52nd Annual Golden Gala Joseph Wharton Award Dinner Honors Leading Wharton & Penn Alums!
- Sam Spiritos, W'84, Esq., Managing Shareholder, Shulman Rogers, a top business lawyer and advisor, leading the largest firm based in Montgomery County.
- David Quattrone, W'96, EE'96, Co-Founder & Chief Technology Officer, Cvent, the global leader in event, meeting and hospitality technology
- Lee Corey, W-CIMA, Managing Director & Sr. Consultant, MorganStanley, leading one of the best teams in the financial services field and supporting many worthy nonprofits
- Jamey Jeff, WMBA'10, Head of Investments, Amazon Web Services, the world's most comprehensive and broadly adopted cloud
- Jim Griffin, WMBA'71, COO, & Marcia Griffin, CEO, HomeFree USA, who have helped over 50,000 families obtain homes they might not have been able to afford
- Billy Shore, C'77, Co-Founder & Executive Chair, Share Our Strength:No Kid Hungry, who has helped millions of American children get needed meals and nutrition, for better health, education and lives
ABOUT THE HONOREES
Sam Spiritos, W'84, Esq., Managing Shareholder, Shulman Rogers, a top business lawyer and advisor, leading the largest firm based in Montgomery County.
Sam Spiritos has proudly served as the Managing Shareholder of Shulman Rogers since 2013 and has deftly navigated the firm through many changes, including the unprecedented and unforeseeable challenges brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2023, Sam was named to The Daily Record’s Power 100 List, recognizing men and women who play an outsized role in the culture, lifestyle, civic conversation and economic fortunes of Maryland. His leadership position affords him the opportunity to develop relationships with business leaders and elected officials, and he appreciates that he can extend those relationships and make valuable connections for his clients.
- Sam’s clients recognize him as a sophisticated transactional attorney, a trusted business advisor and an effective negotiator who truly understands their business needs. Over the course of his thirty-plus year career of successful deal-making, Sam has developed a masterful legal ability and strong relationships with many key players in the real estate markets in DC, Maryland, Northern Virginia and throughout the country. He draws upon this experience (which includes training at a “big law” firm), along with his education credentials, to provide efficient legal services and strategic guidance that enables his clients to succeed and grow.
- A nationally respected authority on hospitality-related issues, Sam leads the firm’s Hospitality Practice. Clients including international hotel operators, boutique hotel groups, casino and gaming operators and private clubs benefit from his unique skill set, his strong business sense and the 360 perspective he brings to every transaction. Recognized for his thought leadership in the hospitality arena, Sam is frequently invited to speak at industry events.
- Clients and business associates consistently express their appreciation to Sam for his pragmatic and on-point legal advice and business sense and for the meaningful connections to deals, investors, lenders and other opportunities that he generates for them. This skill set makes him a valuable, contributing member of several Boards of Directors, including Broad Street and Lakewood Country Club.
- The community involvement Sam is most passionate about is his role as Maryland/D.C. Metro Advisory Board Chair for Best Buddies, where he serves in memory of his older brother, Malcolm, who had Down syndrome. Sam shares Best Buddies’ mission of friendship and employment for people with I/DD.
- Sam’s education includes The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, B.S., 1984. After Wharton, he attended University at Buffalo School of Law, J.D., 1987, where he graduated cum laude, and was Senior Editor of the Buffalo Law Review from 1986 – 1987. He stayed in Buffalo for another year and received his MBA from the State University of New York at Buffalo in 1988.
David Quattrone, W'96, EE'96, Co-Founder & Chief Technology Officer, Cvent, the global leader in event, meeting and hospitality technology
- David Quattrone is Co-founder and Chief Technology Officer at Cvent, a market-leading meetings, events and hospitality technology provider. David leads a technology and product team of over 1,600+ employees around the world. Under his leadership, the team continues to expand and elevate Cvent’s robust event marketing and management platform and deliver product enhancements that drive adoption, usability, and customer satisfaction across Cvent’s broad portfolio of products.
- Cvent’s suite of products automate and simplify the event management lifecycle and maximize the impact of in-person, virtual, and hybrid events. Cvent powers millions of events for its 21,000+ customers worldwide, including 50% of the Fortune 500, while hotels and venues use Cvent’s supplier and venue solutions to win more group and corporate travel business through Cvent’s sourcing platforms. As Co-founder, David helped guide Cvent through its early days in 1999 as a bootstrapped, self-funded operation; and has since led the company through a $17 million venture capital raise between 2000-2001; a $136 million growth equity investment in 2011; and an IPO on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE: CVT) in 2013 with a market capitalization of more than $1 billion. In November 2016, Cvent went private with Vista Equity Partners for $1.65 billion. Cvent has grown to 4,800+ employees and more than $600M in revenue, helping its tens of thousands of customers deliver billions of dollars in meetings business to hotels and venues annually. In December 2021, Cvent returned to the public markets on the Nasdaq. In March 2023, Cvent entered into an agreement with Blackstone to be acquired for $4.6B. The transaction closed in June 2023, making Cvent a private company under Blackstone.
- David is also the Board Chairman for the Dingman Center for Entrepreneurship’s Board of Advisors at the University of Maryland's Robert H. Smith School of Business. He also sponsors the Dingman Center's annual ‘Pitch Dingman Competition,’ which provides students a Shark Tank-like opportunity to showcase their innovative inventions with local leaders for the potential to earn prize money to fund their budding ventures. In addition, David has served on the University of Pennsylvania School of Engineering and Applied Science Technical Advisory Board since its inception in 2018.
- In 2022, David received multiple awards including Smart Meetings’ Catalyst Quantum Leap Award for his work in helping the industry adapt and evolve during the pandemic-driven digital transformation and the University of Maryland Alumni Excellence EnTERPreneur Award recognizing alumni whose companies are fearlessly disrupting their industries. Other awards include the Washingtonian Tech Titans 2022, 2021 and 2019; Stevie American Business Awards Founding Team of the Year 2020; Northern Virginia Technology Council 2019 Technology 100 List; and SmartCEO Executive Management Awards in 2015 and 2012.
- David graduated from the University of Pennsylvania's Management and Technology program, earning a BS in Electrical Engineering from the School of Engineering and Applied Science and a BS in Economics from the Wharton School of Business, with concentrations in Strategic Management and Finance. David received his MBA from the University of Maryland's Robert H. Smith School of Business.
Lee Corey, W-CIMA'98, Managing Director & Sr. Consultant, MorganStanley, leading one of the best teams in the financial services field and supporting many worthy nonprofits
A Washington, D.C., native, Lee attended The Wharton School (University of Pennsylvania) for two years to obtain her CIMA® (Certified Investment Management Analyst) designation in 1998.
A lifelong learner, she did additional studies in Italy with the University of Virginia; the Stern School of Business (NYU) to receive the CIS designation (Certified Investment Strategist); as well as many continuing education courses at University of Chicago Booth School of Business.
- During her career, she established The Women’s Business Exchange (now the Diversity & Inclusion Council at Morgan Stanley). She is Executive Director and Senior Consultant at Morgan Stanley; repeatedly named by Barron’s and Forbes as a Top 100 Advisor and Top Women in Business, along with numerous other industry awards and accolades. She has served with Morgan Stanley for over 40 years, frequently stating that she “did not have a J-O-B, she has a J-O-Y”.
- Lee is a member of IWI (investment & Wealth Institute), as well as APIC - Association of Professional Investment Consultants. She was the book review editor-author for the APIC Journal for ten years.
- Because of Lee’s extraordinary commitment to community stewardship and service, she served many years in the Junior League of Northern Virginia; was a founding member of the Dunn Loring-Merrifield Rotary Club, Past President of the Northern Virginia Community Foundation; as well as founding member of Leadership Arlington, serving on its initial board of directors (also Class of 1999). She also does charitable for Virginia Hospital Center Arlington as a member of the Galen Society there. She was Dunn Loring Rotary Club ‘Citizen of the Year’ in 1999. As a lifelong Virginian with a family history dating back to the country’s founding, she is also a member of the DAR/Williamsburg Chapter and Colonial Dames.
- Her greatest joy is in helping her daughter and other young people. As such, she served many times as a judge for the George Mason University School of Business Management Case Competitions. Along with Steve Case and other major donors, she funded the George Mason University Student Venture Fund to assist students launch new and innovative businesses. Additionally at George Mason University, she endowed the Lee Corey Prize for Social Entrepreneurship. For Marymount University, she established an art gallery by donating notable diverse art works for student, faculty, and community enrichment.
- Lee is an active member of the Falls Church Episcopal Church, the historic church the town was named for. There, she created a unique hospitality hour to help hold the Continuing Episcopal Congregation together during a six-year court battle over the property. Thus, she became known as “the kitchen lady” to numerous attendees. Over the past two decades, she has also been “host mom” to many Episcopal Seminarians, Wolf Trap guest artists and interns, and others. In addition to her daughter Kendall Turner (Princeton ’07), Lee has three Goddaughters.
Jamey Jeff, WMBA'10, Head of Investments, Amazon Web Services, the world's most comprehensive and broadly adopted cloud
- Jamey has spent his 25+ year career delivering exceptional customer outcomes at companies ranging from 2-person startups to Fortune 10 enterprises. Jamey is currently the global Head of Investments at Amazon Web Services, where he leads all startup investment programs including AWS Activate, AWS’s flagship program to help early-stage startup customers build their products and businesses on AWS. Since its inception in 2013, AWS Activate has provided billions of dollars in credits to accelerate and nurture the growth of over 280k startups globally.
- Prior to AWS, Jamey served in multiple executive roles at early-stage startups, most recently as Chief Customer Officer at Cortex Building Intelligence, where he helped commercial real estate owners and asset managers such as Empire State Realty Trust save money and achieve their sustainability goals by reducing energy consumption. As Managing Director at Coastal Cloud, a Platinum Salesforce Partner, Jamey led the award-winning Quote to Cash, Customer Success, and DC Metro consulting practices.
- Prior to Coastal Cloud, Jamey was Chief Customer Officer at Higher Logic, the leading online community platform, we he was responsible for leading the company’s client-facing teams including customer success, implementation, professional services, education, and support. As Chief Customer Officer at TrackMaven, he led customer success, support, and professional services through 500% revenue growth and a Series B led by NEA. Before TrackMaven, Jamey was Co-founder and CEO of RemarkableHire, a talent sourcing and assessment helped customers such as Accenture, Amazon, Comcast, Gannett, and NPR find and evaluate the best technology job candidates.
- Earlier in his career, Jamey was a VP at Discovery Communications where he co-founded a new mobile products division, led the company’s entry into early-stage venture strategic investing, executed digital media M&A transactions, and ran the technology organization that developed Discovery’s portfolio of 15 consumer-facing websites and online video products. Jamey began his career at Accenture, where he started as a software engineer and rose to lead North American Portal & Content Management consulting services for the Communications, High Tech, Media & Entertainment industries.
- Jamey’s community interests focus on coaching, entrepreneurship, and mentorship. He has served as a mentor in the AWS Women in Startups mentoring program and First Round Capital Fast Track, offering guidance to startup founders and operators. He's a founding member and former membership chairman of NextGen Venture Partners, a network-driven VC rooted in Washington, DC, with a presence across the US. Jamey enjoys serving as a head coach for the Arlington Soccer Association's Developmental Program and Recreational leagues.
- Jamey has an MBA from The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, where he received the designation of Palmer Scholar, the school’s highest academic honor, for graduating in the top 5% of his class. Jamey earned a bachelor’s degree in mathematics from Virginia Tech.
Jim Griffin, WMBA'71, COO, & Marcia Griffin, CEO, HomeFree USA, who have helped over 50,000 families obtain homes they might not have been able to afford
Entrepreneurial. Driven. Passionate. Jim and Marcia Griffin embody these qualities as the founders and leaders of HomeFree-USA. Through Jim’s time in the mortgage industry where he developed the largest African American mortgage servicing company, National Loan Service Center, they saw first-hand the challenges and misconceptions surrounding minority home ownership. Seeing a need in a community devastated by high rates of default among borrowers of color, Jim and Marcia realized that someone must step forward to address these issues.
- In 1994 they launched HomeFree-USA with a vision to close the racial wealth gap by directly impacting the opportunities that make homeownership achievable and sustainable for all people of color. Addressing the root of the problem meant they must develop a way to deliver qualified buyers to reduce the fear and risk that lenders expressed in extending loans to households of color. They had to be more than just financially qualified for a mortgage – but prepared and educated on the tools available to ensure they are able to sustain homeownership.
- After a decade of perfecting their method, The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) invited HomeFree-USA to become a HUD Intermediary and establish a network of affiliated agencies that could take their success to a national scale. Since 2003, HomeFree-USA has grown that network to more than 50 agencies that serve the needs of nearly 50,000 households annually. Even more remarkable, though, is that through the HomeFree-USA model of housing counseling, not a single family who has completed their program has lost their home to foreclosure!
- Recognizing the immense value homeownership brings to increasing wealth among POC, and the need for financial education earlier in life, they launched the Center for Financial Advancement (CFA) in 2017. Serving students at Historically Black Colleges and Universities, CFA nurtures leadership skills, bridges gaps in financial literacy, and connects students to financially rewarding internships and careers. Now in its 6th year, CFA extends to 16 HBCUs and has served more than 10,000 students.
- Jim and Marcia are tireless advocates for closing the racial wealth gap, one new homeowner at a time.
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Billy Shore, C'77, Co-Founder & Executive Chair, Share Our Strength: No Kid Hungry, who has helped millions of American children get needed meals and nutrition, for better health, education and lives
- Billy Shore is the founder and executive chair of Share Our Strength, the parent organization for the No Kid Hungry campaign. Since founding Share Our Strength in 1984 with his sister Debbie, Billy has led the organization in raising more than $1 billion to fight hunger and poverty, and has won the support of national leaders in business, government, health and education, sports and entertainment.
- Billy is also the chair of Community Wealth Partners, Share Our Strength’s for-profit consulting firm which provides strategic consulting to help leaders and communities solve social problems.
- Before founding Share Our Strength, Billy served on the senatorial and presidential campaign staffs for former U.S. Senator Gary Hart and as chief of staff to former U.S. Senator Robert Kerrey. In 2014, congressional leaders appointed him to the National Commission on Hunger, tasked with finding innovative ways to end hunger in America.
- In addition to his work with Share Our Strength, Billy is a leading voice in the national conversation on hunger and poverty. He is the author of four books focused on social change, including “Revolution of the Heart” (Riverhead Press, 1995), “The Cathedral Within” (Random House, 1999), “The Light of Conscience” (Random House, 2004) and most recently, “The Imaginations of Unreasonable Men” (Public Affairs, 2010). He also hosts Add Passion and Stir, a weekly podcast that brings together high-profile chefs and change-makers to talk about the central role food plays in social justice.
- A native of Pittsburgh, Pa., Billy earned a Bachelor of Arts at the University of Pennsylvania and his law degree from George Washington University in Washington, DC. He has been an adjunct professor at New York University’s Stern School of Business and an advisor at the John F. Kennedy School of Government. From 2001 to 2011, he served as a director of The Timberland Company.
- Billy was named one of America’s Best Leaders by US News & World Report.
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