Movers and Shapers

---

Posted on June 15, 2026 by

---

---

The University of South Alabama's 2026 distinguished Alumni and Service Awards Honorees are architects of
something harder to quantify: careers spent dismantling barriers, growing communities and ensuring the next generation finds a stronger foundation to build on. Their leadership and service were celebrated at the National Alumni Association’s 21st Annual Distinguished Alumni and Service Awards on March 5 at the MacQueen Alumni Center.

Roddy Lee McKinney began running in the eighth grade. A few years later, driven by a clear directive
from his family to earn a college scholarship or enlist in the military, he chose college, running crosscountry
for the University of South Alabama under the guidance of coaches who provided a sense of belonging

and care. He began his professional life in insurance sales but answered a call to join the family business,McKinney Communications Corp., and embrace his entrepreneurial spirit. McKinney helped transform that family-owned company into a field services powerhouse and a national partner for Dish Network, guiding its growth from a team of 12 to an employee-owned organization of over 700. Despite this national scale, his focus is tethered to South. His commitment is etched into the landscape through the MacQueen Alumni Center and its McKinney Family Greek Plaza. By creating scholarship opportunities and supporting new infrastructure, he ensures that future scholars find a strong support system, just like he did.

Dr. Patricia Sanders shattered systemic barriers in 1977 as the first African American woman to graduate from the University of South Alabama’s College of Medicine. She was the youngest of 12 children in her family and the first to earn a college degree. As a child, her most prized possession was a toy doctor’s bag. But her future in medicine was uncertain. After graduating as the first Black female premed student from the University of Alabama, she saw one medical school after another turn her away. The moment she learned that the University of South Alabama was interested, she redirected her life, working to become the first African American female gynecological surgeon in Alabama. Throughout a 36-year career, Sanders balanced surgical excellence with medical leadership. Faced with the reality that patients in rural areas often lacked access to gynecological specialists, she expanded her reach from Birmingham to Sylacauga
and Clanton, ensuring that her expertise reached those who needed it most. Sanders’ body of work serves as a blueprint for service, dismantling obstacles and forging an equitable path for those who follow.

Carol and Jim Statter view the University as the bedrock of their shared life, a place of return and rediscovery. South welcomed Jim home in 1968 after 13 months of service in Vietnam, offering him a seat back in his fraternity and a bridge to his future as a graduate. For Carol, the University is a source ofprofound pride, a “true flagship” for the region. Since the USA football program began in 2009, the couple has become a fixture at home and away games. The stadium is a gathering place where they reconnect with friends from long ago. The Statters, now retired, translate their professional success — Jim as the owner of Dixie Leasing and Carol as a leader at Infirmary Health — into contributions to the University. Their latest $2.5 million gift reflects their deepest personal values. While their support bolsters Jaguar athletics, it also funds a literacy program that Carol calls an “issue of the heart,” designed to ensure no child is lost in the educational system because they cannot read by the fourth grade. The Statters are pillars of the campus community. Their body of work proves that when alumni reinvest their hearts into their alma mater, they empower those who follow.

Elliot Maisel champions a vision of regional growth that treats the University of South Alabama as the primary engine for progress. As chairman and CEO of Gulf Distributing Holdings, he transformed a modest family warehouse into a vital economic force, supporting what he calls the “Golden Age of Mobile” by relocating his company’s headquarters and nearly 300 employees to the heart of downtown. Maisel strengthened the future of local healthcare in September 2024 by becoming the largest individual donor to the Whiddon College of Medicine’s new education and research building. His $5 million gift supercharges the University’s capacity to train physicians at an institution that is performing better than 83% of all medical schools in the nation at keeping graduates in state. Honored as Alabama’s 2024 CEO of the Year, Maisel operates on the belief that the University is the single most important driver of regional stature. For him, the true measure of success isn’t found in a warehouse or a boardroom, but in the enduring strength of the community that launched his career.

Dr. Alvin Williams discovered his calling at age Rosette 21, stepping into a college classroom filled with
students older than himself and realizing, within a week, that teaching marketing would become his life’s

work. Nearly five decades later, his legacy is measured not in titles, but in the careers of thestudents who grew into professionals and stayed in his life long after graduation. After retiring from teaching and academic leadership in Mississippi, Williams arrived at South as a distinguished professor of marketing. He never intended to return to administration, but when the Mitchell College of Business needed a leader, he answered the call, first as department chair and later as interim dean. As a child, he dreamed of becoming a “world correspondent.” That curiosity later fueled decades of study-abroad experiences — over 40 of them — that helped shape students’ worldviews. For Williams, the destination wasn’t a place on a map. It was the moment a student became who they were meant to be.

The Hargrove Foundation redefines corporate citizenship by treating community prosperity as a personal responsibility rather than a business metric. As the charitable arm of Hargrove Controls & Automation, the 

foundation has channeled nearly $4 million into the Gulf Coast since 2011, supporting everything from disaster relief after numerous tornadoes to the Hargrove Adaptive Toy Project, which modifies vehicles for children with limited mobility. For the University of South Alabama, the foundation serves as a vital conduit for professional growth. While it has supported major physical projects like Hancock Whitney Stadium, its greatest impact lies in the rising professionals it mentors and hires. The parent firm, Hargrove Controls, consistently leans on the University’s engineering and medical programs, opening doors for nearly 200 South Alabama alumni and a steady stream of interns who represent the region’s future. Founded by Ralph A. Hargrove, a 2019 recipient of the V. Gordon Moulton Distinguished Service Award, the foundation fosters a culture in which industry and academia work hand in hand.

---

---