As leaders in their respective industries, Stephanie Esparza Peloquin ’06, Brian Brucken ’94 and Jack Hopkins ’65 have much to offer as the newest alumni to join Marietta College’s Board of Trustees.
“One of the greatest testaments of the quality of a college is how much alumni are willing to be involved,” says Marietta College President, Dr. William N. Ruud. “Stephanie Peloquin, Jack Hopkins and Brian Brucken are perfect examples of how Marietta’s liberal arts education prepares students to be engaged citizens, in addition to being trailblazers in their professions. I am proud to have them join the College’s Board of Trustees this fall and I believe their contributions will further strengthen our historic institution.”
Peloquin has served as an Ex-Officio member on the Board since her term as Chair of the MCAA Board began two years ago. Earlier this year she was elected to serve a three-year term on the Board of Trustees.
In addition to her service to the MCAA Board, Peloquin has been deeply involved with the launch, programming and promotion of the College’s Eastern Texas Regional Association. She earned Bachelor of Arts degrees in Accounting and Finance from Marietta, and was inducted to the Tau Pi Phi business honorary. She continued her education at The University of Denver, earning a Master’s degree in Accounting.
Peloquin most recently worked in Financial Reporting, Business Planning and Accounting for Encana Corporation/Newfield Exploration Company, which is an independent energy company that is engaged in the exploration, development and production of crude oil, natural gas and natural gas liquids. She previously worked in the Financial Services sector of the Audit and Assurance service with PricewaterhouseCoopers in Denver, Colorado.
Brucken was elected to serve a five-year term on the Board. He is Vice President of Worldwide Sales, Digital Service Management, BMC Software and is responsible for overall Go-To-Market for Digital Service Management.
Prior to BMC, he held a variety of leadership roles for 17 years at Hewlett Packard Enterprise. He began his career in field sales and managed several Fortune 500 accounts in the Cleveland area and held several district and area management roles in both the enterprise group and HP Software. He was Vice President for the Americas for HP’s Service and Portfolio Management business for three years and, after achieving stellar results, was subsequently promoted to Vice President for the Americas for Hewlett Packard Enterprise’s Software Alliances and Channels organization. Prior to joining Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Brucken was with Micro Center, a microcomputer hardware and software reseller, where he opened up the Cleveland branch and grew the business to $65 million in five years.
Hopkins was elected as the Chair of the MCAA Board and will serve a two-year term as an Ex Officio Member on the Board of Trustees. He is the founder of Jack Hopkins Consulting Services, LLC, and the former President/CEO of the Kalamazoo Community Foundation, from which he retired in 2008 after serving for 25 years. He also served as President of Nazareth College in Michigan, and chaired the Communication Department at Hope College in Michigan. He was the Senior Advisor to FSG in Boston, and served as Acting Executive Director for CF Insights, which is a division of FSG.
Throughout his professional career he has worked with non-profit and foundation boards; presented at numerous philanthropic, educational and community and economic development conferences; consulted with community foundations throughout the U.S. and with small and international businesses and non-profit organizations, authored numerous professional articles and also owned and managed both residential and commercial real estate. He is a past-President of the Rotary Club of Kalamazoo and, this June, will be a recipient of its Red Rose Award.
Hopkins received the Jewett Oration Prize when he graduated from Marietta, and later earned his master’s and doctoral degrees in Interpersonal and Organizational Communication from Ohio University. He received honorary doctorates in Human Letters from Nazareth College in 1990 and Humanities from Marietta College in 1991. That year, he also served as a visiting scholar at Marietta. In 2008, he was named a Distinguished Alumnus at Marietta, received a Community Development Hero Award by LISC and, upon his retirement, the Board of the Kalamazoo Community Foundation named the Jack Hopkins Community Redevelopment Fund in his honor. In 2016, Hopkins and his family established the Art and Betty Buell Endowment for Communication, which supports Marietta College’s Communication Resource Center and the initiatives of the Department of Communication. The endowment was created to honor his former professor, the late Dr. Buell, and his wife.
All three Trustees begin their terms on July 1.