Board
officers excited for new academic year under new Hendrix President
CONWAY, Ark. (August 21, 2023) — The Hendrix College Board of
Trustees has announced its new slate of officers for the 2023-2024 academic
year.
2023-24 Hendrix College Board of Trustees
Officers
- Hank
Neely ’83, Chair
- Walter
Pryor ’87, Vice Chair
- Kim
Evans, Secretary
“The Board of Trustees is excited for the start of the
2023-24 academic year at Hendrix,” said Neely, who served as vice chair of the
Board last year and has been a member of the Board since 2010.
Last fall, Neely joined fellow Hendrix alumni, board members,
faculty, staff, and student representatives in the search for the next president
of Hendrix College.
“I cannot adequately convey the Board of Trustees’ enthusiastic
endorsement of our recommendation of Dr. Karen K. Petersen,” he said. “As we
have watched her embrace the character and spirit of Hendrix and engage with
alumni and friends of the College, our initial enthusiasm has only grown. We are eager for all members of the Hendrix community to get to
know Dr. Petersen, and we are confident in the future of Hendrix under her
leadership.”
Neely is retired from Ernst & Young LLP in Dallas. He and
his wife, René Racop Neely, also a 1983 Hendrix graduate, live in Plano, Texas.
Pryor, who joined the Board of Trustees in 2012, earned his
law degree from Georgetown University Law Center in 1990 after graduating cum laude from Hendrix with a
degree in political science. In 2008, Pryor received the Hendrix Odyssey Medal
for Professional & Leadership Development, awarded to alumni whose personal
and professional lives exemplify the values of engaged liberal arts and
sciences education. Pryor has also received the Attorney General’s Award for
Excellence in Management from the U.S. Department of Justice in 1998, the
Outstanding Performance Award, Tax Division, from the U.S. Department of
Justice in 1997, and the Outstanding Alumni Award from Hendrix College Students
for Black Culture in 1997. He and his wife, Juliette Williams Pryor, live in
Atlanta.
Evans, who is the parent of a Hendrix graduate, joined the
Board in 2017. She holds a bachelor’s degree in international economics from
Georgetown University and a juris doctorate from the William H. Bowen School of
Law at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. She is currently the senior
program officer for special projects for the Walton Family Foundation. Her
previous work includes serving as director of development for the University of
Arkansas for Medical Sciences College of Medicine, as legal affairs and planned
giving director for the Arkansas Community Foundation, and as director of the Center
for Nonprofit Organizations at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. A former
assistant attorney general of Arkansas, Evans has served on several nonprofit
and for-profit boards that seek to improve the lives of Arkansans.
In addition to the new Board officers, Jo Ann Biggs ’80, immediate
past chair, serves on the executive committee of the Board. Biggs is an
attorney and a partner at Vinson & Elkins in Dallas, Texas.
The full Board of Trustees meets three times a year. The
first meeting of the 2023-24 academic year will take place on Friday, October
27, 2023.
About Hendrix College
Founded in 1876, Hendrix College is featured in Colleges That
Change Lives: 40 Schools That Will Change the Way You Think About Colleges and
celebrated among the country’s leading liberal arts colleges for academic
quality, engaged learning opportunities and career preparation, vibrant campus
life, and value. The Hendrix College Warriors compete in 21 NCAA Division III
sports. Hendrix has been affiliated with the United Methodist Church since
1884. Learn more at www.hendrix.edu.
“… Through engagement that links the classroom
with the world, and a commitment to diversity, inclusion, justice, and
sustainable living, the Hendrix community inspires students to lead lives of
accomplishment, integrity, service, and joy.” —Hendrix College Statement of Purpose