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Two graduates with outstanding volunteer records are the 2024 recipients of the Alumni Association’s Fred Ellsworth Medallion. Brad Korell, l’97, and Tom Wiggans, p’75, will be honored Sept. 12 at the Jayhawk Welcome Center in conjunction with the fall meeting of the Association’s national board of directors.
A tradition since 1975, the medallion commemorates the standard of service set by Ellsworth, a 1922 KU graduate, who led the Association from 1929 to 1963.
Brad Korell
Korell, a School of Law graduate, lives in Edwards, Colorado, and Palm Desert, California. He first volunteered as an alumni network organizer in Dallas and Austin, Texas, where he also began his law career and founded the firm of Korell & Frohlin LLP, which he continues to lead. As a local KU ambassador, leading two alumni groups simultaneously and stepping up to represent KU Admissions during local college fairs, Korell earned the Association’s Mildred Clodfelter Alumni Award in 2011 for sustained volunteer service. The award honors the legacy of Clodfelter, b’41, whose long KU career included 41 years at the Association.
Korell represented fellow alumni on the KU Memorial Unions Corp. board from 2005 to 2010. He joined the Association’s national board of directors in 2006, serving until 2011, including a stint on the Executive Committee. With his husband, Justin McNulty, assoc., he attended and contributed to numerous Rock Chalk Balls in Kansas City. They are Life Members and Presidents Club donors.
For KU Endowment, Korell is a trustee and member of the development committee. With McNulty, he is a donor to the Chancellors Club, and they belong to the Jayhawk Faithful and the Elizabeth Watkins Society.
Korell contributes to the School of Law and has served on the alumni Board of Governors. Korell and McNulty are Kansas Athletics season ticket holders and benefactors.
Tom Wiggans
Wiggans, a School of Pharmacy graduate, lives in Pebble Beach, California. He is chairman and CEO of Pardes Biosciences, the latest leadership role in his long career as a pharmaceutical executive and entrepreneur. He founded Dermira, which he also led as CEO, and he guided several other companies, including Excaliard Pharmaceuticals and Peplin, as CEO and chairman.
He began his KU leadership as a student, serving as president of Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity, a member of the Interfraternity Council and a student government officer.
For the Association, he and his wife, Kathy, assoc., are Life Members and Presidents Club donors who also have supported the Rock Chalk Ball. They are members of KU Endowment’s Chancellors Club, the Jayhawk Faithful and the Elizabeth Watkins Society. He is a longtime KU Endowment trustee and member of the audit and development committees. Through the years he has helped guide major fundraising campaigns, serving on the Far Above steering committee from 2012 to 2016 and the Kansas Athletics committee for the KU First campaign from 2001 to 2006. The Wigganses are Hall of Fame members of Kansas Athletics’ Williams Education Fund and season ticket-holders.
Wiggans also has served on the advisory council for the School of Pharmacy, which in 2022 gave him its highest honor, the Distinguished Service Award.
Dan Martin, KU Endowment president, cites Wiggans’ guidance and financial support of varied KU programs in pharmacy, the humanities and athletics. “Tom has really invested through KU Endowment to touch every avenue and every aspect of the University,” says Martin, l’93, g’93, EdD’98. “He also has shared his time and talent, especially his leadership and the experience he has gained in industry. He has brought that back to KU through his thoughtful insights on challenges and issues at the University.”
To learn more about the Fred Ellsworth Medallion, visit kualumni.org/alumni-awards.
