Whether working in corporate accounting or college athletics, the Terry College of Business 2025 Class of Terry Trailblazers is committed to supporting tomorrow’s business leaders through mentorship, community-building, and giving back.
They returned to campus on Feb. 12 to help inspire today’s students to give back, create community and take full advantage of the opportunities in front of them.
“Any chance that I get to come back and speak to students is an honor because there were people who poured into me the way we are being asked to do for you,” 2025 Trailblazer Tiffany Daniels (BBA ’97) told University of Georgia students. “You need to know that the seat you’re sitting in now someone else will be sitting in it in the future. That means you’re going to have to sit in these seats up here and pour into them.”
Daniels, who serves as associate commissioner for competition and senior woman administrator for the Southeastern Conference, was joined by La’Vonda McLean (BBA ’04), a managing director at Marsh, Sysco chief tax officer Anthony Walker (BBA ’90, MAcc ’92), and Reseda Group vice president of product management Christen Wright (BSFCS ’05, MBA ’10).
Since 2020, Terry College has annually recognized four distinguished alumni at the top of their careers who exemplify the call to give back through mentoring younger colleagues, college students and grade school students in their communities as Terry Trailblazers.
Daniels played women’s basketball while earning a management information systems degree at Terry and a graduate degree in sports management at the University of Massachusetts.
Even though she excelled on the court and in her profession, she told students she still feels “imposter syndrome” sometimes.
“They have you in the room for a reason,” Daniels told students. “If you just sit there quietly, you’re not fulfilling your end of the proposition. Go in there and provide your opinion because it matters.”
This year’s Trailblazers emphasized the importance of staying flexible and looking for opportunities to help yourself grow.
For McLean and Wright, that meant making hard career pivots to find roles that continued to fuel their growth. For Walker, it meant moving his family to China for several years so he could serve as vice president for taxes in Asia for Walmart.
“I’m actually from a little small town about two and a half hours south of here, with about 15,000 people,” Walker told students. “I would be the absolute last person you would ever expect to take a two-year assignment in the middle of China. But at the end of the day, it was an amazing opportunity.”
“The relationships and education you nurture while you’re at Terry,” he told students, “will help open a world of opportunities. You have to be able to see to them and take advantage of them when they present themselves.”