Posted on Friday, October 08, 2021
Michael Thorp Fay ’86 and Cheryl “Cheri” Blasingame Garing ’98 are this year’s recipients of the Shackelford Alumni Achievement Award, and Eric Keels Ph.D. ’10 is being recognized with the 2021 Outstanding Young Alumni Award. They will be recognized during a Oct. 29 Homecoming luncheon.
“All three of our honorees have distinguished themselves in their chosen professions and in their communities,” said Martha Pirkle, Director of Alumni and Community Relations. “We are excited to celebrate their accomplishments.”
Michael Thorp Fay ’86 of Miami, Florida, is principal and managing director at Avison Young Real Estate, a global real estate firm. He also serves as chairman of the U.S. Capital Markets Group executive committee and is the global director for the Asset Resolution Team Affinity Group.
He came to LaGrange on a basketball scholarship and graduated with a bachelor’s in business administration. As a freshman, he was part of the 1982-83 championship basketball team and is a member of Pi Kappa Phi fraternity.
Fay advises on and sells investment properties across the country, having completed more than $16 billion in sales. He owns more than 20 properties and several operating companies through his family business, Fay Family Investments, that focuses on real estate-business interests and philanthropy.
His clients include institutional and private investors, real estate investment trusts, hedge funds, national and local banks, insurance companies, major automotive dealerships and commercial debt restructuring firms.
A a past founder and director of a community bank, Fay has been involved in the selling of bank assets and notes for many years. He was a co-contractor in the disposition of more than 600 of the U.S. Marshals Service’s Southern District of Florida drug seizure assets over a five-year period and has extensive commercial real estate sales experience within the federal and civil courts.
He recently was named one of Florida’s most influential business leaders by Florida Trend and a power leader in real estate by the South Florida Business Journal. He has also been named a national commercial real estate rainmaker and top office broker by Real Estate Forum.
He has been recognized as a top producer including Avison Young’s Circle of Excellence, as well as at his former firm where he also served on their national advisory board and won the Team Innovation Award for his innovative work with their asset resolution team.
Fay was recently knighted by the Sovereign Order of Saint John of Jerusalem Knights of Malta, as well as selected as a member of the prestigious Florida Council of 100. He currently serves on the Ocean Reef Club Real Estate Advisory Committee, the Miami-Dade Community Advisory Board for AvMed Health Plans, the St. Thomas University Board of Trustees, the HistoryMiami Museum Board of Trustees, and the McGlannan School Foundation for children living with dyslexia and other language-based difficulties.
At the age of 24, he was the youngest member elected to the Orange Bowl Committee where he continues to serve.
Outside of his real estate career, Fay is an avid surfer and a former nationally and world-ranked wakeboard champion. He is a founding partner of the Miami Watersports Complex with Aktion Parks.
Cheryl "Cheri" Blasingame Garing ’98 is vice president for planning, rates and corporate performance at Oglethorpe Power Co.
She earned a bachelor’s in mathematics at LaGrange College and a master’s in probability and statistics at Auburn University. At LaGrange College, she was elected to the Class of 2009 Sports Hall of Fame for Softball and is a board member of the Panther Club.
She manages a team of 15 people at Oglethorpe Power who serve the Electric Membership Cooperatives.
The group supports the chief financial officer by providing financial analysis, as well as developing corporate level and EMC-level forecasts, including annual budgets, annual load forecasts, scenario analysis and economic analysis for potential projects or acquisitions. It recently has started performing carbon analysis (corporate and EMC-level) and modeling proposed clean energy scenarios.
Garing began her career with Oglethorpe Power in 2000 as part of the billing team before transitioning in 2006 into the planning area, where she became a project coordinator and helped implement a more formal process such as corporate/member budget and the 20-year long-range financial forecast. She was promoted to a managerial position responsible for developing and delivering the annual corporate and EMC-level budgets and board and managing OPC’s corporate goals and official rate schedule used to bill members.
In 2011, she moved into a director position, continuing with planning responsibilities. She then was promoted to her current position of Vice President of Planning and elected as an officer of Oglethorpe Power by its board of directors.
Garing was a member of the 2012 Leadership Georgia class, the 2010 University of Georgia Carl Vinson Management Development Program and the 2006 Pathbuilders Percepta Program. She is a recipient of the OPC Customer Focus Award.
Active in her community, she has worked with the Salvation Army Angel Tree and Food Pantry as well as volunteer opportunities through OPC including packaging medical supplies to be sent overseas, Habitat for Humanity and preparing meals for delivery.
She has worked with her husband in his photography business, DMG Images, where they have photographed charity events supporting Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Research and March of Dimes.
Eric Keels Ph.D. ’10 of Birmingham, Alabama, is an assistant professor for international security at the Air War College at Maxwell Air Force Base in Montgomery.
A native of Berea, Kentucky, he graduated magna cum laude from LaGrange College with a degree in Political Science and earned a Ph.D. in political science from the University of North Texas in Denton. He also studied design thinking at the Teaching and Learning Studio at Stanford University in California.
He served as a post-doctoral research fellow in global security for the Howard H. Baker Center for Public Policy at the University of Tennessee, and a research associate for political conflict research at the One Earth Future Foundation. There he supported the foundation’s research on organized political violence and supported their operations in Somalia and Colombia.
Keels is an instructor for international security, research design, critical thinking and regional politics. In addition to his teaching, he advises on projects related to the integration of technology for national security purposes. He also serves as the co-principal investigator for the “Issues in Civil Wars” data project and as an externally affiliated research fellow with the Baker Center.
A popular speaker, he has participated in talks and forums at the University of Tennesse; Smart Club of Knoxville, Tennessee; and First United Methodist Church of Maryville (Tennessee).
Keels has been honored with the Toulouse Graduate School Dissertation Fellowship and the Sam B. McAllister Award for the Outstanding Graduate Student in Political Science, both at the University of North Texas.
He and his wife, Eliza Kelly, live in Birmingham.
Homecoming 2021 is rapidly approaching. Visit the website for all the planned activities. And check out this video.
The Counseling Center will be offering sessions either in person or virtually through Microsoft Teams. To make an appointment, email lccounseling@lagrange.edu.
Chaplain Adam Roberts is available to meet one-on-one for prayer, counseling and spiritual direction. Check in with his office on the second floor of Smith Hall, Room 228. One-on-one meetings are also available via Microsoft Teams. For more information, contact him at aroberts@lagrange.edu.
Junior Political Science major Chase Davis has been busy. His article about vaccination rates was published in The Free-Lance Star in Fredericksburg, Virginia, while several others have been accepted by Medium, an open platform for writers. Here are links to some of his research work.
The False Revival of Socialism, and What it Means for America
The Israeli-Palestinian Article Explained
What is Critical Race Theory, and Should it be Taught in Schools?
He also opened a tutoring center in downtown LaGrange, and was featured in a story published by the LaGrange Daily News.
Fall break will continue through Tuesday, with classes resuming Wednesday.
Check LC Connect for Virtual CE events and instructions. For in-person events, all COVID guidelines apply.
THROUGH OCT. 31
LC Young Alumni Virtual Interview Series – George Lankford ’11
THURSDAY
Counseling Center Lecture Series: How to Help a Friend in Need
11:15 a.m., Corn Auditorium in Lewis Library
Men’s Soccer
The Panthers (4-3, 1-1 USA South) lost 3-2 in double overtime to Maryville last Saturday at Panther Field. Enrique Hernandez and Blake Webb scored LC’s goals.
Women’s Soccer
LaGrange (2-5-1, 1-3-1 USA South) and Huntingdon played to a 2-2 tie Thursday night. Sydney Saul and Erica Bower scored for the Panthers.
Cross Country
Freshman Joseph Grubbs was sixth out of 48 runners at the Huntingdon Invitational last Friday in Grady, Alabama. Grubbs had a time of 29:11.3 over the 8K course.
Volleyball
The Panthers (1-12, 1-5 USA South) lost 3-1 at Huntingdon on Wednesday night. Karson Troth had a team-high seven kills, while Journey Oden had six kills and a career-high 12 digs.
(Schedules may change due to circumstances beyond our control. Please check www.lagrangepanthers.com to confirm game times.)
Saturday
Volleyball vs. Agnes Scott and Berea, noon and 2 p.m., Berea, Kentucky
Football vs. Methodist, 1 p.m., Fayetteville, Kentucky
Men’s Soccer at Covenant, 7 p.m., Lookout Mountain, Georgia
Women’s Soccer at Mississippi University for Women, 2 p.m., Columbus, Mississippi
Tuesday
Volleyball vs. Wesleyan, 6:30 p.m., Richter Gym
Wednesday
Men’s Soccer vs. Piedmont, 6:30 p.m., Panther Field
Women’s Soccer at Wesleyan, 7 p.m.
Price Theater presents the world premiere of "Tales from the Hill," a one-act play written by English Professor Dr. Jack Slay. He says he was inspired by spooky legends and ghostly tales surrounding the LaGrange College campus. Complete Homecoming/Halloween Weekend details at lagrange.edu/homecoming.
Nearly 60 participate on first day of city’s 2021 litter cleanup campaign – October 5, 2021, LaGrange Daily News
Category: College, Events, Community, Arts and Culture
Keywords: homecoming excellence alumni awards
