David Sze ’84

 Investing early in companies like Facebook, LinkedIn and Discord, David Sze ’84 — a venture capitalist at Greylock Partners — received the 2026 Distinguished Alumni Award.

 “BB&N had a computer room filled with TRS-80s, and you could go there and be part of their computer club,” Mr. Sze said. “If you walked around BB&N then, there would be little to no technology in the entire building, so the lab opened it up for kids like me to play, tinker, learn and get creative.”

 While attending Yale University, Mr. Sze shifted his focus to the business side of technology. He moved to Silicon Valley and joined Greylock Partners in 2000.

 “You’re going to strike out a lot,” he said. “That’s the nature of the business. The psychological challenge is knowing most investments won’t work but still having the conviction to swing for the ones that might change everything.”

 He said assessing a company early is about people and their potential.

 “At the early stages, you’re really betting on individuals and their ability to adapt. All you know is that the company two or three years from now won’t look like the company you invested in. If the founder can’t learn, evolve and change with the market, you have to be very careful.”

 With AI reshaping the technological and economic landscape, Mr. Sze advised students to develop their critical thinking.

 “Learn how to think, not what to think,” he said. “Develop creativity, taste and problem-solving skills: Those are the things that will matter most in an AI-driven world. Stay current: Play with the tools, experiment and explore. The students who treat new technology like a playground, the way I treated the computer lab at BB&N, will be the ones who thrive.”

—Lucia Longstreet-Lipson ’27 and Lucas Ho ’28

Tamara Coger ’07

 Global climate policy is a puzzle of competing interests, shifting politics and fragile ecosystems. Tamara Coger ’07, who received the 2026 Distinguished Young Alumni Award, works at its center.

 “Climate challenge is daunting, and it’s easy to feel pessimistic about it, but we know exactly what needs to be done,” she said. “Regardless of your interests and skill set, there’s some way for you to contribute.”

 Ms. Coger shapes policy at the World Resources Institute’s Global Restoration Initiative.

 “I manage our team that’s working with governments and supporting the locally led policy shifts,” she said. “It’s helped me understand the wide range of political and economic factors at play when you’re trying to address complex environmental and climate challenges.”

 The school helped Ms. Coger advance her career, she said.

 “I studied French all four years at BB&N and continued studying it in college, and that had a very direct link to job opportunities for me and allowed me to work in and travel to francophone countries.”

—Viola Shephard ’28

Jennifer Pierre ’07

 Jennifer Pierre ’07, the deputy oversight board liaison at Meta, was presented with the Lewis Bryant Award. Her work combines law, global human rights, privacy and tech policy.

 “BB&N took us on a trip to Italy, and it was eye-opening,” Ms. Pierre said. “I had an interest in international affairs, but up until then, I hadn’t experienced European culture firsthand. That experience immediately instilled a travel bug for me.”

 After working in Haiti and attending NYU School of Law, Ms. Pierre focused on human rights advocacy.

 “When I started at a law firm with tech clients, I realized there was a strong connection between human rights and privacy, especially around surveillance and data collection,” she said. “Before, human rights frameworks were applied to real-world instances of conflict or political discourse. Here was a new way to apply those frameworks in a digital ecosystem, which felt both familiar and exciting.”

 At Meta, she helps ensure content policies are applied fairly around the world by communicating them to an independent oversight board.

 “I give Meta a lot of credit for allowing themselves to receive feedback from an external entity,” she said. “My role is like being a lawyer advocating on behalf of a client, but you’re not judging, you’re explaining and representing. It marries advocacy with my legal background.”

 Looking back at her time at the school, one lesson stood out.

 “Focus on what interests you, not a title,” Ms. Pierre said. “That curiosity has guided every step of my journey, and it continues to shape the impact I try to have in tech, law and human rights.”

—Lucia Longstreet-Lipson ’27 and Lucas Ho ’28

Gordon Lunn ’52

 Gordon Lunn ’52 watched the historic United States moon landing in 1969 with more anticipation than a regular citizen. He had engineered the landing radar for the Apollo Lunar Module carrying the first astronauts to the moon.

 “If the landing radar did not operate, the landing on the moon would have been aborted, so there were a lot of crossed fingers that day when the lunar module detached from Apollo,” he said.

 Mr. Lunn was awarded the BB&N Medal for his career in military service and engineering innovation. After graduating from Browne & Nichols, he attended Harvard and became part of the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps program.

 “The year I was commissioned, all of the distinguished military graduates were moved into the Nike missile system instead of going into the field artillery that we had trained in for three or four years,” he said.

 Mr. Lunn later joined United Airlines for 35 years, modernizing their operational systems.

 “It’s easy to say you can develop an online system in today’s environment, but in those days, it was a big deal,” he said. “We were early in the industry to automate a lot of the functions which had previously been done by hand.”

 Mr. Lunn attributed much of his professional success to the education he received at the school.

 “My Browne & Nichols education really gave me a leg up on a lot of academic work in college and in the things that I did with my life,” he said.

—Viola Shephard ’28