David Calhoun of New Canaan, Connecticut, and Harold “Hal” W. Schneikert Jr. of Wilmington, Delaware, will receive Virginia Tech’s Alumni Distinguished Service Awards for 2015.

Alumni Distinguished Service Awards are presented at University Commencement to recognize individuals for their contributions to the university.

David Calhoun

Calhoun earned a bachelor’s in accounting in 1979 from what is now the Pamplin College of Business. He currently serves on the Virginia Tech Foundation Board and the Pamplin Advisory Council.

A member of the President’s Circle within the Ut Prosim Society of donors to Virginia Tech, Calhoun is a long-standing, generous supporter of the Pamplin College of Business and the University Honors Program. His record of service to the university also includes co-chairing The Campaign for Virginia Tech: Invent the Future, which closed in 2011 after raising more than $1.11 billion.

Calhoun lives in New Canaan, Connecticut, with his wife, Barbara. He is a senior managing director and head of private equity portfolio operations at Blackstone, a global investment and advisory firm. He previously served as chief executive officer at Nielsen, a global information and measurement company. Calhoun joined Nielsen after a 26-year tenure with GE, where he advanced to become vice chairman and president and chief executive officer of the company’s largest business unit, GE Infrastructure.

In addition to his service to Virginia Tech, Calhoun serves as the executive chairman of the board for Nielsen and as a member of the board of directors for the Boeing and Caterpillar companies.

In 2005, he delivered Virginia Tech’s commencement address.

Harold “Hal” W. Schneikert Jr.

Schneikert graduated from Virginia Tech in 1965 with a bachelor’s in industrial engineering. Following graduation, he served two years of active duty with the U.S. Army, including a tour in Vietnam, and retired as a lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Army Reserves.

Schneikert’s record of service to the university community includes membership on the Alumni Association Board of Directors, the Virginia Tech Corps of Cadets Alumni Board, and the College of Engineering Committee of 100. In 1999, he was inducted into the Industrial Systems and Engineering Academy of Distinguished Alumni.

A member of the Ut Prosim Society of donors to the university and the Legacy Society of those who make planned gifts to Virginia Tech, Schneikert served on the university and the Corps of Cadets campaign committees during the Virginia Tech’s past two fundraising campaigns.

A resident of Wilmington, Delaware, he has been active with the First State Alumni Chapter, serving as a board member for more than 30 years.

Schneikert worked for 26 years in the financial services industry, assisting clients with investments and insurance, before retiring in June 2014. His career also included working for E.I. DuPont De Nemours & Co. for more than 20 years, primarily in business and financial analysis. He also spent a year as the chief administrative officer of New Castle County, Delaware.

Schneikert serves as director and chair of the finance committee of the Delaware Military Heritage and Education Foundation and as vice president and director for Habitat for Humanity of New Castle County, Delaware.

Dedicated to its motto, Ut Prosim (That I May Serve), Virginia Tech takes a hands-on, engaging approach to education, preparing scholars to be leaders in their fields and communities. As the commonwealth’s most comprehensive university and its leading research institution, Virginia Tech offers 240 undergraduate and graduate degree programs to more than 31,000 students and manages a research portfolio of $513 million. The university fulfills its land-grant mission of transforming knowledge to practice through technological leadership and by fueling economic growth and job creation locally, regionally, and across Virginia.

Share this story