Woodrow Wilson Award 2015
Marvin J. Garbis, Engr ’58
Marvin J. Garbis was born in Baltimore, Maryland and attended the Baltimore City Public Schools. Upon his high school graduation, he began working at Westinghouse on a "cooperative" work study program, including night classes at McCoy College of Johns Hopkins University. He became a full-time student at Johns Hopkins University as a Junior and was elected to the Tau Beta Pi and Eta Kappa Nu engineering honor fraternities. He graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering degree. Then, having been awarded a Harvard Corporation Scholarship, Judge Garbis obtained the J.D. degree from the Harvard Law School. He was then selected by Georgetown Law School to be a Fellow in the E. Barrett Prettyman Fellowship Program, trying felony cases in Washington, D.C., taking post-graduate courses in litigation and obtaining an LL. M. Degree. Judge Garbis then joined the United States Department of Justice, serving under Attorney General Robert Kennedy, representing the Government in tax litigation in United States District Courts throughout the country. Following government service, he returned to Baltimore and developed a national tax litigation practice, starting as a sole practitioner and founding the law firm that became Garbis, Marvel and Junghans. He concluded his law practice as a partner of former Internal Revenue Service Commissioner Lawrence Gibbs in the Washington office of the Dallas-based Johnson and Gibbs law firm. While an attorney, Judge Garbis authored various articles on tax litigation and related matters, and seven books, including West Publishing Company's Cases and Materials on Tax Procedure and Tax Fraud that has been used as a text in some 40 law schools. He was a founder and the second President (following William L. Marbury) of the Maryland Institute for Continuing Professional Education of Lawyers and served as President of the Maryland Chapter of the Federal Bar Association. In recognition of his contributions to the field of tax litigation, the Civil and Criminal Penalties Committee of the A.B.A. Tax Section has awarded him the Jules Ritholz Memorial Merit Award. Judge Garbis was nominated to the federal bench by President Regan in 1988, too late in his presidential the term for a Senate hearing. In 1989, he was re-nominated by President George H. W. Bush and confirmed by the Senate as a United States District Court Judge for the District of Maryland. He has served, and continues to serve, as a federal trial judge in Maryland and, as a visiting federal judge, elsewhere in trial and appellate courts. Since becoming a federal judge, one of few with an engineering education, Judge Garbis has become active in judicial and professional education regarding intellectual property litigation as a lecturer and author of legal articles, including Aussie Inspired Musings on Technological Issues, 6 Green Bag 2d 141 (2003). He has contributed to books on litigation, authoring commentary in the ABA's Anatomy of a Trial by Paul Mark Sandler and on the Judicial Board of Review for the American College of Trial Lawyers' Anatomy of a Patent Case. In 1998, on a judicial exchange program, Judge Garbis he served as an Honorary Justice of the Federal Court of Australia. In 2012, he was a scholar in residence at the University of Melbourne and, together with a Justice of the Federal Court of Australia, presented lectures on comparative patent litigation to barristers and solicitors in the states of Victoria, Tasmania, New South Wales and Queensland. He has led, and participated in, judicial education programs sponsored by the Departments of Commerce, Justice and States to judges in Algeria, Argentina, Armenia, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Brazil, Chile, China, Colombia, Egypt, Georgia, Guatemala, Iraq, Jordon, Kosovo, Mexico, Moldova, Netherland Antilles, Oman, Peru, Spain, Turkey, United Arab Emirates and Ukraine. He is married to Nancy V. Alquist, Chief Judge of the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Maryland. Judge Garbis has three children (Kendall, Jason and Kerri) and four grandchildren (Shira, Shelly, Sydney and Isaak).
William A. Reinsch, A&S ’68, SAIS ’69
William Reinsch was appointed chairman to the U.S. – China Economic and Security Review Commission by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid for a seventh two-year term. Chairman Reinsch served as Under Secretary for Export Administration in the U.S. Department of Commerce. As head of the Bureau of Export Administration, later named the Bureau of Industry and Security, Chairman Reinsch was charged with administering and enforcing the export control policies of the U.S. government, including its anti-boycott laws. Major accomplishments during his tenure included refocusing controls regarding economic globalization, most notably on high-performance computers, microprocessors, and encryption, completing the first revisions of the Export Administration regulations in over forty years. In addition, he revised the interagency process for reviewing applications and permitted electronic filing of applications over the Internet. Today Chairman Reinsch is president of the National Foreign Trade Council. Founded in 1914, the council is the only business organization dedicated solely to trade policy, export finance, international tax, and human resources issues.
Donald F. Schwarz, Med ’81, BSPH ’82
Don Schwarz recently joined the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation as the Director of a substantial portfolio of grant making around the Foundation’s vision to create a Culture of Health. As the Deputy Mayor for Health and Opportunity of Philadelphia from 2008-2014, Dr. Schwarz served in the unique role of overseeing the largest part of city government including the Health Department, Department of Behavioral Health Services, Human Services, and the Office of Homeless Services as well as serving as the city’s Health Commissioner. Mayor Nutter chose Dr. Schwarz in 2008 at the beginning of an unprecedented recession. Faced with huge budget decisions, he managed to preserve city services, including 8 city health centers who serve over 90,000 patients, mostly uninsured. He was able to contract with all the city’s teaching hospitals to provide specialty services. Permanent housing for homeless individuals and families increased by more than 50%. Philadelphia was awarded grants worth more than $30 million that have changed Philadelphia’s approach to tobacco abuse and obesity prevention. Philadelphia has the highest smoking rate among the ten largest cities. With the Mayor’s support, in addition to a clean, indoor air law, tobacco is now banned in city parks, recreation centers, and a $2 tax has been added per pack. Smoking rates have decreased by more than 15%. City corner food stores now have fresh fruit and vegetable options and major chain restaurants now make nutritional information visible on their public menus. While obesity rates have risen in other cities, Philadelphia’s obesity rates (especially among minority youth) have dropped.
Herbert Strauss, Bus ’00, ’02
“Business with humanity in mind” and “tackling society’s most vexing problems” are two Hopkins themes that especially resonate with Carey Business School alum, Herb Strauss. With over 20 years of public service and another 20 years with private industry, Herb views business and government as mutually reinforcing elements advancing society. Herb is a Presidential Appointee in the Obama/Biden Administration. He currently serves as the Assistant Deputy Commissioner for Systems and Deputy Chief Information Officer in the United States Social Security Administration (SSA). At SSA, Herb ensures that the agency’s $1.7 billion annual capital investments in IT systems, infrastructure, IT professionals and related capabilities support the agency's customers, the mission and Government-wide goals. Herb is especially proud to serve one of the nation’s largest and most successful programs, as Social Security celebrates its 80th anniversary this year. The agency’s 65,000 employees -- supported by a sophisticated and complex information technology enterprise that Herb helps to manage, administers benefits and provides financial protection for nearly 64 million individuals – one in four families -- who receive almost a trillion dollars annually. These include payments to retirees, adults and children with disabilities, and surviving family members, delivering on our nation's promise to maintain the welfare and protection of our people. Herb began his career in public service as an enlisted Marine in 1970. He was commissioned a Second Lieutenant in the U.S. Marine Corps in 1974, and continued to serve for 20 years. He is a decorated combat veteran with worldwide assignments, including command and staff roles in national security, peacekeeping, humanitarian assistance and combat service. He has also served in the Offices of the Secretary of Defense, Director of Central Intelligence, the Defense Intelligence Agency and the Central Intelligence Agency. His private sector career also spanned the globe with management and executive roles in technology management, financial services and management and technology consulting with the American Express Company, Electronic Data Systems Corporation, Robbins-Gioia Inc. and American Management Systems Corp. Most recently, Herb was Vice President and Senior Managing Partner at Gartner, Inc. a global technology research and advisory firm. Still seeking to tackle society’s most vexing problems, Herb returned to public service in 2013. Herb is active in professional and civic activities, including the executive advisory committees of the American Council for Technology and the Armed Forces Communications and Electronics Association. Notably, Herb enjoys staying engaged with fellow Carey alumni and students and staff. He currently serves as the strategic planning and governance chair of the Dean’s Alumni Advisory Board of the Johns Hopkins Carey Business School and enjoys participating in a wide range of alumni events and activities.
Robert C. White, Ed ’96
Robert C. White received his Master of Science Degree in Applied Behavioral Science from the Johns Hopkins University School of Education in 1996. In 1972, Chief White began his career as a police officer in the Metropolitan Police Department of Washington, DC. After 23 years of working within most bureaus of the department, he retired as Assistant Chief and was appointed as the first Director of Public Safety for the District of Columbia Housing Authority. Three years later, he returned to the Metropolitan Police Department as Assistant Chief overseeing patrol operations as well as a revitalization of the department. In the years following, he was appointed as the Chief of Police in Greensboro, North Carolina and subsequently in the newly formed Louisville, Kentucky Metro Police Department, where he directed the smooth merger of two major police agencies, the Louisville Police Department and the Jefferson County Police Department. Serving in this position for over 8 years, Chief White was then one of the first high-profile appointments made by newly elected Denver mayor, Michael Hancock. On December 12, 2011, Chief White was sworn in as the 69th Chief of Police for the Denver, Colorado Police Department. Throughout his career, Chief White has shown a great commitment to education, learning, and community. He is consulted for his expertise as a major American city police chief with a keen understanding for implementing cultural change. This is a result of his forty plus years of law enforcement experience and a focus on increasing transparency, work efficiencies, and key partnerships between police officers and the communities they serve.