2023 Recipients
pablo araya
Class Year: 1983
Outstanding Alumni Award Winner 2023
Soon after graduating with a bachelor’s degree in fine arts from North Central College, Pablo Araya attended Aviation Officer Candidate School at Naval Air Station Pensacola, Florida. Upon earning his Wings of Gold in 1985, Pablo deployed to Japan as a helicopter pilot aboard the USS Midway (CV-41). He was awarded the Navy Achievement Medal for his nuclear weapons proficiency and the Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal for his role in “Operation Earnest Will.”
After his honorable discharge from the Navy, Pablo received an appointment for the FBI as a Special Agent. During his 21-year FBI career, he was assigned to the Violent Crimes/Fugitive Task Force in Chicago and later conducted undercover operations against identified national security targets.
Pablo now runs Squad 8-B Solutions, Inc., a global security, protection and investigative firm. He is an active member and former post commander of Naperville’s Judd Kendall VFW Post 3873. He is also a member of the American Legion and volunteers with the Medal of Honor Foundation. Pablo has emceed the Naperville Memorial Day Parade, and he was the featured veteran alumni speaker at North Central’s 2023 Hail and Farewell Banquet, as well as the moderator for the 2023 Naperville Mayoral Debate/Forum.
NEANGELA MARSHALL DIXON
Class Year: 2004
Outstanding Alumni Award Winner 2023
NeAngela Marshall Dixon is a program officer with the criminal justice team at the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. She also serves as a board commissioner for the Rockford (Illinois) Housing Authority.
After graduating from North Central College with a degree in organizational communication, NeAngela worked for the Court Appointed Special Advocates program, where she recruited and trained volunteers to advocate for abused and neglected children within the Cook County Juvenile Court system. Later, she led a bilingual children and teens program with Sarah’s Inn, a domestic violence organization serving Chicago’s Austin community and greater western suburbs.
NeAngela earned her law degree from the Northern Illinois University College of Law, clerking for the presiding judge of the Juvenile Justice Division of the Cook County Circuit Court and the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office. She then served as assistant state’s attorney for the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office, handling criminal appeals and trials related to juvenile justice, sexual violence, domestic violence, and child abuse and neglect. She was later general counsel for the Illinois Department of Juvenile Justice.
NeAngela found her passion for advocacy while at North Central, leading campus campaigns for sexual assault awareness and volunteering for local organizations.
James Lenz
Class Year: 1953
Outstanding Alumni Award Winner 2023
Individual attention from North Central College faculty ultimately influenced James Lenz’s decision to become a teacher himself. He has said that every professor he encountered was memorable.
Jim graduated from North Central with a degree in elementary education. After being drafted into the U.S. Army, he was stationed in Japan from 1954-56. During that time, he connected with a group of North Central alumni in Tokyo. In 1957, after returning to the U.S., Jim received a master’s degree in guidance and counseling from Northwestern University.
Early in his career, Jim taught at schools in the Chicago area. He later spent 36 years with the U.S. Department of Defense, working as both a teacher and principal at schools serving children of U.S. military personnel overseas in Libya, Germany and Japan. In 1984, he received the National Elementary School Distinguished Participant Award from the U.S. Department of Education and the National Association of Elementary School Principals as an outstanding principal from the Department of Defense Overseas Dependents Schools.
In 2003, Jim served as president of the North Central College 50-Year Club. He is also a former member of the College’s Alumni Association.
Dr. Maureen Ryan
Class Year: 1983
Outstanding Alumni Award Winner 2023
Dr. Maureen Ryan is an accomplished scientist and leader with more than 25 years of experience in academia and industry. She recently retired as senior director of antibody discovery in the department of translational research at Seagen, Inc. (formerly Seattle Genetics, Inc.), a global biotech company dedicated to revolutionizing cancer care.
After graduating from North Central College with a bachelor’s degree in biology, Maureen earned her Ph.D. in biochemistry from Rush University in 1990. Maureen then was a post-doctoral fellow and a staff scientist at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, and she spent two years as acting assistant professor at the University of Washington.
Maureen is an inventor on several patents and has authored numerous research publications. She is a past recipient of the Kappa Delta Award for Basic Research in Musculoskeletal Systems; the Career Development Award in Skin Biology; and the CEO Award and Scientific Innovation Award from Seagen, Inc.
Currently serving on the North Central College Board of Trustees, Maureen is passionate about helping transform the lives of students through a liberal arts education and training future healthcare leaders to serve the needs of the community.
Jayne Baron Sherman
Class Year: Shimer College 1968
Outstanding Alumni Award Winner 2023
Jayne Baron Sherman is an award winning theater and film producer. She attended Shimer College when it was in Mt. Carroll, IL and later earned a BA in English from the University of Miami.
Although she had an interest in the arts from an early age, she honed her professional skills as a journalist and in marketing, advertising and public relations before embarking on a successful career as a producer.
Her credits include Tony winners Kinky Boots, Hedwig and the Angry Inch, The Normal Heart and the original revival of A Raisin in the Sun. Her shows focus on acceptance, change and inclusion, raising issues by telling personal stories such as Side Show, Ohio State Murders, Of Mice and Men, American Son, Fleabag and The Kite Runner. The same is true of her films and series such as Love Is Strange, Radium Girls and a Call to Spy. She currently has films streaming on several major platforms.
A full list of her work can be seen on her website, MomsMoneyProductions.com.
A longtime LGBTQ+ activist, Jayne has served on a number of boards including as board co-chair for Lambda Legal and In the Life Media. In 2022 she received the Raising the Bar Award as philanthropist of the year from Our Fund Foundation for her generosity to cultural, arts and LGBTQ+ agencies among others.
Nadia Ruth Kanhai
Class Year: 1989
Wall of Witness Award Winner 2023
Nadia Ruth Kanhai graduated from North Central College with a bachelor’s degree in English and religious studies. A senior proposal writer for ODP Business Solutions, she is also a dedicated servant leader in the community. Nadia volunteers with the League of Women Voters, United Women in Faith, City of Aurora Indian American Community Outreach Advisory Board, West Suburban Peace Coalition, and Grace United Methodist Church in Naperville.
In addition, she serves on the board for Northern Illinois Justice for Our Neighbors, a United Methodist Church-affiliated nonprofit that provides free legal services to people who have immigrated to the U.S. Nadia also chairs the UMC’s Northern Illinois Conference Anti-Racism Task Force and co-chairs the Northern Illinois Commission on Religion and Race.
Peter Sipla
Class Year: 2007
Alumni Recognition Award Winner 2023
Movie, television and stage actor Peter Sipla earned a degree in theater and musical performance at North Central College, where he performed in 14 mainstage productions and discovered his love of dialect and voice work.
Peter can be seen in the movie “A Man Called Otto,” 2022. Other movie and television roles include an upcoming Apple TV+ series, “NeXt,” “Station Eleven,” and “Chicago Fire.” He has also performed in numerous theatrical productions in the Chicagoland area including the Lyric Opera, Chicago Shakespeare Theater, and Paramount Theatre as well as Drury Lane, Marriott Theatre, TimeLine Theatre, and Disney Cruise Line, where he was awarded “Mainstage Performer of the Year” by his peers.