Since 1990, the Harvard Alumni Association (HAA) has bestowed the HAA Awards to distinguished alumni in recognition of their extraordinary service to Harvard University through leadership and engagement activities. Continuing this tradition, the HAA has announced six recipients of the 2024 HAA Awards: Lewis “Lew” Auerbach AB ’63, AM ’64; Maria Carolina V. Dominguez AMP ’12; Matthew G. Hegarty AB ’82; Young Joon Kim JD ’83; Maiya Williams Verrone AB ’84; and John J. West Jr. MBA ’95.
Lewis “Lew” Auerbach AB ’63, AM ’64
Lewis “Lew” Auerbach of Ottawa, Canada, is an empathetic leader and volunteer whose warmth, kindness, and participative leadership style is built upon a strong ethical foundation and a steadfast commitment to giving back to his community.
With over 40 years of service to the Harvard Club of Ottawa, Auerbach has made enduring contributions to the alumni community in Canada. During his tenure as Club president, he increased membership, strengthened connections among alumni, and helped improve the organization’s finances. As director for Canadian clubs on the HAA board, he launched and contributed to the David Johnston Financial Aid Fund for Harvard students from Canada and more recently established the Auerbach Mentored Internships Fund at Canadian non-profits.
As Club president, he opened his home to host salon and book club events. He also made himself available to share his deep knowledge with fellow volunteers. A longtime chair of the Club’s Schools and Scholarships Committee, he continued to interview prospective students until he was over 80.
A past producer of Ideas on CBC Radio, director at the Auditor General of Canada, and private consultant, Auerbach served as president of the Tamir Foundation, a residential facility for developmentally disabled adults, and of Options Bytown, which provides supportive housing. He was treasurer of Oxfam Canada and served on several voluntary boards, including the Great Canadian Theatre Company, the Forum for Research and Policy in Communications, and MayCourt, a local hospice.
Maria Carolina V. Dominguez AMP ’12
Maria Carolina V. Dominguez of Manila, the Philippines, is an experienced executive and dedicated Harvard citizen committed to connecting alumni locally and internationally. As the reunion chair for her AMP class, she has been pivotal in fostering community among alumni worldwide.
Dominguez has served as president of both the Harvard Business School Club of the Philippines and the Harvard Club of the Philippines Global, engaging the local community through innovative programming that has energized these Clubs. As an executive committee member of the HBS Alumni Board, she played a key role in helping advance alumni engagement globally.
Her efforts to encourage young Filipinos to attend Harvard, including raising funds for a student loan program, have helped make a Harvard education more accessible for young people coming from a developing country.
As an HAA director for Clubs and Shared Interest Groups (SIGs), she advocated for alumni in the Asia-Pacific. As co-chair of the Financial Sustainability and Partnerships Committee, she led a diverse team to create lasting resources for alumni organizations. As an advisory board member for the International Leadership Workshop, she helped pioneer new ways for alumni to engage and learn from each other.
In recognition of her outstanding contributions to the alumni community, she received the HAA’s Clubs and SIGs Outstanding Volunteer Leadership Award in 2021.
Dominguez is president and CEO of John Clements Consultants, serves on several boards, and is a lecturer at the University of the Philippines.
Matthew G. Hegarty AB ’82
Matthew G. Hegarty of Watertown, Massachusetts, is a cybersecurity expert whose transformational leadership of the Harvard Club of Boston through the challenges of the pandemic ensured that the Club emerged stronger than ever.
A longtime member of the Club’s board, Hegarty has served as president, vice president, chair of the Budget and Finance Committee, and a member of the Athletic and Foundation Committees. In these roles, he helped enhance the Club’s commitment to diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging, and he provided strong leadership, structure, and organizational support for the HAA Allyship series. Led in partnership with the Harvard Club of Ireland, the Allyship series of virtual events magnified the perspectives of historically marginalized communities and offered opportunities for alumni to support causes working toward change.
Hegarty has also served on the HAA board, as an alumni interviewer, and as a member of his class gift committee, helping to organize its 40th Reunion. He is currently partnerships director for the Harvard Alumni for Climate and the Environment SIG, focused on forging relationships with Harvard Clubs and SIGs throughout the world to complement community-wide missions, resources, and alumni events.
A leader in technology and operations in health care and financial services, Hegarty is program director of group and information security at Royal Philips. He has served on the boards of the People’s United Bank Community Foundation of Eastern Massachusetts and Silver Lining Mentoring.
Young Joon Kim JD ’83
Young Joon Kim of Seoul, South Korea, is a retired lawyer who is deeply committed to strengthening bonds among Harvard alumni internationally and promoting education and leadership development for women across Asia.
As president of the Harvard Club of Korea, Kim has helped organize and host many events to create a vibrant alumni community in Korea and beyond. He also served on the HAA board as a regional director for Clubs and SIGs and as an HLS Graduate School director.
He has held a series of leadership roles as a volunteer for the Harvard Law School Association—serving as treasurer, as a member of its executive committee and its senior advisory council, and as president of HLSA of Korea. A member of the HLS Leadership Council of Asia, Kim was also chair of his class reunion gift committee, and a member of the Harvard Board of Overseers’ Visiting Committee for HLS, which works to ensure educational excellence.
In addition to his volunteer roles, Kim was a fellow at the Harvard Advanced Leadership Initiative.
Kim was a partner in the global law firm Milbank LLP. For over 10 years, Kim chaired a foundation in support of the Asian University for Women, an independent university in Chittagong, Bangladesh, supporting the education of female leaders across Asia. He also served on the boards of the Korean Bar Association Human Rights Foundation and the Asia Society Korea Center.
Maiya Williams Verrone AB ’84
Maiya Williams Verrone of Pacific Palisades, California, is an author, television writer, and producer who is devoted to connecting and engaging with volunteers, alumni, and students in Southern California.
Verrone has served in critical roles for the Harvard Club of Southern California, including vice president of programming, vice president of membership, and secretary. In 2020, she co-founded the Club’s Anti-Racism Committee to educate local alumni on racial inequality and support efforts to combat systemic racism in all its forms. As committee co-chair, she helped organize an anti-racism webinar that had over 150 attendees, followed by a robust series of events featuring Harvard faculty and alumni.
In addition, she was an HAA elected director, founder and president of the Los Angeles chapter of the Harvard Black Alumni Society, and president of the Harvard Lampoon Board of Trustees. A longtime alumni interviewer, she serves as co-chair for the Schools and Scholarships Committee for the San Fernando Valley. She is also an enthusiastic volunteer for the Harvardwood SIG, speaking at workshops and co-hosting an annual January-term event for students interested in the entertainment industry with her husband, Patric Verrone ’81.
For four decades Verrone has written and produced television comedy series, most recently for Futurama, and has published five novels for middle-grade readers. She volunteers at Write Girl, a creative writing and mentoring organization, where she presents writing workshops, participates in panel discussions, and provides individual mentoring to high school students in the Los Angeles area.
John J. West Jr. MBA ’95
John J. West Jr. of Cambridge, Massachusetts, is an entrepreneur and past HAA president whose professional and volunteer work has focused on community building and harnessing the power of digital engagement to foster unity and connection among alumni during a pivotal moment.
As alumni president of the HAA at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, West drew upon his expertise in digital communications, leading efforts to help the organization leverage technology to enhance engagement and strengthen connections among alumni worldwide even as the public health crisis kept people physically distant. His leadership was informed by his deep commitment to the principle of “One Harvard,” catalyzing alumni from all of Harvard’s Schools to help shape a better world.
In addition to serving on the HAA Executive Committee, he worked on a variety of HAA initiatives, including Organizational Problem Solving, Storytelling and Public Narrative, and Learning from New Alumni Communities. He is the former president of the Harvard Alumni Entrepreneurs SIG, for which he was recognized with the HAA’s Clubs and SIGs Outstanding Volunteer Leadership Award. In addition, he has served on the Memorial Church Advisory Board and the University’s Advisory Committee on Shareholder Responsibility.
West has successfully founded, grown, and sold three companies over 30 years—including an environmental engineering company, a financial services firm, and most recently Team Whistle, which focused on positive sports video content viewed by 800 million global viewers across social media platforms.