CONWAY, Ark. (June 23, 2009) – The Hendrix College Board of Trustees recently welcomed three new members to the board. They include Bracken Darrell of Switzerland, Ruth Hyde Thompson Bernabe of Tennessee, and William Boyd Smith of Texas.

Darrell of Montagnola, Switzerland, is president of Whirlpool Europe. After graduating from Hendrix in 1985 with a degree in English, he earned an M.B.A. at Harvard Business School. In 2008 he received the Hendrix College Odyssey Award for Global Awareness, in recognition of the leadership positions he has held in a variety of multinational companies. In his free time he enjoys reading, playing basketball, and competing in triathlons. He and his wife Maria Judith Darrell have three children, Anderson, Blair, and Conner.

Bernabe of Memphis, Tenn., teaches Spanish at Emmanuel United Methodist Kindergarten. A 1981 graduate of Hendrix, she then studied Recording Engineering and Spanish at Memphis State University.  She has worked extensively in Hispanic Ministries and English as a Second Language at several United Methodist churches, most recently Highland Heights UMC. She enjoys photography, music, and writing and takes particular interest in foreign cultures and religions. She and her husband José Bernabe have one daughter, Olivia Jane Bernabe.

Rev. Smith, a native of Gillett and now of Dallas, Texas, is on the staff of Highland Park United Methodist Church, where he has worked since 1968. After graduating from Hendrix in 1963, he earned a master of theology degree from the Perkins School of Theology at Southern Methodist University. He has served on the Alumni Board of Governors for more than 20 years, and has also served as president of the Hendrix Alumni Association and as the national chair of the Hendrix Alumni Loyalty Fund. Smith takes special interest in landscape architecture, and he appreciates the beauty of the Hendrix campus.

The newest members of the Hendrix Board of Trustees will attend their first board meeting in October 2009.

Hendrix, founded in 1876, is an undergraduate liberal arts college emphasizing experiential learning in a demanding yet supportive environment. The college is among 165 colleges featured in the 2008 edition of the Princeton Review America’s Best Value Colleges. Hendrix has been affiliated with the United Methodist Church since 1884. For more information, visit www.hendrix.edu.

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