Brandeis Magazine
Celebrating the 2024 Alumni Achievement Award Winners
Since 1988, Brandeis alumni working in a variety of fields have been recognized for their outstanding contributions to the world.
What do the inventor of Siri, a member of the Obama administration, and an advocate for veterans have in common?
They’re all recipients of 2024 Alumni Achievement Awards. Given annually since 1988, the Alumni Achievement Award is the university’s highest honor, bestowed upon pioneers in business, science, medicine, education, government, the arts, journalism, law, sports, and real estate.
This year’s winners are characteristically diverse in profession. Yet they all share a distinctly Brandeisian commitment: making a difference in the world while thinking outside the box.
Siri, where’d you come from?
In 2003, engineer and entrepreneur Adam Cheyer ’88 worked at a nonprofit scientific research institute, helping to develop a prototype for a digital personal assistant.
Seven years later — after a lot of development and a public launch — Apple acquired the technology for an enormous sum, named it Siri, and integrated the digital assistant into iPhone operating systems.
Cheyer was also on the founding team of Change. org, the popular web platform that allows users to create and sign petitions related to all kinds of social causes. More recently, he co-founded GamePlanner. AI, an artificial intelligence company acquired in 2023 by Airbnb, where Cheyer now works as vice president of AI experience.
“Entrepreneurship is the greatest way to make change in the world,” he says. “Every great idea started not from a giant company, but from a few people getting together; believing in some crazy vision; and going after it with dedication, purpose, and focus.”
Strengthening access to higher education
In 2009, Martha Kanter ’70 was appointed U.S. undersecretary of education by President Barack Obama. As the second-highest-ranking official in the Department of Education, she oversaw federal post-secondary policies and programs. Her office expanded the Pell Grant Program, growing the number of students receiving federal financial aid from 6 million to 9 million.
Kanter’s stint in government followed an already illustrious education career, during which she was a high school teacher, a community college chancellor, and a college president. Today, she serves as CEO of College Promise, a nonprofit that helps students afford post-secondary education.
“We’ve made great strides as a country, but there’s still a lot of work to do,” she says. “My hope is we can build a country that truly believes in the good of public and private higher education, and believes it should be affordable and accessible to all.”
An advocate for U.S. veterans
When CEO Leroy Ashwood ’71 started the organization that would become BRAVE for Veterans, he was hoping to tackle an administrative problem: figuring out the best way to digitize U.S. veterans’ personnel files.
It was a natural goal, given Ashwood’s background in document imaging. But as Ashwood watched U.S. service members return home to a struggling economy, he decided to change his group’s focus.
Today, BRAVE for Veterans helps veterans obtain sustainable employment. It also reviews home equity theft laws to ensure they’re not adversely affecting veterans, and helps vets secure the academic credits they need for higher education and career training programs.
“I knew I wanted to do something for veterans,” says Ashwood. “At first, we chose our focus based on my own expertise, and over time broadened the mission in response to what we identified as some very real and pressing needs.”