Business alumni

Moore School of Business names 2004 Distinguished Alumni Award winners

A former South Carolina governor, a National Football League coach and television sports analyst, and four business executives will be honored April 23 as 2004 Distinguished Alumnus Award recipients of USC's Moore School of Business.

The awards will be presented at the school's ninth annual Business Leadership Dinner at The Zone in USC's Williams-Brice Stadium.

Recipients of this year's Distinguished Alumnus Award are former Gov. James H. Hodges (B.S. '79, Law '82), John C. Troutman (B.S. '63 ) and Samuel D. Wyche (M.B.A. '69). The Distinguished Young Alumna is Jodie Watt McLean (B.S. '90). The Distinguished Young Alumnus is Robert R. Hill Jr. (M.B.A. '95). Ralph Gillespie will receive the Distinguished Service Award.

Hodges, who served as 114th governor of the Palmetto State (1998–2002), is CEO of Hodges Consulting Group and a partner with the law firm of Kennedy Covington. His practice focuses on government relations, emerging business and venture capital, and international law. Prior to being elected governor, Hodges served 11 years in the S.C. House of Representatives, where he was chairman of the House Judiciary Committee and House minority leader. From 1990–97, he served as general counsel and secretary of the Springs Company, one of South Carolina's largest private companies.

Troutman is chairman, president, and CEO of Regions Bank of South Carolina/Central Georgia. He began his 40-year banking career with The Citizens & Southern National Bank, later joining Palmetto Federal Savings Bank of South Carolina. Currently president of the USC Business Partnership Foundation Board, Troutman is a 1972 graduate of Louisiana State University's Graduate School of Banking and a 1974 graduate of the Harvard Business School's Program for Management Development.

Wyche, the new quarterback coach of the Buffalo Bills, was a quarterback himself in the 1960s for the Cincinnati Bengals and in the 1970s for the Washington Redskins, Detroit Lions, St. Louis Cardinals, and Buffalo Bills. In 1979, he joined the San Francisco 49ers as quarterback and receivers coach, where he coached Joe Montana in the team's Super Bowl XVI victory over the Bengals. He was named head coach at Indiana University in 1983 and later became head coach of the Cincinnati Bengals and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He was an NFL television analyst for NBC and CBS for five years. For the past two years, Wyche was a substitute teacher and volunteer high-school coach in Pickens, the hometown of his wife, Jane.

McLean is president and chief investment

Jodie Watt McLean, president and CIO for Edens & Avant, received a B.S. degree from USC.

officer for Edens & Avant, one of the nation's largest owners and developers of shopping centers. Her primary focus at Edens & Avant is to expand the company retail assets in the Northeast, Mid-Atlantic and Southeast regions. She has been with the company for more than 13 years. McLean is a member of the International Council of Shopping Centers, is a frequent panelist for trade conferences, and recently spoke at the real-estate schools at both Harvard and Yale. She serves on the advisory board of the National Bank of South Carolina, on the boards of EdVenture and Junior Achievement, and on the Governor's Task Force on Government Restructuring and Campaign Finance Reform.

Hill is president and CEO of South Carolina Bank and Trust Company. Named to that post in 1999, he directs 32 offices and 500 employees in South Carolina. Hill was founding president of the National Bank of York County in 1995 and previously worked at NationsBank in Rock Hill and Wachovia Bank in Charlotte. He was named Outstanding Young Banker by the S.C. Bankers Association in 2000, and The State Newspaper in Columbia said he was among the top "20 Under [age] 40" in 2004.

Gillespie, retired president of Milliken & Co.'s Industrial Division, joined Milliken as a management trainee in 1950, holding various positions in several different businesses within the company before being named president of the Industrial Division in 1965. He retired from the Spartanburg-based textile firm in 1989. Gillespie has served on the USC-Business Partnership Foundation board since 1976 and is a member of the American Textile Manufacturers Association and the South Carolina Textile Manufacturers Association.

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