North Allegheny Foundation honors distinguished alumni

Nine North Allegheny High School alumni will be honored for their postgraduate contributions during the 2024 North Allegheny Foundation’s Distinguished Alumni Gala on Jan. 25 at The Chadwick in McCandless.

Each honoree represents a different award category: arts, business, community service, education, government, law, medicine, science and young alumni who are 40 and younger.

The categories remain largely the same, with technology added to the science award category for this year, said Alice Beckett-Rumberger, who chairs the North Allegheny Foundation along with co-chair Megan DeFrancesco, an NA alumna. Since 2018, more than 50 alumni have been recognized at the annual gala.

Each of the nominees is reviewed by members of the North Allegheny Foundation and selected by a group of five to seven alumni, including previous awardees, said Beckett-Rumberger.

The nonprofit NA Foundation supports education in the school district by providing grants to its schools and scholarships to graduating seniors.

The 2024 gala will feature fundraisers to benefit a North Allegheny Foundation grant honoring Diana “Dede” Rittman, a retired NA teacher who passed away Aug. 2, according to Beckett-Rumberger.

Rittman, who lived in McCandless, taught English and theater at North Allegheny.

“She served for many years as the teacher representative of the North Allegheny Federated teachers association on the North Allegheny Foundation, and over the past four years was very active with the distinguished alumni gala committee. She has nominated many of her former students,” Beckett-Rumberger said.

Tickets for the gala cost $75 per person, and the deadline to purchase is Jan. 11. Cocktails begin at 6 p.m. followed by dinner at 7.

Those wanting to nominate alumni for 2025 can do so throughout the year, said Beckett-Rumberger. Applications must be received by May 15 of each year for nominees to be considered in the Distinguished Alumni class for the following calendar year.

The 2024 awardees in each category are:

• Arts — Jay Dudt, North Allegheny Class of 1977, of Fombell, Beaver County, is recording and producing at Audible Images recording studio in Pittsburgh, which he founded in 1981. He has five Grammy awards and four additional Grammy nominations, plus Emmy and Nammy (Native American Music) awards.

Dudt has been a professor at Duquesne University since 2010, teaching music technology, and chief recording engineer at Manchester Craftsmen’s Guild for more than 30 years.

He credited the teachers and people he met and knew at North Allegheny who really impacted his life and career.

“There were two teachers at North Allegheny who really motivated me to achieve my potential, and I will never forget them Also, the friendships I made at school have lasted my entire life. And some are still among my closest friends,” Dudt said.

• Business — Julie Lancaster, 1992, owns Lancaster Leadership in Flagstaff, Ariz., a team of coaches, trainers and business leaders who act as their clients’ external leadership development department.

• Community Service — Kathleen Beaver, 1984, of McCandless is president and chief executive officer of Animal Friends in Pittsburgh since 2019. She is the creator of the Black Tie and Tails Animal Friends’ fundraising gala and of Black Tie and Tails Unleashed, an effort that provides free pet vaccinations, microchip placement, spaying/neutering, food and supplies.

• Education — Brian White, 1992, of Ohio Township is Butler Area School District’s superintendent. He serves on committees and advisory boards including the Community Development Corp. of Butler County, Pennsylvania’s League of Urban Superintendents, Butler Health System Racial and Ethnic Disparities Advisory Board, Tri-State Area School Study Council’s Executive Board, the Remake Learning Council, University of Pittsburgh’s College in High School Administrator Advisory Board, Pennsylvania Association of School Administrators’ Legislative Committee and PSBA’s Keystone Center for Charter Change Advisory Board.

White holds a bachelor’s degree in music from West Virginia University, and his master’s degree and doctorate in education from the University of Pittsburgh.

• Government — Thomas McNaugher, 1964, of McLean, Va., is an adjunct professor at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C.

McNaugher had several roles at RAND, a nonprofit research organization focused on public policy, including as senior analyst, director of its Center for Asia Pacific Policy, vice president for Army Research, and director of the RAND Arroyo Center, the Army’s federally funded research institute. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the editorial board of Joint Forces Quarterly.

A West Point graduate, McNaugher served as an active-duty Army officer from 1968 to 1975, including a tour as an adviser in the Republic of Vietnam from 1970 to 1971. As a mobilized Army Reservist, McNaugher participated in Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm in 1990-91.

• Law — Anthony Ditka, 1988, is office managing partner of the Pittsburgh office at Dinsmore & Shohl law offices and a member of Dinsmore’s board of directors and executive committee. He serves as administrative partner for the firm, overseeing all chief business professionals.

Ditka is on the boards of trustees for Pittsburgh Action Against Rape, the Chalfant Hall Foundation and Laura’s Light. He is a former member of the Community College of Allegheny County Educational Foundation and the North Allegheny Foundation.

He earned undergraduate degrees in finance and business pre-law from Ohio University in 1992 and his juris doctorate from the Duquesne University School of Law in 1995.

• Medicine — Dr. Gary Schmidt, 1993, of Gibsonia works at Elevance Health, where he is the clinical operations associate medical director for spine surgery. He practiced clinical orthopedic spine surgery for much of his career.

Schmidt was an associate professor of clinical orthopedic surgery through Drexel University College of Medicine. In clinical practice, Schmidt regularly covered spine trauma calls at Allegheny General Hospital, where he cared for all forms of spinal trauma and handled complex referrals from outside institutions.

Schmidt attended Schreyer’s Honors College at Pennsylvania State University, where he attended in the accelerated pre-med/medicine program in conjunction with the Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine in Hershey. He graduated with honors in 1997 with a bachelor of science in pre-medicine and earned his doctorate in 2000.

He completed his surgical internship and residency in orthopedic surgery at Allegheny General Hospital in Pittsburgh through Drexel University. After completing residency in 2005, Schmidt was awarded a fellowship in spinal surgery at OrthoCarolina orthopedic care in Charlotte, N.C.

• Science and Technology — Mark Russinovich, 1985, is chief technology officer and technical fellow for Microsoft Azure, the company’s global enterprise-grade cloud platform. He often speaks at industry conferences such as Microsoft Ignite and Microsoft Build.

Russinovich has authored several nonfiction and fiction books, including the Microsoft Press Windows Internals book series and “Troubleshooting with the Sysinternals Tools,” and the cybersecurity thrillers “Zero Day,” “Trojan Horse” and “Rogue Code.”

• Young Alumni (40 and under) — Sara Makin, 2010, of Mars is the founder and chief executive officer of Makin Wellness, an online therapy company.

Malkin, 31, holds a bachelor of arts from La Roche College and master of science in education in clinical mental health counseling from Duquesne University, according to her Makin Wellness biography.

For more information and to order tickets or submit Distinguished Alumni nominations, visit www.northallegheny.org/Page/2669.