Introducing the 2018 Distinguished Alumni

By Sofia Sokolove in TXEX on June 13, 2018 at 10:36 am | 2 Comments

As is tradition, this fall several hundred Longhorns will gather to celebrate a group of their most accomplished peers with moving video tributes, heartfelt speeches, and a presentation of those famous and coveted orange blazers.

Presented each fall, the Distinguished Alumnus Award is the Texas Exes’ highest honor for outstanding University of Texas graduates. Since the award was created in 1958, recipients have ranged from former first lady Laura Bush and Heisman Trophy winner Earl Campbell to surgeon Denton Cooley and astronaut Karen Nyberg. This year’s remarkable honorees will be honored at the Etter-Harbin Alumni Center on Friday, November 2, 2018. Learn more about them below.

Robert A. Estrada, BS ’69, JD ’83, Life Member

Robert A. Estrada, BS ’69, JD ’83, Life Member, is a Fort Worth attorney and businessman. He is chairman emeritus of Estrada Hinojosa & Co., a Dallas investment banking firm he co-founded in 1992 that specializes in municipal financial advisory and bond underwriting services. Estrada serves on the Oncor Electric Delivery LLC Board of Directors as chair of the Audit Committee. From 2001-08, Estrada served on The University of Texas System Board of Regents. In addition to his business and legal credentials, Estrada has extensive experience in government, including serving in the White House as a special assistant to President George H. W. Bush. He also served in the United States Air Force.

R. Steven Hicks, BA ’72, Life Member

R. Steven Hicks, BA ’72, Life Member, owns and serves as executive chairman of the Austin-based private investment firm Capstar Partners, LLC. In February 2009, Hicks was appointed to The University of Texas System Board of Regents by Gov. Rick Perry. He was reappointed in February 2011, and again in January 2015 by Gov. Greg Abbott, BBA ’81, Life Member, Distinguished Alumnus. In 2017, UT Austin’s School of Social Work was named the Steve Hicks School of Social Work in honor of his remarkable generosity. Hicks built his career in the radio industry and in 1996 founded Capstar Broadcasting Corporation. Two years later, it was the nation’s largest radio station holding company.

Anitha Mitchell Logan, BA ’65, Life Member

Anitha Mitchell Logan, BA ’65, Life Member, has spent her career focusing on health care delivery to the underserved, especially women. In recognition of these efforts she was named “Woman of the Year” by the Los Angeles County Commission on Women in 2001. Logan was elected to the National Medical Honor Society (AOA) during her senior year at The University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston, and was the second African-American female to graduate from UTMB. From there, Mitchell became the first African-American intern in the Department of Medicine at the UCLA School of Medicine, where she continues to serve on the faculty. In the 1980s, as health care delivery systems were evolving, Logan organized an Independent Physicians’ Association that has grown into a thriving business where she now serves as managing partner. 

Richard Warren Mithoff, BBA ’68, JD ’71, Life Member

Richard Warren Mithoff, BBA ’68, JD ’71, Life Member, is one of the top trial lawyers in the country. In 1974, Mithoff went into practice with the firm that later became Jamail, Kolius & Mithoff and in 1983, he established his own firm that is now Mithoff Law. His diverse list of clients has included Conoco-Phillips, the family of former Houston Oilers owner Bud Adams and the family of police shooting victim Pedro Oregon. Mithoff has endowed several scholarships at UT, including a Presidential Scholarship for educationally, socially, and culturally disadvantaged students at Texas Law. He and his wife, Ginni, established the Mithoff Pro Bono Program at UT Law School and the Mithoff Track and Soccer Field House is named in his honor.

William P. O’Hara, BBA ’68, Life Member

William P. O’Hara, BBA ’68, Life Member, turned his leadership experience in the corporate world into an opportunity to serve future generations as both an educator and a philanthropist. O’Hara began his career with Sears, Roebuck & Co. In 1987, he joined the senior management of the Dean Witter Financial Services Group and stayed with the firm through its merger with Morgan Stanley. He retired in 2000 and decided to give back as an accounting lecturer at The McCombs School of Business for 10 years, earning numerous teaching awards. He serves on the school’s Advisory Council and is chair of The University of Texas at Austin’s Audit Committee. In 2015, O’Hara was inducted into the McCombs School of Business Hall of Fame. He serves as treasurer and chair of the Finance Committee for the board of the Texas Exes. During 2017, he served as interim co-executive director of the Texas Exes. 

Robert Schenkkan, BA ’75, Life Member

Robert Schenkkan, BA ’75, Life Member, is the author of 16 plays, including All the Way, Building the Wall, and The Kentucky Cycle, and a musical, The Twelve. His work has been produced around the world, and his writing has been recognized with the highest honors—he is a Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award winner and has been nominated three times for the Emmy award. His movie and TV credits include Hacksaw Ridge, The Quiet American, All the Way, The Pacific, The Andromeda Strain, Crazy Horse, and Spartacus. Schenkkan is an alumnus of New Dramatists, a member of the National Theater Conference, the College of Fellows of the American Theater, and sits on the board of the Dramatists Guild, the Orchard Project, and the Lilly Awards.