Do you know a Heinz alum who you feel is deserving of an Alumni Award?
Visit this page to nominate an alum for next year's awards.
Visit this page to nominate an alum for next year's awards.
Alumni Association Awards Program
The Heinz College Alumni Association Board (HCAAB) believes that it is important to recognize the outstanding contributions that our alumni make to their chosen professions and in service to Heinz College. To that end, the HCAAB initiated the Heinz College Alumni Awards in 2012 to recognize outstanding alumni with four awards: Distinguished Alumni, Outstanding Recent Alumni, and Alumni Meritorious Service, and the Dean's Recognition Award.
2025 Alumni Association Award Honorees
Distinguished Alumni Award
Denele Hughson (MSPPM 2013)
Denele is the Executive Director of Grow Pittsburgh, an organization focused on improving food security and supporting food growing initiatives both locally and nationally. She has a deep passion for food justice and has played a key role in advocating for better food policies. Denele currently serves on several influential committees, including the Pennsylvania Food Policy Council Advisory Committee and the Allegheny County Food Justice Committee. She is co-chair of the PA Urban Agriculture Working Group and is interim co-chair for the Allegheny County Food Justice Committee. Previously, Denele served as the Vice President of the Board of Directors for PA Certified Organics.
A Pittsburgh native, Denele holds a B.A. in Political Science from the University of Pittsburgh, where she graduated in 2008. She served as an AmeriCorps KEYS volunteer and spent several years working with nonprofits across Pittsburgh. Denele earned an M.S. in Public Policy and Management from Carnegie Mellon University's Heinz College, where she completed internships with the Smithsonian Institution and the Pittsburgh Public School District.
At Grow Pittsburgh, Denele leads efforts that teach individuals how to grow food, increase access to healthy produce, build community gardens throughout Allegheny County, and advance the right to farm throughout the Commonwealth. She is committed to improving the social, economic, and environmental health of the Greater Pittsburgh area by focusing on sustainable food systems and equity.
OutsTanding Recent Alumni Award
Lava Hong (MEIM 2021)
Lava Hong is a Clio, Golden Trailer, and Global Entertainment Award–nominated music supervisor whose career spans Hollywood, gaming, and global entertainment. She recently joined Premiere Music Group and Riot Games, where she oversees music supervision and creative strategy for high-profile international gaming and interactive projects.
Previously at Trailer Park Group, Lava advanced from coordinator to music supervisor within four years, facilitating music supervision and licensing for campaigns including Oppenheimer, Wicked, Wednesday, Mufasa, Furiosa, Stranger Things, and 3 Body Problem. Through its subsidiary Dark Burn, Lava also contributed to immersive projects with clients such as Meta, Marvel, Disney, Epic Games, and Blizzard, extending her expertise across film, streaming, and interactive media.
In parallel, Lava has established herself as a bilingual artist and composer. Her work in Mandarin and English blends indie, alternative, and cinematic EDM-pop, earning more than one million streams worldwide. Her Monstercat collaboration "Forget About Us" with No Mana and Nuphory surpassed 100,000 streams in its first month, while her vocals featured in Angel Studio's The Shift trailer earned her a Golden Trailer Award nomination in 2024.
A dedicated mentor and industry advocate, Lava has coached more than 20 emerging professionals in sync and licensing and has spoken on more than 30 panels and workshops. She is committed to championing underrepresented voices and continues to expand the role of music as a global storytelling force.
Meritorious Service Award
Alan Eaton (MSPPM 2009)
Alan Eaton is a management-coned Foreign Service Officer working at the U.S. Department of State. He has performed a variety of roles in embassies abroad, including as a general services officer handling embassy logistics in Port Louis, Mauritius, and Porto Alegre, Brazil, and as a consular officer in Chengdu, China, and Johannesburg, South Africa. Alan and his spouse, Timothy, are currently learning Ukrainian for their next assignment in Kyiv, Ukraine.
Alan has been a part of many departments and led evacuation efforts of Americans around the globe. In February 2020, Alan and his husband joined the Consular fly-away team to go into the closed city of Wuhan, China, to help evacuate more than 800 Americans and 39 Canadians at the start of the Covid 19 pandemic. In 2021, after the fall of Kabul, Alan joined the Afghanistan fly away team to go into Hamid Karzai International Airport in the massive evacuation that helped more than 124,000 people leave Afghanistan. In 2023, after conflict broke out in Sudan, he joined evacuation efforts by crossing the Red Sea via military frigate to Port Sudan and assisting Americans and locally employed staff and family cross to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Later in 2024 Alan's assigned post of Porto Alegre, Brazil, was hit with catastrophic flooding; Alan helped lead the logistics of American personnel (including himself and his husband) to be evacuated via land convoy to Sao Paulo, Brazil.
Alan was active in the DC Carnegie Mellon alumni chapter until he joined the Foreign Service and started serving overseas. While overseas, Alan contributed to CMU and Heinz College through the virtual mentorship program, assisting those with interest in government, foreign affairs, and the Foreign Service.
Alan received a bachelor’s degree from Carnegie Mellon in Ethics, History and Public Policy and then a master’s degree in Public Policy and Management from Heinz College. Alan twice received the award for heroism from the Department of State for his role in the Wuhan Evacuation and then the Kabul Evacuations.
Past Alumni Association Award Honorees
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2024
Distinguished Alumni Award
Mariana Campos (MSPPM 2007)
Mariana Campos is a public policy expert with 20 years of experience. She served as Executive Director of México Evalúa, one of Mexico’s most influential evidence-based think tanks, and led its Public Finance and Accountability Program for a decade, shaping key policy debates and contributing to major fiscal and governance reforms, including the creation of the National Transparency and Data Protection Agency, and the discussion and drafting of the Federal Congress reform for the establishment of Mexico’s Congressional Budget Office and improvements in the electric power industry and public procurement system.Mariana is Vice President of the Paris Peace Forum Association and a member of the Economic Studies Committee at the Mexican Institute of Finance Executives, the Technical Council at the Center for Private Sector Studies, and the Effective Governance Subcommittee at Nuevo León State Council. She serves on the Advisory Board of Medtronic and is part of Banamex Bank’s advisory group of economists. She is co-founder of the Center for Thought in the Americas, a new network of Latin America's seven most prominent evidence-based public policy think tanks.
Recognized as one of Mexico’s most influential economists by Forbes (2024) and among the 23 Inspiring Women by the World Commerce and Contracting Foundation (2024), Mariana has been acknowledged by the Open Contracting Partnership (2022) as a global leader in public procurement accountability. She was awarded by Mexico’s Supreme Audit Institution and the National Council for the Evaluation of Social Policy for outstanding research. She is a thought leader and contributor across prominent media platforms, including Bitácora de Negocios, a leading business-focused radio.
OutsTanding Recent Alumni Award
Jessica Brooks-Woods (MPM 2013)
Jessica Brooks-Woods is CEO of the National Association of Benefits and Insurance Professionals (NABIP) and president of its Education Foundation, where she leads national efforts to expand access to high-quality, affordable healthcare. With over 20 years of experience in healthcare and business, she is recognized for driving innovation, value, and equity across public and private sectors.She is the founder of RISE Health Equity, an organization focused on dismantling systemic barriers to health through research, advocacy, and employer engagement. Prior to NABIP, Jessica served as president and CEO of the Pittsburgh Business Group on Health and co-founded the Executive Action Response Network (E.A.R.N.), where she launched a workforce firm advancing economic opportunity for African Americans.
Jessica was an appointee to the Pennsylvania Health Insurance Exchange and currently serves on the boards of the Maternal Mental Health Leadership Alliance, Pennsylvania Health Access Network (PHAN), and Maitri Medicinals.
She earned degrees from Pennsylvania State University and Carnegie Mellon University, where she received a master’s in public management from Heinz College. Her work has earned multiple honors, including the Pittsburgh Women of Influence Award. She is also co-editor & author of Race Forward: An Employer’s Guide to Health Equity.
Meritorious Service Award
Samantha Pollack (MAM 2004)
Named a “Rising Star in Classical Presenting” by Musical America, Samantha Pollack is the Director of Programming at Washington Performing Arts (WPA) in Washington, D.C., programming performances in venues throughout the D.C. region in the genres of classical (orchestral, chamber, and recital), jazz, global music, modern dance, and gospel.She has regularly worked with artists such as Yo-Yo Ma, Wynton Marsalis, Hilary Hahn, Dance Theatre of Harlem, Zakir Hussain, Itzhak Perlman, and others. For more than 15 years, she’s programmed private performances at the Supreme Court in coordination with Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and retired Justice Stephen Breyer. In the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, she re-imagined the WPA performance experience for the digital landscape, including creating multi-touchpoint digital residencies.
Samantha scouts talent at festivals and competitions worldwide, including sitting on juries for competitions in Armenia, Seattle, and New York City, and on grant panels across the U.S. She’s served as co-chair of the Classical Connections Committee for the Association of Performing Arts Professionals, and regularly mentors emerging classical musicians.
Samantha received a bachelor’s degree in music performance (trumpet) from the University of Cincinnati/College-Conservatory of Music, and a Master of Arts Management from Heinz College at Carnegie Mellon University. -
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