Ole Miss Alumni Association Names Distinguished Alumni for 2023

Eight to be honored at Homecoming for achievement, service

The Ole Miss Alumni Association will recognize eight distinguished alumni with its highest annual awards as part of Homecoming 2023.

University of Mississippi Alumni Hall of Fame inductees for 2023 are: Charles C. Clark (BBA 72), of Birmingham, Alabama; Carlyle “Smitty” Harris (JD 81), of Tupelo; Mary Donnelly Haskell (BM 81), of Oxford; Stephanie J. Hickman (JD 91), of Chicago; and William Young (BBA 82, JD 84), of Dallas.

Rose Jackson Flenorl (BAEd 79), of Cordova, Tennessee, will receive the Alumni Service Award for service to the university and the Alumni Association over an extended period. Lauren Lyles-Stolz (BSPhSc 13, PharmD 16), of Alexandria, Virginia, will receive the Outstanding Young Alumni Award, which honors alumni who have shown exemplary leadership throughout their first 15 years of alumni status.

Langston Rogers, of Oxford, will receive the Honorary Alumni Award, which recognizes individuals who, though not graduates of the university, have consistently demonstrated extraordinary commitment, support, dedication, loyalty, leadership, or service that has enriched the substance of and contributed to the advancement of the university’s or Alumni Association’s mission, reputation or prestige.

“These inductees have all made Ole Miss proud with their accomplishments in their careers and their service to the university and their communities,” said Kirk Purdom, the association’s CEO. “We are happy to have the opportunity to recognize and honor them at part of Homecoming.”

The Alumni Association will host a gala for the honorees on Friday (Oct. 26) in the Gertrude C. Ford Ballroom at The Inn at Ole Miss. Those interested in attending the dinner must register in advance by calling the Alumni Association office at 662-915-7375.

Clark, a Jackson native, graduated from the university with distinction in 1972. Two years later, he enrolled at the University of Southern California, where he earned a Master of Business Taxation.

He spent 21 years rising through the leadership at KPMG before joining its publicly traded client, Caremark Rx as executive vice president. In 2005, he left to start his own company, Clark Capital, which actively invests in small, early-stage technology companies.

He served as president of the Ole Miss Alumni Association in 2009-10. He was inducted into the Patterson School of Accountancy Hall of Fame in 2012, where he serves on the school’s Professional Advisory Council. He has also served as president of the Accountancy Alumni Chapter and of the Birmingham Ole Miss Alumni Club.

“Ole Miss has provided me great opportunities in life and has helped me build invaluable relationships over the years, for which I am extremely grateful,” Clark said.

While serving as a fighter pilot in the U.S. Air Force, Harris was shot down over North Vietnam on April 4, 1965, and spent the next eight years as a POW. He was awarded two Silver Stars, three Legion of Merits, the Distinguished Flying Cross, two Bronze Stars for Valor, two Air Medals, two Purple Hearts, and two Commendation medals.

Harris retired from the Air Force in 1979 and entered the UM School of Law. He has served as a director of Sanctuary Hospice House, Tupelo Boys and Girls Club, Leadership Lee County, Tupelo Rotary Club, North Mississippi Medical Center, and as vice chairman of the Tupelo Airport Authority.

He received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Air Force Association. The Yocona Area Council of Boy Scouts of America named him its 2021 Distinguished Citizen.

“Ole Miss was the perfect place for me after my retirement from the Air Force, a fine institution with excellent curriculum, staff and a very competitive student body,” Harris said. “I am delighted to be included in this prestigious group.”

A singer and actress, Haskell was crowned Miss University and Miss Mississippi in 1977. After moving to Los Angeles, she began building television and theatrical careers on the West Coast, starring in productions of “Annie Get Your Gun,” “Barnum” and “Seven Brides for Seven Brothers” as well as many television series episodes and more than 20 TV movies. More recently, she co-starred in the Emmy Award-winning musical “Dolly Parton’s Christmas on the Square.” She has released three studio albums and four personalized children’s music CDs.

Haskell has served on the board of directors for the Ole Miss Alumni Association and the UM Foundation. She serves on the Ford Center Advisory Board and is a member and past chairman of the Ole Miss Women’s Council for Philanthropy.

She is married to her college sweetheart, Sam Haskell (BA 77). Together they co-chaired the university’s MomentUM capital campaign and were awarded the 2023 Concerto Award by the university and Ford Center for their commitment to the arts.

“I am humbled to join this distinguished circle of almost 50 years of honorees; varied legacies, all born from a love of Ole Miss,” Haskell said.

Hickman is president and CEO of Trice Construction Co., a Chicago firm that specializes in complex concrete construction projects, particularly for utility companies. Under her leadership, the business has grown from a small residential construction company into an award-winning infrastructure contractor serving Fortune 500 corporations and major public entities.

After graduating from Shannon High School, Hickman attended UM as an undergraduate for three years. She returned to Ole Miss in 1988 for law school, serving as a member of the Mississippi Law Journal and president of the Black Law Students Association.

Hickman spent 25 years as an attorney, lobbyist, and utility executive, working in management for Exelon Corp., Duquesne Light Co., and ComEd. She was named a 2022 Outstanding CEO in Women’s Enterprise Magazine and among the Notable Women in Construction and Design in 2021 by Crain’s Chicago Business. She also delivered the university’s 2023 Commencement address.

“I am deeply moved to receive this recognition from the Ole Miss Alumni Association,” Hickman said. My years at Ole Miss shaped my thinking and provided early opportunities that developed me as a leader.”

Young is a Mississippi native who followed in the footsteps of his father, Jimmy Young (LLB 1954), and grandfather, J. Will Young, both of whom enjoyed distinguished careers in law and business in Jackson.

Upon graduation from law school, Young married and began a 29-year career in private practice that included 16 years in the Dallas and London offices of Vinson & Elkins, an international law firm, where he advised on cross-border business transactions. In 2014, he returned to London to join his longtime client, Lone Star Funds, a global private equity firm. He serves as Lone Star’s global president and chief legal officer.

He is a member of the board of directors of the UM Foundation and of the Lamar Order. He is a past president of the board of directors of Wesley-Rankin Community Center, a Dallas-based civic organization.

“I am so honored and pleased that Ole Miss has chosen to recognize me with this honor,” Young said. “The university provided an incredible foundation for me, which I credit for much of the personal and professional success I have enjoyed in life. I will always look back on my time at Ole Miss fondly.

Flenorl is manager of global citizenship and DEI at FedEx Corp., where she oversees the company’s DEI employee education and engagement programs as well as initiatives to identify diverse talent. She oversees multi-million-dollar grants, events and employee engagement activities.

Her career spans 30 years and includes work in marketing, communications and corporate social responsibility. Before joining FedEx, she held positions at International Paper and IBM.

Flenorl is an active community leader in Memphis and nationally. She represents FedEx on the Conference Board Corporate Social Responsibility Council and is a member of the board of directors of Renasant Bank, the National Civil Rights Museum, and Memphis Tourism.

A Clarksdale native, Flenorl was the first African American female to be inducted into the Ole Miss Student Hall of Fame. She was inducted into the Ole Miss Alumni Hall of Fame in 1998 and served as president of the Ole Miss Alumni Association in 2008-09. She was board chair of the UM Foundation in 2015-16 and is a charter member of the Ole Miss Women’s Council.

“I am so grateful for the many people at Ole Miss who helped me succeed,” Flenorl said. “Ole Miss made a tremendous investment in me. It is an investment that I have always been committed to paying forward.”

Following graduation from the School of Pharmacy in 2016, Lyles-Stolz completed a post-doctoral fellowship at Eli Lilly and Co. and served as manager of pharmacy affairs at the Academy of Managed Care Pharmacy. She then became the first pharmacist chosen as a German Chancellor Fellow, where her research focused on population health management in Germany, Singapore, Israel, Scotland, Spain, and Switzerland.

After returning to the U.S., she served as executive director for the Washington State Pharmacy Quality Assurance Commission, where she regulated the profession of pharmacy and helped manage the state’s COVID-19 response. Lyles-Stolz previously covered health care policy for U.S. Rep. Bradley S. Schneider (Ill.) and worked as a congressional health policy innovation fellow for U.S. Rep. Yvette Clarke (N.Y.).

She serves on the advisory board for the Society of Health Policy Young Professionals in Washington, D.C., and is the founder and CEO of Lyles-Stolz Consulting and co-founder and CEO of Gapway Health with her husband, Dr. Patrick Stolz.

“The 2023 Outstanding Young Alumni Award means that my contributions and work in health care have touched the lives and hearts of many Mississippians, leaders, communities and the University of Mississippi,” she said. “This achievement inspires me to give back and take on new challenges to make a better and healthier world.”

Rogers is in his 42nd year at the university, having joined the Ole Miss athletics department in 1981 as sports information director. He retired in 2010 as senior associate athletics director for media relations. He continues to serve part time as special assistant to the athletics director for history.

Before joining Ole Miss, Rogers served 17 years at his alma mater, Delta State University, including four years as the school’s publicity director before becoming its first full-time sports information director. At 36, Rogers became the youngest president in history of the 3,000‑member College Sports Communicators association and served 11 years on its board of directors.

He is a member of eight halls of fame, including the College Sports Communicators Hall of Fame, the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame, and the Ole Miss M-Club Hall of Fame. Throughout his career, Rogers has served on numerous committees, including a six-year term on the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame board of directors.

“I’m extremely overwhelmed, honored and thankful for being selected to receive the Honorary Alumni Award, and I am simply in awe of those past recipients chosen for this prestigious honor,” Rogers said. “Ole Miss is truly a special place and I remain thankful for having the opportunity to work with so many chancellors, athletics directors, coaches, student-athletes and the Alumni Association staff.”

By Jim Urbanek