Two special people were honored in February with the prestigious Trustee Award, which recognizes outstanding achievements by Texas A&M Foundation employees.
The Trustees' Award recognizes outstanding achievements by Foundation personnel in:
• applying creative concepts to improving performance,
• advancing fund-raising efforts, and
• promoting a better understanding of the university-wide major gift fund-raising activities and asset management services of the Texas A&M Foundation.
Each recipient is being honored with a plaque and a cash award of $500.  The recipient's name will also be added to the plaque on display outside the Robert Marion Kennedy '26 Seminar Room.

The first recipient of the 2007 Trustees' Award was Sharon Richmond '79, Director of Development Operations, who has been with the Foundation for 26 years. Sharon supports the development staff through training, prospect coordination, evaluation, and administrative management. During Sharon's many years of service she has actively participated on many committees, providing vision through her leadership efforts.  Some of these committees include Disaster Recovery, Data Integrity, Data Security, Development Information Needs, Information Services Steering, Supervisors, and most recently, Advance Training.

Sharon enthusiastically participates in Total Quality Management initiatives and has served on lead teams such as Information Retention, Gift Agreement, and New Account Initiation. Sharon was a major player during the Database Unification project mapping data and writing policy and her historical knowledge is invaluable to the organization.

The second recipient of the 2007 Trustees' Award was presented to an individual with over 17 years of experience with the Foundation, Linda Jackman '88. Linda handles general ledger accounting and fund disbursement, She seeks to streamline processes, reduce costs, and she embraces technology improving efficiency; one example of this is her initiation of expense report automation. Linda also initiated and provided oversight for the development of accounting reports in .PDF format, which allows easier viewing and printing of accounting activity and balances for over 4,000 accounts in 150 Texas A&M University units. She served as chairperson for the Supervisor's Committee, section leader for the Texas Award for Performance Excellence Application, and chairperson for Texas/Louisiana Kintera Fundware, the accounting software users' group.

Originally, Linda audited Foundation operations as an employee of Durst, Wood, and Milberger.  She became a foundation employee as s Trust Accountant, was promoted to Manager of General Accounting, then promoted to her current position of Assistant Controller. Her efforts within the Foundation and as a representative of the Foundation are a constant source of pride and respect. Her most recent project involves working with Student Financial Aid by assisting them in coordinating scholarships and maximizing funds available to Texas A&M University students.

The annual award recognizes their accomplishments in creatively improving performance, advancing development efforts and promoting understanding of the major-gift fundraising and asset management services of the organization. Foundation trustees choose winners from a pool of employees who are nominated their colleagues. "The loyalty and dedication of both Linda and Sharon has no doubt moved the Foundation forward in its mission to support Texas A&M," said Bob Surovik '58, chairman. "Many of our donors never meet the diligent people working behind the scenes who help make the Foundation such a fine-tuned business. They have dedicated much of their lives to this university and have earned our respect."  Congratulations to Linda and Sharon.