Announcing the 2020 Alumni Award Honorees

10/1/2020

The Greenhill School Alumni Board is pleased to announce the 2020 Alumni Awards. Karen Rupert Toliver ’84 has been named the 2020 Distinguished Alumna and Christopher I. Clark ’89 has received the inaugural Alumni Service Award. The Distinguished Alumni Award is the highest honor the School bestows upon a graduate. The Alumni Service Award, new this year, honors a graduate for outstanding service and dedication to the school.

Recipients were selected by a committee of Greenhill Alumni Board members and School administrators from nominations submitted by the Greenhill community.

Join the Greenhill Alumni Board as we celebrate the 2020 Alumni Award Honorees through a virtual program including a panel discussion with award recipients.
Featuring Karen Rupert Toliver ’84 and Christopher I. Clark ’89.
Moderated by 2010 Distinguished Alumnus Michael Davis ’84.
Thursday, October 22, 2020 at 7 pm CST, presented virtually.

View the presentation here.

2020 Distinguished Alumna: Karen Rupert Toliver ‘84
The Distinguished Alumni Award is designated for alumni whose personal and professional endeavors have achieved prominence in their field. The award honors a graduate whose outstanding character, accomplishments, and service embody the characteristics and spirit of Greenhill’s mission of service and leadership in our diverse global society.

Oscar winner Karen Rupert Toliver ‘84 is the executive vice president of creative for Sony Pictures Animation. She is producer of the 2020 Academy Award-winning animated short film, Hair Love, directed by Matthew A. Cherry.

Karen was an active member of the Greenhill Fine Arts department, performing in musicals and with the Greenhill Singers and attending the ISAS Fine Arts festival annually. According to classmate Michael Davis ’84, “Karen always seemed to have it together at Greenhill and had a circle of very close friends. I admired her greatly for her intellect, poise, and affability. It is no irony that Hair Love would be her conveyance into history. Her journey is such a poignant example of the diversity that Greenhill enables, and her story is not unique. Karen's story is one of transforming isolation and using it to fuel her ascendancy to make films that give sanctuary to millions. The ability to communicate with precision is something we learned at Greenhill.”

After graduating from the University of Texas at Austin, Toliver moved to Los Angeles and began her career as an assistant at Walt Disney Pictures working on the Mighty Ducks franchise.

In her current role, Toliver is responsible for the creative supervision of upcoming features for the studio, from inception to script, and through production. Toliver is also in charge of recruiting key storytelling talent and discovering and acquiring new creative material and intellectual property aligned with Sony Pictures Animation’s vision including original concepts, books, comics, video games, shorts, websites, and toys. Toliver also has extensive experience in production and development, including 10 years at Fox Animation. In addition, Toliver spearheaded the original feature Ferdinand, which was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Animated Feature. She served as a production executive at Walt Disney Animation Studios on films such as Brother Bear, Chicken Little, and Meet the Robinsons. She resides in Los Angeles with her family.

2020 Alumni Service Award honoree: Christopher I. Clark ‘89
The individuals nominated in this category must demonstrate a strong loyalty to Greenhill, exceptional contributions of time and effort, and a personal commitment to the advancement of the School’s mission.

Christopher I. Clark ’89 began his service career at Greenhill as an alumni board member in 2003. He served in various leadership positions including Alumni Board President for two years. Chris led the board through his work on various committees: Operations, Nominating, Greenhill Fund Alumni Chair, Vice President, and Alumni Liaison. Chris developed the first full alumni board bylaws and served as counsel, assisting in the revisions of the bylaws for the last ten years.

He joined the Board of Trustees in 2006 and during that time, he served on every Board committee. He also chaired the Audit and Risk Management committee where he was instrumental in shepherding efforts to improve campus security.

Former Board of Trustees Chair Bruce Sostek said, “Chris’ thoughtful, insightful, and fair-minded approach to some of Greenhill’s most significant issues, together with his unstinting generosity and unwavering support for our school in so many ways, represent only a few of his many exceptional contributions to Greenhill.”

In addition to chairing the annual campaigns, Clark is a longtime supporter of the Greenhill Fund. He has made consecutive gifts for the last 28 years in addition to his generous support for special capital campaigns and fundraising efforts. He has spent hours on campus attending board meetings, call-a-thons, football pre-game meals, speaking at alumni events or Upper School career day presentations, serving on reaccreditation committees, celebrating at Homecoming gatherings, connecting during Alumni Weekend events and supporting the most recent strategic planning process.

Clark is the Office Managing Partner of Fox Rothschild LLP's office in Dallas, and is also the head of the Dallas office Commercial Real Estate Transactions practice. He is a graduate of Franklin & Marshall College, where he was a varsity letterman in football, and earned his law degree, cum laude, at SMU's Dedman School of Law. He is a member of the Dallas Bar Association and the Dallas Asian-American Bar Association.

The Alumni Board is exceptionally proud to honor and celebrate these two alumni. Click here for more information on the awards and to view previous honorees. Nominate a graduate using our online form here.

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