2023 Academy of Distinguished Alumni Announced
The Walker Department of Mechanical Engineering has announced the 2023 honorees of its Academy of Distinguished Alumni.
As a way of recognizing the accomplishments and careers of our outstanding alumni, the Walker Department of Mechanical Engineering established the Academy of Distinguished Alumni in 2004. The Academy’s purpose is to recognize high-achieving mechanical engineers from among the UT Austin community and from the engineering community at large, to champion the mechanical engineering profession and to build a strong community and facilitate interactions among our students, faculty, alumni and corporate partners.
This year’s honorees include:
Randy Charles
Distinguished Mechanical Engineer
B.S., Mechanical Engineering, The University of Texas at Austin, 1982
M.S., Education Administration, Tarleton State University, 2005
Randy L. Charles, a native of Houston, TX, attended Kashmere Senior High School from 1974-1977. Randy participated in multiple extracurricular activities throughout his time in high school including Student Council, Advanced Choir, Drama Club, French Club, the Honor Society whereby he served as President, and varsity football where he served as one of the team captains. Voted as the “Most Studious” in his junior year, Randy finished in the Top Ten of his senior class, selected as Kashmere’s HISD “Most Outstanding Senior Boy” for the Class of 1977, and the recipient of the Barbara Jordan Scholarship, Jessie H. Jones Endowment Scholarship, and an academic scholarship from the University of Texas.
Randy furthered his education at The University of Texas at Austin graduating with a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering in May 1982. He subsequently went to work in the oil and gas industry for Sun Oil Company as an operations engineer. Over the course of an 18-year career, Randy provided engineering support to field operational teams located in Oklahoma, Texas, Wyoming, Louisiana, and Offshore Gulf of Mexico. He was a registered Professional Engineer in the State of Texas.
Randy embarked on a career path that led him to the field of Education in 1999. He taught seventh grade math for 4 years, became an assistant principal for 2 years, and eventually served as a Middle School Principal for 3 years, all within the Lake Dallas Independent School District. Randy obtained a Master of Education from Tarleton State University in May 2005 with an emphasis in Educational Administration.
After fulfilling his mission of an educator and administrator, Randy transitioned back into the oil and gas business in 2008 and is currently employed by Denbury Resources Inc. located in Plano, Texas. Randy serves as an Asset Team Leader and facilitates a team of engineers, engineering technicians, and geologists who provides technical support to field operations in Montana. After working a combined 33 years in oil and gas and 9 years in education, Randy has his sights set on retiring November 2023!
Randy is a Life Member of the Texas Exes, a Legacy Griot of the Texas Exes Black Alumni Network, a member of The Precursors of UT Austin, a member of the Cor Vitae Society of the American Heart Association, a member of the Advisory Council for the College of Education at The University of Texas at Austin, a member of the UT Austin Development Board, a member of St. Philip the Apostle Catholic Church in Flower Mound, Texas, and a Kashmere Former Athletes Association (KFAA) 2020 Ring of Honor Inductee and dedicated supporter of KFAA’s efforts to provide scholarships to the graduating athletes of Kashmere High School.
Randy is married to his devoted wife, Gloria, of 37 years and they have one son (Philip) and guardianship of their niece (Andrea). Like so many who has had the privilege of attending UT Austin, Randy is beyond grateful for the blessings he has received as a UT Grad and considers it an honor to join the legacy of the “Many” who lay claim that “What Started Here at UT-Austin, Forever Changed My World!”
Don DeWalch
Honorary Mechanical Engineer
B.B.A. Route to Engineering, The University of Texas at Austin, 1957
Presently he is the principal of Thrust Drive LLC, an investment company that has just received a U.S. patent for the Thrust Drive System for enhanced helicopter safety and reliability. He had years of experience as part owner and operator of a family-owned company, Southern Electric Supply Co. (SESCO) which was one of the largest wholesale distributors of electrical equipment and supplies in the South. As President of SESCO, he negotiated a very favorable sale of the company, retaining ownership of all the warehouses. He is a co-founder of DeWalch Technologies Inc. a company with numerous patents, which has manufactured security products for the electrical utility industry for over thirty years. For many years, Don has operated Normandy Properties Inc. which is the family-owned entity that develops and owns real estate. He was one of the founding directors of Black Stone Minerals Co. which has become the largest publicly traded mineral and royalty company in the United States (NYSE Symbol—BSM). Mr. DeWalch also serves as Vice Chairman of the Board of the Thermal Energy Corporation (TECO) which is owned by Texas Medical Institutions and operates the largest district energy plant in the United States and supplies chilled water and steam to the Texas Medical Center. While Don is not a ME alum he has done so much for the betterment of the engineering, and manufacturing. Their company employs hundreds and has multiple patents for their innovative locking systems created at DeWalch Technologies. He has served on the Board of Trustees of Texas Children’s Hospital for over 47 years and is still active on the building committee core team. Don never stops learning and finding other areas to get passionate about, even at the young age of 86 when he was exploring ways to partner with current ASE professors.
Michael Linford
Distinguished Mechanical Engineer
B.S., Mechanical Engineering, The University of Texas at Austin, 2005
Michael Linford is the Chief Financial Officer at Affirm, where he oversees and manages the Company’s accounting, finance, capital markets, corporate development and strategic partnerships departments.
Michael has made many meaningful contributions to Affirm’s growth and success since joining the Company in 2018. During this period, Affirm has experienced a step change in the size and scale of its network and is well-positioned for the future with its attractive unit economics.
Michael helped lead multiple successful private fundraising rounds for Affirm. He was also instrumental in leading the Company through its successful initial public offering in January 2021 amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. In his role overseeing Affirm’s capital markets activities, Michael has helped build an industrial strength capital markets platform. Since July 2020, Affirm has successfully completed eight asset-backed securitization transactions and was even named Esoteric ABS Issuer of the Year in 2021.
Prior to joining Affirm, Michael held multiple leadership roles within investment, IT, and software companies. Previously, Michael was the Chief Financial Officer for Hewlett-Packard Enterprise Software. Michael led commercial work for all HPE separations and previously served as the VP of M&A Integration at HP. Additionally, Michael dedicated seven years to global investment firm KKR & CO, working his way to Principal and offering strategic and tactical support to a wide portfolio of companies as a member of the operations group.
He started his career in management consulting as a business analyst at McKinsey & Company focused on consumer and retail clients.
Michael holds a B.S. from The University of Texas at Austin where he studied Mechanical Engineering.
Daniel Nicholson
Outstanding Young Mechanical Engineer
B.S., Mechanical Engineering, The University of Texas at Austin, 2007
Daniel Nicholson graduated from the University of Texas at Austin in 2007 with a degree in Mechanical Engineering. Soon after, Daniel left for Madrid, Spain, as he was accepted into the Fundacion Consejo Espana-Estados Unidos program. The program landed him with a 9-month job with Iberdrola Renovables, where he enjoyed working in the sustainable energy sector, as he had a desire to be a part of the industries of the future.
When the program was completed, he moved back to Austin and began reconnecting with his friends and his Austin network. It was at this time that he was introduced to a product that would change the trajectory of his life. Daniel discovered NadaMoo!, for himself, in 2008 after an introduction he received to the founder and her CFO business partner. Since immediately falling in love with the product and brand, NadaMoo! has become his sole focus for the past 13+ years. He started as the Controller, and after 3 years of this accounting, operations related work, the founder of the company was ready to step out to pursue other opportunities. In that moment, after much thought and reflection, Daniel decided to step into the role of President & CEO, and he never looked back.
Since 2011, the company has grown its revenue over 50x, from being distributed in just a few hundred stores to now when it is in over 10,000 stores nationwide, and it is beginning to be distributed more widely in Canada. NadaMoo! has been the driving force, for Daniel, to help build awareness around health, wellness, and sustainability. These are the problems he and the NadaMoo! team want to continue to solve.
Carolyn Seepersad
Honorary Mechanical Engineer
B.S., Mechanical Engineering, West Virginia University, 1996
B.A., Philosophy, Politics, and Economics, Oxford University (UK), 1998
Ph.D., Mechanical Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, 2004
Carolyn Conner Seepersad is a Woodruff Professor of Mechanical Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology. Prior to joining Georgia Tech, Professor Seepersad served as a faculty member in the Walker Department of Mechanical Engineering at The University of Texas at Austin for 18 years, most recently as the J. Mike Walker Professor of Mechanical Engineering and the founding director of the Center for Additive Manufacturing and Design Innovation. Professor Seepersad also founded and co-directed the Elevate ME program to enhance the gender diversity of the Walker Department’s undergraduate population, working with alumni, faculty, staff, and students to increase female representation by nearly 50% in the past 10 years.
Professor Seepersad conducts research in engineering design and additive manufacturing. She is the author of more than 150 peer-reviewed publications, including several best paper awards from ASME and ASEE. Her research group focuses on additive manufacturing process innovation, including new techniques for extrusion and photopolymerization, and design-for-additive-manufacturing methods and algorithms such as interactive design tools enabled by machine learning.
Professor Seepersad is the Editor-in-Chief of the ASME Journal of Mechanical Design. She has been recognized for her research and teaching activities with the ASME Design Automation Award, several young investigator awards, The University of Texas Regents’ Award for Outstanding Teaching, and membership in The University of Texas System Academy of Distinguished Teachers.
Michael Swenson
Mechanical Engineering Hall of Fame
B.S., Mechanical Engineering, The University of Texas at Austin, 1975
Michael graduated with his BS in Mechanical Engineering in 1975. He really enjoyed his time in Austin and his Fraternity for two semesters before he met Patti, his future wife of nearly 48 years. She convinced him that going to College was not the same as going School, so he adjusted a few of his study habits. While on Campus, he actively participated in the ASME chapter, and the Student Engineering Council. During his Junior year he was President of the SEC, and under the cover of night they recovered Alex the Patron Saint of Engineering, from the Law School and rightfully returned him to the College of Engineering where he resides today.
1975 was a great time to be a graduating engineer. He accepted a role in Conoco beginning his career as a Project Engineer in their Mid-Stream business. He held multiple assignments and supervisory roles in Engineering before moving into an Operations assignment running natural gas pipelines and processing plants. This role allowed him to experience the results of engineering work from headquarters that didn’t mesh correctly with the field operating systems. From then on, he helped champion collaboration to improve quality and fit-for-purpose results throughout his career.
After several natural gas commercial assignments, he was asked to lead the engineering and business development organization for Conoco’s Natural Gas and Gas Products Business. This group ran all the engineering functions including recruiting, training and development. This allowed him return to campus and speak with engineering organizations and hire some of UT’s best and brightest students. In the business development group the team identified opportunities for expansion and growth in North America and spent $800 million on these new pipelines, plants and supporting acquisitions.
In his last role , Michael was responsible for ConocoPhillips’ Power Generation and Technology Business. His team developed and built a $1 billion – 1200 MW Cogeneration Power Plant in the United Kingdom, which is Europes largest and most efficient gas fired power plant. The Technology businesses consisted of licensing to global third parties, the proprietary Optimized Cascade Liquefaction Process technology, as well as the solids Gasification Technology for converting coal into Syngas and allowing for the capture of CO2 from the exhaust gasses.
In his 35 year career, he and his family lived in 6 different states and the United Kingdom, experienced 11 permanent relocations and belonged to 6 churches. He currently lives in Round Top where he enjoys woodworking, golf, and supporting UT events locally and in Austin. They spend their summers in Colorado where he adds fly fishing into his hobbies. He has used his engineering background to serve on the ME EAC, build a new sanctuary for their church in Brenham and rewrite the HOA for their Colorado community. In their estate plans, they have provided for an Endowed Professorship in Alternative Energy, and Presidential Scholarships for the College of Education.