Maryville College Alumni Association announces winners of the 2025 Alumni Awards
July 17, 2025
It’s a beloved tradition every Homecoming: The presentation of the annual Maryville College Alumni Awards, and this year is no different.
While all Scots depart College Hill determined to “do good on the largest possible scale,” as MC founder the Rev. Isaac Anderson extolled them two centuries ago, a few go on to change their communities, and sometimes the world, in unfathomable ways.
Three of those alumni will be honored during the Friday night Founder’s Day celebration on Oct. 10, an afternoon and evening extravaganza that kicks off at the Clayton Center for the Arts at 4 p.m. with the President’s Welcome Reception, an event that will include the celebration of the 150th anniversary of the Maryville College Alumni Association.
Each year, the association recognizes the recipients of some of the College’s most prestigious honors. This year’s Alumni Citation Award, given to any alumnus/a of MC who has demonstrated outstanding leadership or initiative service in his/her community, church or chosen profession, will be bestowed upon Jonika Dhima Hoomes ’02. For the Kin Takahashi Award for Young Alumni — recognizing an alumnus/a who has, within 20 years of his/her graduation from MC, lived a life characteristic of Maryville College’s most acclaimed alum, Kin Takahashi (Class of 1895) — the association chose two recipients, LeSean Brannon ’11 and Dr. Jerica Johnson Hall ’13.
“It’s always a challenge to select the winners of these awards, simply because so many of our alumni go on to do extraordinary things,” said Jennifer Phillips Triplett ’07, director of Alumni Affairs. “Some make a profound impact on thousands of lives, while others quietly dedicate themselves to their professions and communities, earning deep respect for contributions that too often go unnoticed.”
“Each year, choosing these Scots is a powerful reminder that Maryville College produces graduates unlike any other — individuals shaped by a liberal arts education and a lifelong commitment to service. Honoring them is just a small expression of the immense pride and gratitude we feel for how they represent their alma mater.”
MC Alumni Citation
These days, the 2025 Alumni Citation winner spends her time helping others shape the kinds of careers that win them similar honors. Jonika Dhima Hoomes ’02 is a Certified New Ventures West coach, a certified coach with the International Coaching Federation, and an MBA graduate of the Santa Clara Leavey School of Business. A Political Science major, she’s originally from Albania and married Benjamin Hoomes ’00 the year she earned her bachelor of arts from MC. Prior to becoming a full-time executive coach, she spent more than two decades in senior-level roles in the technology sector, including 19 years as an executive in Google’s four largest organizations.
As the lead of Google’s Cloud Learning and Development Global Programs, she spearheaded SVP-level research “to understand employee and leadership needs in the realm of cloud skills development,” according to her biography, and helped bring successful and groundbreaking partnerships with Cloud partners to market.
She also served as the chief of staff for Developer Relations, a position of global responsibility for product operations, leadership development, new manager career development, employee satisfaction, and diversity and inclusion efforts from the level of senior vice president on down. Prior to that, she served as the leader of Global Business Development for Android One, advising executives of equipment manufacturing and carrier corporations to help co-create Android solutions across North America.
One of her biggest accomplishments was the build-out and leadership of Google’s first Automotive Channel Partnerships, which grew a small book of business into “one of the largest and fastest-growing reseller businesses, generating $1 billion in ad sales. Her impact was acknowledged through consecutive Women of the Channel awards, a prestigious recognition received by only three leaders at Google.”
All of those accomplishments, she says, can be attributed to a love of learning and “her mother’s insistence on teaching her multiple languages (five!) in empowering her to be Google’s first Albanian hire and thriving across various Google organizations.”
“When we talk about ‘doing good on the largest possible scale,’ it’s a matter of perspective,” Triplett said. “Jonika is the ideal example of someone who’s done so on one of the largest. Google’s services are used by billions of people around the world every day, and to have a Scot who’s been a part of leadership in Google’s four major sectors is a testament to the education she received here, and her determination to persevere no matter the obstacles is an example of the tenacity instill in MC students during their time here.”
Kin Takahashi Award for Young Alumni
When the MC Alumni Association’s board of directors adjusted its bylaws in 2019 to follow a taskforce model, one of the first courses of action identified as a priority was the need to connect with alums from diverse populations. Out of that need, the Alumni Community and Belonging Taskforce was created, and while LeSean “Seanny” Brannon ’11 and Dr. Jerica Johnson Hall ’13 were not association board members at the time, they were immediately identified as leaders and would go on to prove instrumental in the development of the taskforce throughout 2020 and 2021.
In establishing foundational goals for the taskforce, Triplett said, Brannon and Hall aimed to connect students, faculty and alumni in order to recognize, celebrate and benefit from the various populations that make up the rich tapestry that is the Maryville College Alumni Association. The College, Triplett added, has a long history of inclusiveness, although not without stumbles and flaws, and today alumni, faculty and staff are cognizant of the struggles of the past, while at the same time working to recognize the importance of promoting connections and representations of diverse identities and experiences.
Since founding the taskforce, both alums have served or currently serve as voting members of the MC Alumni Association Board, and both work in education: Brannon is a professional learning specialist for Curriculum Associates, an organization that partners with teachers to improve classroom experiences; and Hall currently serves as a human resources business partner with Hamilton County Schools in Chattanooga, Tennessee, where she supports talent management and employee relations across the district.
Brannon was formerly a fifth-grade teacher for that same system, in addition to serving as a fifth-grade teacher in Knox County Schools for eight years, where she was named teacher of the year and launched an after-school program known as “After Party.” Her bachelor of arts from MC is in Child Development, and she earned a master’s in educational leadership and administration from Concordia University in 2015. At MC, she was active in a number of diverse student organizations, including the Black Student Alliance, the Student Government Association, and the Gay-Straight Alliance (now known as the College’s Pride Club).
Her proudest accomplishment: The creation of the program MEC: Making Educated Citizens, begun through a 21st Century Learning grant that teaches students to research and write about current events in order to think more critically about the world and their place within it. She currently lives in Huntsville, Alabama, with her wife, Nicole, and their child.
Johnson’s work in bridging gaps with diverse populations is evident in her work in Chattanooga as well, where she serves as committee chair for the district’s Talent Retention and Culture Initiatives, through which she’s helped create retention programs such as Male Teachers of Color (MTOC), Female Teachers of Color (FemTOC), and Male Administrators of Color (MAC). Since fall 2023, she’s worked diligently to ensure these programs maintain a comprehensive approach to supporting educators of color and fostering a culture of belonging within schools.
Previously an Admissions counselor and multicultural recruitment coordinator at MC before transitioning to Hamilton County Schools, she holds a bachelor’s degree in Music and Business Management, as well as an MBA from Bryan College and a Doctor of Education in Leadership (with a focus on Organizational Intelligence) from Trevecca Nazarene University. A former participant of the Emerging Human Capital Leaders Initiative, she lives in Chattanooga with her husband, Demarcus Hall.
“Seanny and Jerica have been especially effective in getting out the message that all alumni are valued and have much to share with one another, current students and faculty,” Triplett said. “They each bring these values to their professional lives in education, and they honor Maryville College by their continued commitment to MC values and their continued willingness to help make Maryville College an even better place.”
Homecoming presentation planned
The Maryville College Alumni Awards will be presented as part of the College’s annual Founder’s Day celebration, which takes place during Homecoming Weekend activities. Homecoming will be held the weekend of Oct. 10-12, and the Founder’s Day Showcase will take place at 6 p.m. Friday, Oct. 10, in the Clayton Center for the Arts.