Last fall, the Penn State Alumni Association presented 13 Penn Staters, including Smeal graduates Thomas C. Hoffman II and Ryan Newman, with the Alumni Fellow Award, the most prestigious award given by the Alumni Association.
The award is presented to alumni who are considered leaders in their professional fields. Recipients are invited to campus to share their expertise with students, faculty, and administrators.
Thomas C. Hoffman II, ’88 Acctg
As a lawyer and certified public accountant, Hoffman has represented thousands of businesses and high-net -worth individuals and has helped plan business successions for a diverse group of clients — including manufacturers, oil and gas companies, timber companies, and publishers — in more than 15 states.
He helped found the Knox Law Institute, through which he contributes to programs on topics such as business succession planning, estate planning, and tax law.
Hoffman was integral in establishing Penn State Behrend’s Center for Family Business, an outreach effort of the Black School of Business. The center supports the needs of family-owned businesses in northwestern Pennsylvania, including information and expertise in succession planning, estate planning, social media, management information, and other aspects considered critical to the success of family-owned businesses.
He also serves on Penn State’s Planned Giving Advisory Council and Behrend’s Council of Fellows Board of Directors.
“Tom has been a friend to Penn State Behrend in many ways, and his support for our Center for Family Business is particularly valuable,” says Chancellor Ralph Ford. “Using his years of experience with business and law, Tom has been able to help us not just create a new outreach opportunity, but truly make a difference in the local business community.”
Ryan Newman, ’01 Econ
Newman joined Goldman Sachs as a financial analyst after graduating from Smeal with a degree in economics with honors from the Schreyer Honors College in 2001.
He held a number of positions with increasing responsibility and, in 2019, was named a managing director at Goldman Sachs. In that role, he co-founded and co-leads a private wealth management team, managing in excess of $13 billion on behalf of Fortune 500 executives, Forbes 400 families, entrepreneurs, family offices and foundations, and endowments.
Among his many volunteer engagements, he joined the Smeal Alumni Society Board in 2004, and led efforts to support the Nittany Lion Fund, the Rogers Family Trading Room, and Lions on Wall Street.
Newman served as the Honors College’s campaign chair for the Greater Penn State fundraising campaign and also volunteers with Invent Penn State, where he serves as host of its Dare to Disrupt podcast. The podcast, which supports the Venture & IP Conference and Summer Founder’s Program, has had more than 50,000 streams.
“Ryan has built an incredible volunteer and philanthropic career in tandem to his “day job” at Goldman Sachs,” says Patrick Mather, dean of the Schreyer Honors College. “He is a prime example of what we hope to achieve in the Schreyer Honors College, where our goal is ‘shaping people who shape the world.’”
— Anne Louise Cropp
