Levett, Patterson and O’Conner receive top alumni honors
Three distinguished graduates received Hanover College’s highest alumni honors during a special Homecoming ceremony Oct. 14 in the Science Center. Mark Levett ’71 and Vance Patterson ’72 were presented with the Alumni Achievement Award. Jasmine O’Conner ’12 received the Distinguished Young Alumni Award.
The Alumni Achievement Awards, presented annually since 1960, recognize graduates who have enhanced the reputation of the College by making significant contributions to their community, state or nation through professional service, public service and/or civic activities.
Levett served Cummins, Inc. for 42 years and is the retired vice president of corporate responsibility and chief executive officer of the Cummins Foundation. He joined the company as an analyst in 1973 when Cummins was a $500 million North American company. He held seven officer positions, including vice president Asia Pacific, vice president international, and general manager and vice president high-horsepower business, playing a key leadership role in Cummins’ growth to more than $20 billion in revenue and more than 50 percent of operations and sales being from outside the U.S.
Levett is only the 11th person to serve the Hanover Board of Trustees for 40 or more years and the first since 1980. He joined the board in 1982 and was elected vice-chair in 1998. He ascended to chair in 2014 and completed an eight-year term last summer.
During his trusteeship, Levett partnered with his wife, Marabeth Ice Levett ‘71, to serve as co-chairs of the “Live Our Loyalty” campaign, which raised more than $55 million from 2010-13, and were influential in guiding “The Campaign for Hanover,” a five-year, $60 million effort completed in 1995. Recently, the couple provided leadership in the successful first phase of the College’s bicentennial campaign, which raised more than $27 million in a three-year span.
In 2017, their generosity established the Levett Career Development Center. Their namesake provides the home for Hanover’s business and entrepreneurship faculty and serves as a one-stop campus location for all students seeking career counseling, internships or interview preparation.
The Levetts reside in Columbus, Ind.
For more than 40 years, Patterson has served as an industrial manufacturing executive, foundation leader and educator.
A serial entrepreneur, Patterson has launched 23 companies and a non-profit foundation. His global experience includes joint-ventures in North America, Europe, Asia and South America, as well as teaching at Oxford University. He currently serves as president of eight of his North Carolina- and South Carolina-based entities.
In 1982, Patterson began working with Solar Shield, Inc., which manufactures and installs industrial roof-cooling systems. In 1989, he started the Patterson Fan Company, which manufactures and sells industrial fans around the globe. He continues as president of both companies and also leads The Subsidiary, Inc., Patterson Ventilation Company, WITSITS, Inc., Mainstreet Broadcasting, Inc., Frenzy T’s, Inc., and Fishbowl Enterprises.
Patterson is also the founder of Foundation Forward. The nonprofit organization is committed to teaching civics and preserving American history. Foundation Forward designs, builds and gifts permanent displays of the “Charters of Freedom,” including the Declaration of Independence, U.S. Constitution, Bill of Rights, and now, the Civil Rights Amendments, in communities across the country. Forty-nine memorials have been gifted, providing localized access to these historical documents in a proper setting for educational purposes, including one on Hanover’s campus.
Patterson lives in Morganton, N.C, with his wife, Mary Jo Cody Patterson ’75.
The Distinguished Young Alumni Awards have been presented annually since 2013. The honor celebrates graduates under the age of 40 and recognizes alumni who have enhanced the reputation of the College through their outstanding professional achievements, personal accomplishments or their loyal service to their alma mater.
O’Conner has worked in the communications department at Cummins Inc. for more than 10 years. She currently serves as communications manager and has previously held positions as a senior off-highway communications specialist and communications project manager.
Hanover’s 2012 recipient of the Henry C. Long Citation, O’Conner was an active member of the campus community and continues to serve her company and community. She is a member of Cummins’ Historically Black Colleges and Universities Initiative and the Cummins Black Network. She also serves on the Bartholomew County (Ind.) Human Rights Commission and devotes time as a member of the Thrive Alliance and is an assistant girls’ basketball coach at Columbus North (Ind.) High School.
She resides in Columbus, Ind., with her spouse, Canice Guice.
Pictured above (l-r): Stacie Farris ’98, Vance Patterson ’72, Jasmine O’Conner ’12, Mark Levett ’71 and President Lake Lambert.
