Each year, SMU awards a group of outstanding leaders during Homecoming Week with the highest honor the University can bestow upon its graduates. The 2022 Distinguished Alumni are A. Shonn Evans Brown ’95, ’98, vice president and deputy general counsel at Kimberly-Clark Corporation; C.J. “Don” Donnally, Jr. ’67, ’68, a leader in the financial services industry who will be honored posthumously; John Cartwright Phelan ’86, co-founder and chairman of Rugger Management LLC; and Thear Sy Suzuki ’96, global client services partner at Ernst and Young. Emily K. Graham ’07, chief equity and impact officer at Omnicom, will receive the University’s Emerging Leader Award, which recognizes the outstanding achievements of an alumnus or alumna who has graduated in the last 15 years.
2022 Award Recipients
A. Shonn Evans Brown, a graduate of SMU Dedman School of Law, leads the charge for social justice and equity in the workplace. As chief global litigation counsel for Kimberly-Clark Corporation, Brown advises the Fortune 500 company on matters related to public policy.
As a senior at SMU, Brown won the “M” Award and was part of the effort that established the first minority affiliate of SMU Alumni. After receiving her bachelor’s degree in sociology in 1995, Brown went on to earn a Juris Doctor from SMU in 1998.
Brown began her legal career at the global firm Locke Lord LLP. She was a partner in Lynn Pinker Hurst and Schwegmann LLP, a top-tier boutique trial law firm, before joining Kimberly-Clark. She has extensive service on the Dallas Bar Association Board of Directors, and has been appreciated by her peers in Texas Lawyer as an Extraordinary Minority Lawyer and in Texas Monthly as a Super Lawyer and one of the Top 50 Women Lawyers in Texas.
In 2016, Brown received the Dedman School of Law’s Distinguished Alumni Award. She has also been named among the Top 500 Business Leaders in Dallas by D CEO magazine and has won Top Women in Business and Top Minorities in Business awards from the Dallas Business Journal.
As a civic leader, Brown advances nonprofit impact with an emphasis on gender and racial equality. She has served on numerous boards and is immediate past board chair of the Texas Women’s Foundation and co-founder of its The Village Giving Circle. She is board chair-elect of The Hockaday School and a trustee of the Dallas Museum of Art.
C.J. “Don” Donnally, Jr., who passed away in May 2022, was a leader in the financial services industry for more than four decades. He is remembered as a longtime supporter, volunteer and mentor who championed students and the SMU community.
A nationally recognized member of the Sigma Alpha Epsilon (SAE) fraternity, which he joined at SMU, Donnally served through active fundraising and as a chapter advisor since 1973, mentoring more than 2,000 students. His contributions and dedication to SAE led to the construction and ongoing success of the SAE House on SMU’s campus.
The son of an SMU alumni, he earned a BBA in finance in 1967 and an MBA in 1968. After graduating from SMU, he began his career at Smith Barney, where he formed The Donnally Greenman Group. He served as a senior vice president of the group, which joined UBS Financial Services in 2015, where he was a senior vice president of wealth management and a senior portfolio manager. Donnally was recognized regularly by financial newspaper Barron’s as being among the Top Financial Advisors in the industry.
Throughout his life, Donnally maintained close ties to SMU. Beginning in 1979, he donated to causes and improvements across SMU’s campus, impacting countless SMU students through gifts to support Crum Basketball Center, Gerald J. Ford Stadium, the General Endowment Fund, the Mustang Athletic Fund, the Mustang Club, the Mustang Excellence Fund for Football/Basketball, the Moody Coliseum renovation and expansion, the SAE Fund and other vital areas of need at SMU.
John Cartwright Phelan, a highly regarded business leader, has used his financial business acumen to build and lead successful investment firms. He is the co-founder and chairman of Rugger Management LLC, a Palm Beach-based private investment firm.
Phelan graduated Phi Beta Kappa and cum laude with distinction from SMU in 1986, earning with a bachelor’s degree in political science and economics. He received his MBA from Harvard Business School and holds a general course degree with an emphasis in economics and international relations from the London School of Economics.
He began his career at GoldmanSachs, where he worked as an analyst in the Investment Banking Division. He was vice president at the Equity Group, in charge of acquisitions (Western region) for the Zell-Merrill Lynch Real Estate Opportunity Funds, before serving as a principal for seven years at ESL Partners, a Greenwich, Connecticut-based investment firm. Before launching Rugger, Phelan co-founded MSD Capital LP, the private investment firm for Dell Technologies founder and CEO Michael Dell. Phelan is also the co-founder of MSD Partners LP, an SEC-registered investment advisor formed to enable a select group of outside investors to invest in strategies that were initially developed by MSD.
Phelan serves on the Board of Trustees at the Whitney Museum of American Art and chairman of the Aspen Art Museum, where he and his wife, Amy, have permanently endowed free admission to the museum. He is also a member of the Board of Directors at Spirit of America and Third Option Foundation.
Phelan serves on the Investment Committee for the SMU Endowment. He also serves on the Board of Dean’s Advisors for the Harvard Business School, and the North American Advisory Board for the London School of Economics.
Thear Sy Suzuki is a champion of leadership development, focused on areas of gender equity and diversity. A global client service partner at EY with 25 years of professional services experience, she serves on EY’s Americas Inclusiveness Advisory Council and champions development programs that build inclusive, innovative, and courageous leaders.
Compassionate and courageous, Suzuki moved to the United States from war-ravaged Cambodia when she was only 8 and became a U.S. citizen in 1992. A Presidential Leadership Scholar, Suzuki is featured in former President George W. Bush’s book and exhibit, Out of Many, One: Portraits of America’s Immigrants.
As a young adult, she came to SMU on the the Herkimer Leadership Scholarship and was awarded a bachelor of science in electrical engineering in1996. During her time as a student, she earned the “M” Award, a recognition bestowed upon students, faculty, staff, and administrators who have been an inspiration to others and have shared their time and talents with the University to make the world a better place.
Suzuki made her mark as a business consultant with Accenture before joining EY in 2012. D CEO magazine named her among North Texas’ most powerful business leaders in 2021 and 2022.
Suzuki has been recognized for her leadership in gender equity and diversity through the SMU Women’s Symposium Profiles in Leadership Award, D CEO’s Corporate Excellence in Leadership Award, the Women Leaders in Consulting Award, the Asian Chamber of Texas Humanitarian Award and the Asian Chamber of Texas Humanitarian and Community Services Award.
Suzuki continues to make an impact on the Hilltop as an alumna, SMU parent, and scholarship donor. She currently serves on the Lyle School of Engineering Executive Board and the Tate Lecture Series Board.
Emily K. Graham is a barrier-breaking executive who exemplifies the “think big and do good” ethos. Throughout her corporate communications career, she has been a champion for diversity equity and inclusion. As the chief equity and impact officer at Omnicom, one of the world’s largest media, advertising and marketing conglomerates, Graham advances a systemic equity vision across a global network of more than 1,500 creative agencies and 5,000 clients. She also serves as Omnicom’s global head of diversity and inclusion communications, acting as senior counselor to AT&T, General Motors, Microsoft, and other major clients.
Her career journey has been profiled in the likes of LinkedIn, Forbes, and Essence. She was named the Top Diversity Officer in the U.S. by the National Diversity Council and has been recognized as a rising star by leading industry publications, including PRWeek’s 40 under 40 and Crain’s New York Business.
Graham grew up in Cedar Hill, Texas, and describes her parents as the “biggest champions” of dreams and ambitions that flourished at SMU. As an undergraduate, she dived into campus life as a resident assistant, Student Senator, AARO, a Mustang Corral leader, and president of Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority, among other activities.
Winner of the prestigious “M” Award, Graham earned a B.A. in corporate communication and public affairs from Meadows School of the Arts. She was thrilled to return for Commencement 14 years later to address Meadows’ 2021 graduates.
SMU is the nationally ranked global research university in the dynamic city of Dallas. SMU’s alumni, faculty, and nearly 12,000 students in eight degree-granting schools demonstrate an entrepreneurial spirit as they lead change in their professions, communities, and the world.