University of Mary Washington - Index

University of Mary Washington - summer08 - Index

Biological Laboratory at Woods Hole
after 25 years but is now managing a
major fundraising initiative in addition
to the lab’s communications efforts. Greg
is head of informatics at Alnylam, a
small pharmaceutical company in
Cambridge, Mass., that is developing
drugs based on RNAi technologies. Ian
is a first-grader who keeps busy with
Cub Scouts, swimming, piano lessons,
skating, and horseback riding.
Sandy Wise Conran traveled to
Europe for the first time last summer.
She visited London, Rome, Venice,
Dubrovnik, Barcelona, Florence, Naples,
and Sicily, and had a fabulous time! In
late June, she was diagnosed with a
benign brain tumor, a meningioma.
She was totally without symptoms until
a nighttime seizure. She had a very
successful surgery in mid-July and is
working on her recovery. The doctors
are pleased with her progress, yet, as
a physical therapist, she can’t help but
notice every little deficit. She returned
to light-duty work in September. Their
two children are now in middle school.
1982
Tara Corrigall
tara.corrigall@ubs.com
1983
Marcia Guida James
2005 Long Knife Court
Louisville, KY 40207
MarciaGJ@aol.com
In January 2008, we found out that my
90-year-old father had colon cancer.
Luckily, he made it through surgery
and is doing very well. I’m still working,
running, and cycling. My oldest son
is graduating from high school and
choosing between Yale and Princeton.
Jackie Lane Rice, husband Rich,
and children Richie, Kaylyn, and Reiley
are still in Richmond, where Jackie does
programming part time at Dominion.
She has competed in several Sprint
and Olympic triathlons and planned to
compete in a half Ironman this year.
Lisa Harris Coleman continues
as a technical supervisor at SSAI. Her
children are busy with ice skating,
instrumental music, choir, and Irish folk
dancing.
Nancy Carroll McDaniel and
Bruce McDaniel ’86 emailed to say
“hello” from The Bahamas. They have
lived in the Bahamian out-islands of
Abaco for 13 years now. In 1995, Nancy
took a teaching job at Hope Town
All-Age School on Elbow Cay. They
had a yard sale, rented the house on
Marye Street in Fredericksburg to
UMW students, and sold the two cars,
thinking they would be on the island for
two years. They are still there! They
built, and for five years have managed,
Dolphin Beach Resort on Great Guana
Cay, which has less than 100 locals, no
bank, no post office, no police, and one
Photo courtesy of Hilary Fordwich
tiny grocery store. They drive around in
golf carts. They designed and built their
own house on the cay (it took two and a
half years), and Coastal Living magazine
did feature stories on both. Daughter
Zoe is 16, and son Reilly is 13. Bruce
works as a construction manager at an
ultra-upscale private development called
Bakers Bay Golf & Ocean Club. Nancy
is a special education teacher at a school
on the bigger island of Marsh Harbour.
They sail, fish, spear lobster, eat conch,
snorkel the fabulous reefs, kite surf,
kayak, and paddleboard.
Hilary Dryer Bruggen Fordwich ’82, shown here
with golfing great Jack Nicklaus, has parlayed her
love of the links into a business asset.
Nancy says that while it might
seem idyllic, island life can be a real
test because of things like hurricanes
– Floyd in 1999, Frances and Jeane
in 2004 – frequent power outages,
milk that costs $12 a gallon, and what
Nancy calls “rock fever,” when you
just want to get off the island and
roam aimlessly through a Target! The
biggest issue they face now is that Zoe
and Ryan have been educated on the
islands their entire lives, and soon it
will be time for them to re-enter the
U.S. and apply to colleges.
1984
Auby J. Curtis
aubyJ@comcast.net
Tara Kilday Lindhart
4012 14th St.
Chesapeake Beach, MD 20732
taralindhart@hotmail.com
Fordwich has
her business savvy
down to a tee
Hilary Dryer Bruggen Fordwich ’82 seems to
energize the space around her, whether she’s in the
boardroom, on the golf course, or behind the wheel
delivering her kids to school.
She talks fast and moves even faster.
“I just get up and go,” she said. “I need to make
things happen – for my children, for my clients, for
everyone I come in contact with.”
This 46-year-old executive juggles a dizzying
array of responsibilities, as business owner, marketing
expert, public speaker, avid golfer, and mother.
And as the scheduled keynote speaker at UMW’s
Leadership Colloquium for Professional Women in
November, she plans to talk about how she makes it
all come together. The key, Fordwich said, is applying the 5 Cs – communication, candor, concern, competence, and
connection – to both her business and personal life.
Long before she’d heard of Mary Washington College, where she majored in political science, Fordwich – now a
sought-after expert in strategic relationship building – emigrated from England with her parents. She now treasures
her U.S. citizenship.
“I love this country for the opportunities to succeed if you’re hard-working,” she said. “I’ve had setbacks, and I’m
proud of succeeding through a lot of physical and emotional turmoil.”
Much of her enduring success can be found in the company she started, Strelmark, a growing Washington-based
national business development firm of which Fordwich is president. Strelmark capitalizes on her 25-plus years in
marketing, including a 10-year stint as head of global business development for the international accounting and
consulting firm KPMG.
Strelmark was born of Fordwich’s need for flexible hours and the ability to work closer to home. “I’m a
mother first and foremost,” she said, “a single mother of three children.” (She has a 12-year-old daughter and sons
ages 14 and 6.)
A 9-handicap golfer, Fordwich appears regularly as a business and golf expert on D.C.-area television and radio
stations, and she’s helped organize a number of tournaments. She took her first swing in the mid-1980s and has
parlayed her love of the links into a business asset.
’82
“Golf is the game of the boardroom,” she said. “I decided to join the ‘boys’ at their game.”
Fordwich also is a popular speaker at leadership, trade, and professional conferences. She’s written a monthly
column for the Washington Business Journal. And her advice has been featured in The Washington Post, The New York
Times, the Chicago Tribune, The Wall Street Journal, and Fortune; and on CNN, the USA Network, CBS Marketwatch,
the public radio program Marketplace, AOL Sports, and CareerBuilder.com.
To meet all her responsibilities and stay energized, Fordwich power walks, drinks ample water, and avoids
caffeine and nicotine, noting that she’s leaner now than she was in her younger days at Mary Washington.
And as if she didn’t already have enough responsibility, Fordwich also is a busy community volunteer, especially
on behalf of organizations that support youth, entrepreneurship, public education, and golf for inner-city children.
She acknowledges that her civic reputation as doer and giver helps her in the business world: “When you work
on a board and you’re good, huge organizations approach you and want to work with you.”
But, she said, there’s more to it than that.
“I believe strongly in doing the right thing.”
– Nancy Alexander
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