On January 17, the Board of Directors voted to approve these members of the West Point Association of Graduates as recipients of the 2025 Distinguished Graduate Award. The DGA Committee executed its duties with exceptional care and thought, having the difficult task of choosing from 29 outstanding nominees, each remarkable in his or her own right. The awards will be presented in a ceremony at West Point on May 20, 2025. The Distinguished Graduate Award is funded by a generous endowment from E. Douglas Kenna ’45 and his wife, Jean. This annual award has been bestowed upon those West Point graduates whose character, distinguished service, and stature draw wholesome comparison to the qualities for which West Point strives, in keeping with its motto: “Duty, Honor, Country.”
LTG (R) David H. Ohle ’68
From the jungles of Vietnam to the corridors of the Pentagon, Dave Ohle has spent a lifetime making significant contributions to the nation while living USMA’s motto: Duty, Honor, Country. He was the first Infantryman in his class deployed to Vietnam, serving two consecutive years in combat and earning the Silver Star for conspicuous gallantry in action. Ohle returned to USMA after graduate school to teach leadership and to direct the Leadership Evaluation System. He served as coach and defensive coordinator of the 150-pound Football Team. Battalion command and brigade command followed. Ohle was selected for the two most important executive officer positions on the Army staff: XO to the deputy chief of staff for operations and XO to GEN Gordon Sullivan, then the Army chief of staff. “I selected Dave as my executive officer because I needed one of the most highly respected colonels in the Army who knew how the Army staff ran,” said Sullivan. “I was not disappointed.” Two years later, Sullivan promoted Ohle to brigadier general and tasked him to organize and lead the Louisiana Maneuvers Task Force, where he helped lay the foundation for today’s modern Army. In 1996, now-MG Ohle headed the Officer Personnel Management XXI Project. He retired from the Army in 2000 as a lieutenant general, serving as the Army’s deputy chief of staff for personnel. While working for Shell Oil, Computer Sciences Corporation (where his business unit built and operated “Flight School XXI”), and at other companies over the next two decades, Ohle continued supporting the Army and West Point. He served as chairman for the Army Retirement Home & DISTAFF Foundation, cofounding and leading the “Heroes to Education” program, and served 35 years as president of the Class of 1968 and nine years as vice president of the West Point Society of DC. “The Academy of today bears the indelible stamp of his prolific contributions,” notes GEN (R) Carl Vuono ’57.
LTC (R) Clyde A. (Pete) Selleck III ’77
“Pete Selleck is a monumental example of distinguished service to America in the private, governmental, and non-profit sectors, [and] few graduates in our history have amassed such a record of broad consequential achievement,” says LTG (R) Walter F. Ulmer Jr. ’52, the 56th Commandant of Cadets. Selleck was commissioned into the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and served in the 4th Engineer Battalion, 4th Infantry Division, before transitioning to the U.S. Army Reserves. He then began an extraordinary 35-year career with Michelin, the world’s leading tire manufacturer, that culminated in his service as chairman and president of Michelin North America. As a Michelin senior executive, he provided critical support to the Department of Defense in fielding the MRAP (mine-resistant, ambush protected) vehicle. LTG (R) Rick Lynch ’77, commander of the 3rd Infantry Division during the “surge” in Iraq, says that Selleck “moved heaven and earth to provide the combat-grade tires that…saved many American lives.” In addition to his professional accomplishments, Selleck’s record of service—especially to West Point—has been steadfast and enduring. He has supported USMA Admissions for more than 30 years as a Military Academy Liaison Officer and, later, as the admissions coordinator for all of South Carolina. He served almost a decade on the WPAOG Board of Directors. He founded the West Point Society of Upstate South Carolina and served as its first president. He and his wife, Nancy, established an endowment that supports French language immersion in the Department of English and World Languages. Within the Class of 1977, he led an impactful reorganization of governance and serves as class vice president. Beyond West Point, he’s been a leader, director, or patron of many local, state, and national service organizations. “In every aspect of his life—as a cadet, Army officer, corporate executive, community leader, and West Point supporter—Pete Selleck has modeled Duty, Honor, Country,” says GEN (R) Edwin Burba Jr. ’59.
LTG (R) David D. Halverson ’79
In his 37 years in uniform, David Halverson has commanded at every echelon, from battery and brigade to the Army Center of Excellence and the Army Major Subordinate Command, serving with distinction in Germany, Korea, Panama, Iraq, Afghanistan, and the United States. According to classmate GEN (R) John Campbell ’79, “Whenever the nation needed a leader of character, integrity, decisiveness, grit and determination, it sent Dave Halverson.” His record of distinguished service, and the distinct imprint of his leadership presence, is highlighted by three awards that are indicative of the scope and caliber of his achievement: the Defense Superior Service Medal, awarded in 2003 for his service as chief, Operations Plans Division, U.S. Central Command; the Distinguished Service Medal, awarded in 2012 for his service as commanding general, Fires Center of Excellence and Fort Sill; and an additional Distinguished Service Medal, awarded upon his retirement in 2016 for his service as commanding general, Installation Management Command. The citation for this last award reads: “[His] selfless service inspired leaders at all levels of the Armed Services.” Halverson’s impact on the Army and nation is equaled by his support of West Point. He is the president of the West Point Society of DC and a board member of the Army West Point Athletic Association, and Halverson has contributed significantly to the West Point Leadership and Ethics Conference and the West Point Leader Ethics and Diversity in STEM Conference. Also, while Halverson was a senior officer, he provided candid, constructive, straight-forward advice to Superintendents Huntoon, Caslen, and Williams, communicating the intent of Pentagon-level decisions while making certain that he fully understood the challenges that Academy leaders and cadets were facing with infrastructure, the Honor Code, and more. In the words of the Honorable Joe Reeder ’70, a former undersecretary of the Army, “No one I know…is more ‘all in’ when it comes to West Point than Dave Halverson.”
GEN (R) Joseph L. Votel ’80
General Joe Votel is one of those who represents West Point’s character in every fiber of his being,” says USMC GEN (R) James Mattis, the 26th United States Secretary of Defense; “His unparalleled contributions strengthened our defense,” says USAF GEN Charles Q. Brown Jr., the 21st Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; and “If you are looking for a West Point graduate who has exemplified the Army values, showed tremendous leadership, fought against the enemies of the nation, and upheld the highest tradition of the U.S. military, you could find no better candidate that General Joe Votel,” says ADM (R) William McRaven. Indeed, Votel’s 39 years of service, including six years of combat leadership commanding the Joint Special Operations Command and the U.S. Special Operations Command and three years commanding the U.S. Central Command, is respected across all military branches. In 1989, as the regimental plans officer for the 75th Ranger Regiment, then-MAJ Votel planned and made a combat parachute jump during Operation Just Cause; in 2001, as commander of a Ranger Regiment, then-COL Votel personally led the airborne assault Operation Rhino in Afghanistan.; finally, in 2016-18, then-GEN Votel led the 79-member coalition that successfully liberated Iraq and Syria from the Islamic State. Votel has made significant contributions outside of combat operations as well: He led the new Army Counter-IED Task Force to develop technologies and tactics to protect soldiers, and he championed the Combating Terrorism Center at USMA, first serving there as the Class of 1987 Fellow and then as its Distinguished Chair. After his retirement in 2019, Votel became the president and CEO of Business Executives for National Security, a nonpartisan, nonprofit group of senior business executives who volunteer to connect best private sector business practices to U.S. national security agencies. The Honorable Chuck Hagel, the 24th Secretary of Defense, sums up Votel’s nomination saying, “General Votel’s accomplishments are many and impressive…even by West Point’s standards.”
Kathy Medaris Widmer ’83
No matter whether they were written by government officials, Army and Academy leadership, leaders of business, or her fellow classmates, when one reads the nearly four dozen endorsement letters supporting Kathy Widmer’s nomination as a Distinguished Graduate, one is struck by her lifelong commitment to leadership and service. Widmer graduated in 1983, in one of the earliest classes to include women cadets. At the Academy, she was instrumental in the formation and early success of the Women’s Lacrosse Team. In the Army, she branched Field Artillery (one of the few opportunities for women to serve in combat arms) and served as one of the first women battery commanders. After leaving the Army, she went to work for Johnson & Johnson. As company group chairman for The Americas, she worked with government officials in the U.S. and Canada to ensure continued access to critical medicines during the COVID-19 pandemic. She led a corporate spin-off to create Kenvue, a standalone public consumer healthcare company. Widmer also chaired veteran initiatives at Johnson & Johnson, providing post-service employment opportunities and development for thousands of veterans. Additionally, from 2017 to 2023, she supported veterans voluntarily, serving as vice chairman and then chairman of the board of Wounded Warrior Project, helping to rebuild and restore its reputation as the nation’s largest veteran service organization. Through it all, Widmer has remained an active supporter of the Academy, participating in speaker series and conferences, mentoring and supporting cadets, and being a member of the Army A Club for more than 25 years. “Whether it was her leadership in the corporate world, her work on behalf of veterans, or her dedicated support of the Academy, Kathy’s contributions reflect her deep-rooted belief in the values we all share as graduates of West Point,” says GEN (R) Scott Miller ’83, Widmer’s classmate and himself a Distinguished Graduate. “She distinguished herself as an athlete, leader and teammate (as a cadet)…and she continues to set the example for others today.”
SEC Mark T. Esper ’86
“He will be recognized in history as one of the finest leaders of our age,” GEN (R) Mark Milley wrote about Mark Esper. As a cadet, Esper was a regimental commander, Tactics Club president, Cadet Drill Team founder, and Douglas MacArthur Leadership Award recipient. Following graduation, Esper served as an Infantry officer in the 101st Airborne Division, earning a CIB and Bronze Star for service during the Gulf War. After commanding in Vicenza, Italy, he attended Harvard University’s JFK School of Government and served as a strategist in the Pentagon’s War Plans office as an Army Fellow. Esper left active duty in 1996 and joined the National Guard (and later the Army Reserve), serving an additional 11 years while working on Capitol Hill, in corporate America, and as a Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense. He also earned a doctorate from George Washington University. In 2017, Esper became the 23rd Secretary of the Army and launched a service renaissance: developing a new Talent Management System; leading a transformational modernization effort; overhauling Basic Combat Training; instituting the ACFT; and creating Army Futures Command. In 2019, by a 90-8 vote, Esper became the 27th Secretary of Defense, the first USMA graduate to serve in this post. As Secretary, Esper led DOD through conflict abroad, major civil unrest at home, great power competition, and a global pandemic. He also established the Space Force, strengthened Cyber Command, co-led Operation Warp Speed, implemented a new National Defense Strategy focused on China then Russia, strengthened alliances, and jumpstarted initiatives to improve the military’s warfighting capabilities. After his time in office, Esper became the Distinguished Chair of West Point’s Modern War Institute and wrote a New York Times best-selling memoir entitled A Sacred Oath. He is the recipient of multiple civilian and foreign awards. LTG (R) Joseph DeFrancisco ’65 says, “No individual has done more to prepare the Army to meet contemporary demands while positioning it for the future.”
Learn more about the award and our past recipients: www.westpointaog.org/DGACriteria
