At an all-school assembly on March 6, four Upper School (US) alumni were recognized for their achievements beyond the school’s halls. Stuart Cable ’71, Bill Rodriguez ’81, Des Potier ’99, and Lizzy Kidder ’06 were awarded the BB&N Medal, the Distinguished Alumni Award, the Lewis Bryant Award, and the Distinguished Young Alumni Award, respectively. –Ryan Clay ’26

Stuart Cable ’71

Stuart Cable ’71 was awarded the BB&N Medal. After graduating from the school, he continued his education at Dartmouth andColumbia, where he studied business and law, respectively.

Currently, Mr. Cable is the Vice Chair and Global Head of Mergers and Acquisitions at Goodwin Procter. BB&N’s Alumni Board described Mr. Cable as a strong leader who is a trusted advisor for life science and innovative technology companies in the citation for the BB&N Medal. Mr. Cable’s leadership allows him to navigate a constantly evolving world and help aid the innovators who are shaping the future, they said.

Within Goodwin, Mr. Cable co- founded GOOD Directors, a first-of its-kind national leadership program designed to create opportunities for next-generation, BIPOC, LGBTQ+, and female leaders to join boards of directors of public companies. Additionally, he founded Goodwin Labs, a pro-bono program to support the development of startup life
sciences companies.

In his speech at the assembly on March 6, Mr. Cable shared a story from his time at the US. While running along the Charles, Mr. Cable was hit by a drunk driver. During his recovery process at Mt. Auburn Hospital, former teacher Craig Stonestreet ’49 and former Director of Athletics Jack Etter ’49 supported him, rallying the school’s faculty to visit him and deliver his coursework
every day, he said. “What they did for me, I’ll never forget. Go Knights.”

Bill Rodriguez ’81

Bill Rodriguez ’81, the 2024 recipient of the Distinguished Alumni Award, founded his own diagnostics company, Daktari Diagnostics.

Before becoming an entrepreneur, he taught at Harvard Medical School, where he established a research program about diagnostics and operational research in global health. He has also served as Chief Medical Officer of the William J. Clinton Foundation, where he negotiated prices of HIV drugs and diagnostic tests between Africa and Asia. He has also worked as an advisor to various companies and organizations including the World Health Organization, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, national governments on global epidemics, and global health start-ups.
Sharing advice with the US community, Mr. Rodriguez used the image of a diver diving into a pool of water as an analogy for childhood. “BB&N didn’t ask a lot of me other than to become myself and to emerge out of that pool at the end of my childhood,” he said.

Some of Mr. Rodriguez’s experiences at the US, such as making the Varsity Boys’ Basketball team as a senior, truly demonstrated the school’s culture of “letting everyone believe in you because they do,” he said.

Decatur Potier ’99

Decatur “Des” Potier ’99 was presented with the Lewis Bryant Award. Currently, the Associate Director for Diversity Recruitment and Access at Georgia State and the Director of the LIFT Program, Mr. Potier focuses most of his work on providing disadvantaged students with scholarships and employment opportunities.

Mr. Potier came from a low- income background and wanted to help students who were in similar situations.
“I feel obligated to not only tell that story but to pay it forward and help those that came from humble beginnings like me,” he said.

Mr. Potier was inspired to work with disadvantaged students because of his experiences at Trinity College, where he started his service project called the Adolescent Mentoring Project, serving the local Hartford Boys and Girls Club.

“I volunteered at the Boys and Girls Club, Hartford Public Defenders Office, and the NAACP Legislative Branch in Washington DC,” he said. “These volunteer experiences led to me wanting to create my own service project while in college.”

He also noted the impact of late Congressman John Lewis, who advised him to “stand up for what he believed in and to be the change he wanted to see in the world,” he said. He is motivated to help kids from humble beginnings like his own, he said. “They need to know that they can do it too.”

Elizabeth Kidder ’06

Elizabeth “Lizzy” Kidder ’06, the 2024 Distinguished Young Alumni Award recipient, is currently the Operator in Residence at 25m Health, a venture company that develops new health and tech-focused companies and startups.

Ms. Kidder received her undergraduate degree at Boston College and her master’s in business administration from the Darden School at the University of Virginia. After completing her degrees, she led the digital health strategy for Boston Children’s Hospital, sourcing technology partnerships to create solutions for previously unsolved problems.

A lifer at the school, Ms. Kidder only realized how well the school had prepared her to think critically and communicate well after
graduation, she said.

In her speech, Ms. Kidder thanked the US community for continuing to support her in her career. The school is full of “high caliber individuals with kindness, empathy, compassion,” she said.