2024 Stevens Awards Gala Honorees

Stevens is proud to honor our talented, devoted alumni for their outstanding impact and accomplishments.

Stevens Honor Award 

Thomas A. (Tom) Corcoran has been a Stevens trustee for 30 years and has served as chairman of several committees and as vice chairman of the board. He started in the business world at GE where he rose to COO of GE Aerospace and after its sale to Lockheed Martin, he became president and COO of LM Space and Electronics business segments. Corcoran retired after 36 years of service to pursue other initiatives including chairman, CEO and president of Allegheny Teledyne Inc. and subsequently as a senior advisor for the Carlyle Group. He has served on numerous public and private company boards, most recently as chairman of Aerojet Rocketdyne. Corcoran has been named multiple times by Irish America in its Top Business 100. He and his wife Claudia have two children and two grandchildren. 

Lifetime Service Award 

A dedicated Stevens champion, John Dalton is a Director-at-Large of the SAA, a former SAA officer and a member of multiple committees including the university’s Historic Preservation Committee. As the Class of 1960 president, he leads engagement and fundraising efforts for his class and the Delta Tau Delta alumni community. He has over 50 years of healthcare operations and finance experience and serves as a volunteer leader for the Healthcare Industry Torchbearers network.  

Charles V. Schaefer, Jr. Entrepreneur Award

Tony Massoud is founder and CEO of Soltex Inc., a specialty chemical manufacturer and distributor based in Houston, Texas. Since the company’s launch in 1990, Massoud has led Soltex through superior service and continued innovation to meet market needs, guiding the company to become a major supplier of specialty chemical products and services to the worldwide industrial chemical marketplace. As an entrepreneur, Massoud values close relationships with business partners and firmly believes in assembling a strong team, giving them the tools they need to succeed and letting them go to work in meeting the needs of the marketplace. He cares deeply about making a positive difference in the world and the lives of others. 

International Achievement Award

Sandra Cadavid is the communications and information system advisor for the U.S. Mission to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in Brussels and serves as the U.S. permanent representative to the NATO Digital Policy Committee, providing expertise on digital, cyber and security policy. Previously, she served as an international program manager for the U.S. Army Combat Ammunition Systems in Picatinny Arsenal, New Jersey, and as the technical director of the U.S. Army Research Development and Engineering Command International Technology Center – Southern Europe at the U.S. Embassy in Paris, promoting, facilitating and implementing international cooperation between the U.S., allies and partners. She holds a Ph.D. in electronics and optoelectronics from the Institute Polytechnique de Paris. 

Distinguished Alumni Award - Science and Technology

Richard Blahut has a 60-year career in information theory, digital communications and military systems. A 30-year member of the National Academy of Engineers, Blahut is an IBM Fellow and an IEEE Fellow. He received the IEEE’s Claude E. Shannon and Alexander Graham Bell awards. The author of ten textbooks, Blahut led the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Illinois. He also taught at Cornell, Princeton, University of Pennsylvania, South China University of Technology and Swiss Federal Institute of Technology. 

Distinguished Alumni Award - Engineering

Brian Nigito, a 25-year veteran of the financial services industry, is senior technologist at Jane Street. He has held high-level positions as chief software architect at the Island ECN, chief technology officer at Inet ATS, Inc. and director of high frequency trading at Citadel. He created and built the trading systems used at Instinet Inc. and Chi-X Europe Ltd. At GETCO, he led and managed the firm’s New York operations and was instrumental in growing the firm’s involvement in US Equities options. A board member of Member’s Exchange, Nigito has served on NASDAQ’s Quality of Markets Committee and NYSE’s Electronic Traders Advisory Committee. He serves on the President’s Leadership Council at Stevens.