UW to Honor Distinguished Alumni During Homecoming

Four University of Wyoming graduates will be honored for their professional achievements and support of the university during Homecoming Sept. 21-26.

Diane Shober, Dimitrios Smyrnios and Ron Waeckerlin are the recipients of the 2026 Distinguished Alumni Award. David True is the 2026 Medallion Service Award recipient. The UW Alumni Association (UWAA) and the UW Office of the President present the awards.

The Distinguished Alumni Award recognizes alumni who have achieved excellence in their profession; appreciate the impact of their UW education; and are people of integrity, stature and demonstrated ability.

The Medallion Service Award recognizes outstanding service to the university. The award honors alumni or friends of UW who are people of integrity and stature and who have unselfishly given of their time, talent and support.

"We couldn't be more excited to host our alumni and awardees this fall," says Jack Tennant, UWAA executive director. "They represent UW, our students and alumni in the best regard, and we look forward to welcoming them to campus."

The UWAA and the president's office will celebrate these honorees during Homecoming activities, including campus activities and the UW President's Homecoming Dinner (invitation only) Thursday, Sept. 24; the parade Saturday, Sept. 26; and an announcement at Saturday's Homecoming football game against the University of Hawaii.

Diane Shober

Shober's connection to UW began with a detour. She started college at Montana State University before transferring to UW to finish her degree. Unexpectedly, she found a tight-knit network of friends from her hometown of Gillette and beyond. Shober earned a marketing degree from the College of Business, through which a summer program in Manchester, England, exposed her to international marketing and economics and set the course for her career. After graduation, she built experience across pharmaceutical sales, hotel sales, event marketing, nonprofit leadership and tourism bureau work in Denver, Gillette and Chicago.

In 2003, Shober was appointed director of the Wyoming Office of Tourism under Gov. Dave Freudenthal, a position she held for 22 years. Under her leadership, the office's budget grew from under $3 million to nearly $20 million annually, and visitor spending climbed to roughly $4.9 billion a year -- making tourism Wyoming's second-largest industry and supporting more than 30,000 jobs.

She created the "That's WY" brand campaign; helped pass the statewide lodging tax that secured dedicated funding for the office; and represented Wyoming nationally as a founding board member of Brand USA and president of the National Council of State Tourism Directors.

Three Wyoming governors have publicly credited Shober's impact. Freudenthal noted she took an office under threat and spent two decades proving its worth; Gov. Matt Mead called retaining her as director "the easiest question I ever fielded"; and Gov. Mark Gordon described her as "synonymous with Wyoming tourism."

Shober's ties to UW deepened through her service on the College of Business Advisory Board, where she helped advocate for a degree program connected to Wyoming's tourism industry -- advocacy that, over multiple deans and university presidents, led to the outdoor recreation and tourism management degree and the Jay Kemmerer WORTH Institute. She helped raise an early matching gift for the institute and served eight years on its advisory committee.

Since retiring, she has continued that work, now leading efforts to relocate the Pro Rodeo Hall of Fame Museum to Wyoming.

Dimitrios Smyrnios

Smyrnios has built his career and philanthropy around a vow he made in his mid-20s -- to have a positive impact on people's lives. Born in Greece and graduating

from high school in Cheyenne, Smyrnios earned his business management degree from UW's College of Business in 1986. He began his career as a Frito-Lay delivery driver before rising through progressively senior roles there, followed by two decades climbing the ranks at Nestlé Waters North America and Nestlé Dreyer's Ice Cream.

In 2013, he was named CEO of The Schwan's Company, the Minnesota food manufacturer, leading it to record revenue, market share and profit before his retirement in 2024. By that time, Schwan's had become the fastest-growing food company in North America and been acquired by CJ CheilJedang.

Smyrnios's leadership was tested early in the pandemic when Schwan's food-service business -- heavily dependent on restaurants and schools -- faced widespread shutdowns. He made the decision that no employees would lose their jobs and found savings elsewhere while continuing to fund hazard pay for production and field sales workers. This helped keep the food supply moving during a critical period.

Focused on hunger and education as his primary philanthropic causes, Smyrnios reconnected with UW in recent years and learned of the impact of Assistant Professor Molly Burchett, who teaches sales and marketing in the College of Business. That connection led to the creation of the Smyrnios Family Faculty Fellowship in Sales Leadership. This position supports Burchett's work with students. He also visits UW classrooms regularly, encouraging students to pursue what they love and to build their sense of self alongside their education.

Smyrnios is being honored with the Distinguished Alumni Award -- a recognition he says he receives with humility and deep respect for those honored before him.

Ron Waeckerlin

Waeckerlin arrived at UW in 1969 intending to study music, but a friend's suggestion redirected him toward medicine. He declared pre-med, discovered a passion for chemistry and zoology, and was mentored by UW's pre-med adviser, Floyd Clark, who helped set him on the path to medical school.

Waeckerlin also met his wife of more than 50 years, Carol, in the UW marching band. She worked to put him through medical school and raised their three children during his residency, and the couple graduated debt-free -- a distinction Ron notes is rare today.

After graduating from UW Phi Beta Kappa, Waeckerlin attended medical school at the University of Utah and completed his residency at the University of New Mexico, where he was introduced to forensic pathology and became an early pioneer in digital wound analysis.

A mentor in transfusion medicine set the course for his career. Waeckerlin turned down a fellowship at the Mayo Clinic to take a pathology position in Casper, beginning a 44-year career with the organization now known as Vitalant, the nation's second-largest blood bank. He served as local medical director from 1981 to 2008 and later as chair of the board of trustees, guiding Vitalant through a major merger of regional blood banks into a single national brand and through the early uncertainty of the COVID-19 pandemic. Under his leadership, the organization delivered more than 2 million blood products annually to nearly a thousand hospitals nationwide.

He also helped found and later chaired Creative Testing Solutions, a joint venture with the American Red Cross and OneBlood that now tests roughly 80 percent of the nation's blood supply.

Throughout his career, Waeckerlin maintained deep ties to Wyoming, practicing pathology in Casper and Cheyenne for more than 34 years and serving on the boards of Jonah Bank and the Cheyenne Rotary Club. He and Carol raised three children in the state and have traveled to 85 countries together.

David L. True

True's connection to UW was forged by love -- both for the state and for his future wife. Facing a choice between continuing veterinary studies at Purdue or returning to UW, True chose Wyoming to pursue Melanie Jackman. He changed his major to business administration, pledged Sigma Chi and married Jackman halfway through their senior year. The couple has now been married more than 50 years.

Raised in Casper, True spent his childhood summers at a family ranch near Laramie Peak, an upbringing that instilled the values of patience and trust that would later define his leadership style.

True went on to build True Companies alongside his brother Hank, growing the family business into one of Wyoming's most significant private enterprises, spanning oil and gas, drilling, trucking, banking, real estate and ranching.

He brought that same leadership philosophy -- finding good people and empowering them -- to more than four decades of service to UW, beginning with advisory council roles in the early 1980s and culminating in his tenure as chair of the Board of Trustees. During his time on the board, he helped reorganize its committee structure to give committees genuine decision-making authority, served on the committee that hired President Ed Seidel and helped search for new President Shane Reeves.

The True family's investment in UW extends beyond service to significant philanthropic gifts, including the H.A. "Dave" True Jr. Chair in Petroleum and Natural Gas Economics and the H.A. "Dave" True Jr. Family College of Business Deanship -- gifts designed to shape the College of Business for generations to come. True was named the College of Business's Outstanding Alumnus in 2011. True is the grandfather of 14, with two grandchildren beginning their own studies in Laramie this fall.

True remains humble about his recognition, crediting his wife, children and fellow trustees.

"When I think of Wyoming and the University of Wyoming," he says, "it's a love affair. I love the state. I don't want to live any place else."

For more information about the recipients or awards, call the UWAA office at (307) 766-4166 or visit https://www.pokes.org. Register for Homecoming at https://www.pokes.org/homecoming.