FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — Martin Vargas of Knoxville, Tenn., assumed the office of chair of the Indiana University Alumni Association Board of Managers on July 1, 2023.
Vargas earned his bachelor’s degree in business in 1994 from the Kelley School of Business on the IUPUI campus. He earned a master’s in business administration from the Haslam College of Business at the University of Tennessee. In 2011, he joined the board of the IU Alumni Association’s Latino Alumni Association and in 2016, was elected to the IUAA’s Executive Council. He earned the IUAA President’s Award that same year for outstanding volunteer leadership within the IU Alumni Association. Professionally, Vargas has been senior international business analyst at Walmart Inc. as well as an entrepreneur, consultant, and investor in the field of health care innovation, strategic planning, and technology. In September 2021, he was named executive director of the St. Mary’s Legacy Clinic of Knoxville, which provides health care to the poor and medically underserved in East Tennessee.
As chair of the Board of Managers, he will head the 14-member governing board that provides general management and supervision of the affairs of the IUAA. Other members of the Board of Managers are chair-elect Dawn Whitehead, BA’97, MS’03, PhD’07, of Washington, DC; vice chair Yung Nguyen, BS’89, MD’95, of Indianapolis; treasurer Shelley Raper, BS’85, of Fishers, Ind.; secretary Shontrai Irving, BS’97, MA/JD’03, of Gary, Ind.; immediate past chair Jeannie Sager, MA’03, of Carmel, Ind.; and IUAA CEO Tricia Riveire Stumpf, MA’07, of Bloomington, Ind.
Cindy Stone, BS’78, MS’08, of Bloomington, Ind., is serving another three-year term as manager at large, and Shishir Deshpande, LLM’06, of Delhi, India, was newly elected as manager at large.
Continuing managers at large are Mary Susan Buhner, BA’94, of Fishers, Ind.; Kyle King, BS’07, OD’11, of Evansville, Ind.; Mautrice Meriweather, BA’01, MA’15, of Indianapolis; and Sandy Searcy, BS’86, MS’88, of Bloomington, Ind. The student representative to the Board of Managers is Katelyn King, BS’23, an IU Bloomington student completing a master’s degree in higher education and student affairs.
Board of Managers officers serve one-year terms, and the secretary and treasurer may serve up to three consecutive terms. A 36-member Executive Council advises the Board of Managers.
The IU Alumni Association, a global organization of more than 774,000 alumni, activates and supports the global alumni network — encouraging alumni to grow a lifelong connection with Indiana University, and inspiring their ongoing generosity toward each other and the university.
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