CONWAY, Ark. (October 12, 2018) – Hendrix College will award its
2018 Odyssey Medals on Thursday, October 25, during a special reception in the
Great Hall of the Clinton Presidential Center. Alumni receiving this year’s
honors are Patricia (Tricia) Guinn ’75 for Professional and Leadership
Development; Len Nichols ’75 for Research; and Mark Robertson ’79 for Special
Projects. The reception begins at 5:30 p.m., with the presentation of medals at
6 p.m.
The Odyssey Medal is presented to alumni whose life achievements
exemplify the ideals of the Hendrix Odyssey Program. Medalists are selected by
the Hendrix Board of Trustees for their accomplishments in one of the six
Odyssey categories: artistic creativity, global awareness, professional and
leadership development, service to the world, research, or special projects.
Tricia Guinn is a member of the board of
directors of Reinsurance Group of America, Inc., one of the largest global life
and health reinsurers, and is the interim Chief Risk Officer of Willis Towers
Watson, a leading global advising, insurance brokerage, and solutions company
with more than 40,000 employees in 140 countries. Guinn is also an Association
Member of BUPA, an international healthcare group serving more than 22 million
customers in over 190 countries. She began her career as a consulting actuary
and became one of the premier professionals in her field, consulting to
prominent insurance companies worldwide on a wide range of risk and strategic
issues. For more than a decade, she headed an $800 million global business for
Towers Watson that spanned insurance consulting and software, reinsurance brokerage
and investment services. She returned to the company after its merger with
Willis for her current role. Her career has been marked by her commitment to
integrity, professionalism, and helping others achieve their potential.
Guinn has been selected as a member of the Social Security
Advisory Board’s 2019 Technical Panel on Assumptions and Methods, and has
received a number of awards recognizing her service as a director and leader in
insurance. She is a fellow of the Society of Actuaries, a member of the
American Academy of Actuaries, and a Chartered Enterprise Risk Analyst.
Len Nichols has been the Director of the
Center for Health Policy Research and Ethics (CHPRE) and a Professor of Health
Policy at George Mason University since 2010. After graduating from Hendrix, he
earned an M.A. in Economics from the University of Arkansas, then his Ph.D. in
Economics from the University of Illinois. He taught at Wellesley College from
1980-1991, where he became Associate Professor and Economics Department Chair.
His service as Senior Advisor for Health Policy at the Office of Management and
Budget (OMB) in the Clinton Administration led to his involvement in healthcare
reform debates, policy development, and communication with the media and policymakers.
He has testified frequently before Congress and state legislatures, published
widely, and spoken to hospital associations, physician groups, and health policy
forums around the country. Nichols is often asked to provide technical
expertise to members of Congress, governors, state legislators, and other
policy officials. He has consistently sought to add moral arguments to the
technical health policy debate.
After OMB, Nichols became a Principal Research Associate at the
Urban Institute, Vice President of the Center for Studying Health System
Change, and Director of the Health Policy Program at the New America Foundation.
He serves on the board of the National Committee for Quality Assurance and as an
advisor to the Patient-Centered Primary Care Collaborative, and is now the
payment reform advisor to the Virginia Center for Health Innovation as it leads
Virginia’s State Innovation Model effort. As he focused more on payment and
delivery reform, he became an Innovation Advisor to the Center for Medicare and
Medicaid Innovation at CMS, and is now the Principal Investigator on Patient-Centered
Medical Home (PCMH) evaluation studies, as well as on more general ways to use
payment and delivery reform to achieve triple aim of health equity goals. Nichols
was recently appointed to the Physician-Focused Payment Model Technical
Advisory Committee (PTAC) by the Comptroller General of the United States.
Mark Robertson joined ABC News in April 1994, as
a New York-based editorial producer at-large. He had previously worked in the
public relations counseling profession as a Senior Vice President in Hill &
Knowlton’s Washington office. From 1980 until 1982, he worked on staff in
Senator David Pryor’s Washington office, handling scheduling and writing
speeches.
Robertson is now a Senior Executive Producer with ABC News, and was
a member of the team that received Daytime Emmys in 2009, 2014, 2016, and 2017
for Outstanding Morning Program for Good Morning America. He also was part of a
team nominated for a 2012 Emmy Award in Outstanding Interview for “Jaycee
Dugard: Her First Interview.” In 2016, Robertson’s team was nominated for an
Emmy for Outstanding Interview and received the Alfred I. DuPont-Columbia
University School of Journalism Award for “Bruce Jenner: The Interview.” He has
worked with Diane Sawyer for 24 years.
Established in 2004, the Odyssey Program requires all Hendrix
College students to complete three Odyssey experiences or projects during their
undergraduate careers, in three of the six Odyssey categories. The program
ensures that students look beyond the classroom to experience educational
opportunities in the liberal arts and sciences.
About Hendrix College
A private liberal arts college in Conway, Arkansas, Hendrix
College consistently earns recognition as one of the country’s leading liberal
arts institutions, and is featured in Colleges That Change Lives: 40
Schools That Will Change the Way You Think About Colleges. Its academic
quality and rigor, innovation, and value have established Hendrix as a fixture
in numerous college guides, lists, and rankings. Founded in 1876, Hendrix has
been affiliated with the United Methodist Church since 1884. To learn more,
visit www.hendrix.edu.