Saint Vincent College announces 2023 Alumni of Distinction awardees
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Saint Vincent College is recognizing seven alumni this year for exemplary service based on their accomplishments, careers and commitment to the legacy of the school.
The 2023 honorees include Irwin native and 2000 graduate, Jennifer Miele. Miele works as the chief communications officer for the Diocese of Greensburg. She was previously a reporter for WTAE before becoming the youngest vice president of marketing for Excela Health.
Miele boasts the Catholic Press Association Award for best communication/marketing executive in North America for 2019, 2020 and 2021. She also won numerous Telly American Videographers Association and Communicator awards of excellence and was the recipient of the Athena Winner’s Circle award for community service in 2013, having served on more than a dozen non-profit boards since 2005.
Another honoree is 2003 graduate Tiffany Gilbert of Pittsburgh. After graduating from Saint Vincent, Gilbert went on to be the executive director of the East Liberty Women’s Care Center in Pittsburgh.
Gilbert is a pastor at Another Level Ministries with a concentration on Women’s Ministry and Children’s Ministry. She serves as a panelist on the Sister2Sister Christian Television show on Cornerstone Television Network.
She is pursuing her master’s degree from Saint Vincent in curriculum and instruction.
A third local alum is Michael Keslar. A 1980 graduate from Export, Keslar works for BNY Mellon as president and divisional chief information officer in Pittsburgh. In this role, he manages 3,500 software engineers and programmers and oversees $500 million in technology investments.
Recently named CIO of the year by the Pittsburgh Technology Council, he has over 30 years’ experience with BNY Mellon. Keslar also serves on the board of directors for Vibrant Pittsburgh and the advisory boards for the computer science programs at the University of Pittsburgh and Robert Morris University.
Dr. Louis Vodzak, class of 1958, of Sarver, founded the Cleft Palate and Craniofacial Clinic at Children’s Hospital of Northern California. He later founded a clinic at Kaiser Permanente Hospital Department of Genetics.
Vodzak is a Vietnam War veteranwho was a lieutenant commander in the U.S. Pacific Health Service Commission Corps in the Hospital Division and in the Coast Guard as a dental surgeon.
Other honorees include 1970 graduate Vincent Morris, of Bonita Springs, Fla.; 1983 graduate David Novak, of Richmond, Va.; and 1968 graduate Jack Wilson, of Annapolis, Md.
The honorees will be recognized during a ceremony on Sept. 15 at the Fred M. Rogers Center on Unity campus.