

Jo not only had an impact on our class but on all of Webb while we were on campus. Jo loved music, played piano, and graced the Webb Family Singers with her voice over her four years at Webb, and she also served as the social chair for at least two years. She came up with party themes and always selflessly lent a hand to help people find clothes, make clothes, go thrift store shopping, and do the girls’ (and sometimes the boys’) hair and makeup.

After Webb, Jo moved to Ft. Lauderdale. She was the first person in our class to endeavor to earn a professional engineers’ license, and, of course, she passed. In the midst of her professional success at Murray and Associates, she met her husband Mark. They had their first daughter, Kelsey, in 2016, and their second daughter, Colleen, in 2018. She was a loving and devoted wife and mother. In early 2019, they relocated from the Fort Lauderdale area to Houston.

Jo’s Memorial Service was held on August 3, 2019, outside Houston, attended by friends, family, and over twenty Webb alumni. There were lots of hugs and tears, but also a lot of laughter as we remembered all of the wonderful times with her.

Jo is the first Webb Alumna to leave this earth, and we can all agree that it was far too soon. If you have any pictures or memories of Jo that you’d like to share with Mark, their girls, or her family, please send them to me at moc.liamg@renxeojgnirebmemer. A college savings account has been set up for Jo’s girls, and if anyone is interested in supporting them, please click below.