2024 Crandall Challenge
Citation Winners
New York, NY
John Campbell’s Wharton education provided the basis for a very successful career on Wall Street, which in turn provided the opportunity to learn the lesson that ‘some of the greatest contributions to bettering society must be done on the individual,
personal level. John has implemented that lesson by working with the Achilles Track Club, which provides partners to accompany blind and other disabled runners and athletes – John has run in the New York Marathon with a blind running partner, and has helped a group of disabled climbers to reach the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania. He has taught at universities in Ireland and China, and worked with an NGO in Palestine, to raise the understanding of US Capital Markets and ethics. More recently, he has been actively involved in a leadership role with an organization which provides corrective surgeries for children who require major reconstruction, and has demonstrated his personal commitment by anonymously donating one of his kidneys.
Sydney, Australia
Deputy Chair and Director of Australian Business Volunteers (ABV), a 40+ year old Not for Profit organization based out of Sydney, carrying out a range of skilled volunteering projects in communities in South Asia, the Pacific Islands, and Australia. Projects are generally sponsored by large corporates or government Aid Agencies and resourced by a network of skilled and experienced volunteers, focused on building business skills in developing country communities (eg indigenous communities in mining areas), or business focussed recovery in communities affected by natural disasters (eg rebuilding multiple communities after the devastation of the huge bushfire and flood catastrophes in parts of Australia in 2020-21 that destroyed many towns and communities). The Board members are all volunteers and I have actively worked with them as both Acting Chair and Deputy Chair to successfully rebuild the amazing work of this NFP after the near crippling impact of Covid on its operations. Projects are now running at a record level, and growing in size and significance at a demanding rate.
Honor Roll
Alan Ahrens, WG’63
Lynchburg, VA
Alan has devoted himself to being a “Business Mentor” for SCORE (a nonprofit dedicated to providing experienced ‘retired’ business executives to provide face-to-face help for new businesses as business counselors and mentors.) The Lynchburg SCORE chapter has provided business counseling to over 600 clients from several large counties in Central Virginia.
Alan was also a founding director of the central Virginia Academy for Nonprofit Excellence (CVANE), which is affiliated with the Central Virginia Community College and has established a Certification in Non-Profit Management.
John Baker, WG’68
Wallowa, OR
When John and his wife retired to a 63 acre ranch in Oregon, in 2001, they devoted their talents, time and energy as Founders, Board member and Treasurer of the “Joseph Branch Trail “ consortium which is a $20,000,000 trail restoration project in Wallowa County, Oregon. In addition to walking/biking/hiking/riding trails, a major goal is also to improve the fish habitats of Steelhead and Chinook salmon. In addition to working with Oregon and federal agencies and the Bonneville Power Administration, John works closely with the sovereign nation of the New Pierce Tribe to restore Fish Habitat in the Wallowa River in Oregon, which is part of the coho salmon 600 mile journey that includes the Pacific Ocean, as well as the Columbia and Snake Rivers
Alan was also a founding director of the central Virginia Academy for Nonprofit Excellence (CVANE), which is affiliated with the Central Virginia Community College and has established a Certification in Non-Profit Management.
Filemon Berba, WG’64
Antipolo, Philippines
Following his career in several Philippine companies that included electric and water public utilities, electronic and pharmaceutical industries, Filemon has devoted his retirement to the Philippine Foundation for Science and Technology (PFST). This Foundation, of which he was a founder, has the objective of creating a critical mass of young people exposed to science with the intent of preparing them for engineering and technological careers. As President and Chair of the PFST Board of Trustees, he has developed outreach programs that involve 400,000 Philippine high school students each year. They created the Philippine Science Centrum, the first interactive science museum in the country. Since the Philippines is an archipelago, they created 7 mobile exhibits that over the years have been visited by 7 million students and teachers. They have trained 6000 teachers all over the country. Filemon also serves as a member of the Board of Trustees for the Philippine Science High School, the University of the Philippines and the Batangas State University, both of which have a student population of over 35,000.
Alan was also a founding director of the central Virginia Academy for Nonprofit Excellence (CVANE), which is affiliated with the Central Virginia Community College and has established a Certification in Non-Profit Management.