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Outstanding Alumni Honored by College
Dr. John Greenleaf, 2014 Distinguished Alumni Award
After completing his bachelor’s degree in physical education at the University of Illinois, Dr. Greenleaf enrolled in the physical education master’s program at New Mexico Highlands University. He served as director of recreation for the town of Las Vegas, New Mexico, until returning to the University of Illinois to pursue his Ph.D. in physiology. The combination of his interest in human movement research and the biological emphasis of physiology shaped his career.
Dr. Greenleaf joined the NASA Ames Research Center (ARC) in 1963. His earliest work documented the phenomenon of involuntary dehydration. Just two years after joining ARC, he conducted the first NASA-funded study using women as subjects in the belief that women would follow men into space. He also invented a water-electrolyte rehydration beverage to alleviate the effects of dehydration that astronauts experience as a result of spaceflight. Dubbed “AstroAide” by Dr. Greenleaf, the formula was licensed by Wellness Brands, Inc, of Boulder, Colorado, in 2009, and is marketed as “The Right Stuff.” In 2013, he received the Federal Laboratory Consortium for Technology Transfer—Far West Region’s award for Outstanding Commercialization Success.
Dr. Greenleaf established and directed the Laboratory for Human Environmental Physiology in the Life Sciences Division of ARC and the Human Research Facilty. Over his 40-year career, he has published more than 400 research articles, abstracts, books and book chapters, and technical papers.
An Associate Fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Dr. Greenleaf also has received the American Physiology Society’s Senior Physiologists Award, the International Cannes and Nestlé Water Institute Prize on Water and Medicine, and the American Physiological Society Section of Environmental and Exercise Physiology Honor Award.
Mr. Mark Goldhaber, 2014 Harold Scharper Award
Mark Goldhaber completed his undergraduate degree at American University in Washington, DC, majoring in political science. After deciding that he would make a career in politics and government, he enrolled in the University of Illinois College of Law. After obtaining his law degree, he moved back to Washington to work on Capitol Hill for Congressman George O’Brien.
Mr. Goldhaber went on to work for the National Republican Congressional Committee as assistant legal counsel. He was appointed vice president of public affairs for the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation (Freddie Mac) and held a variety of legislative and regulatory positions with the Department of Housing and Urban Development under President Ronald Reagan.
In 1988, Mr. Goldhaber joined GE Mortgage Insurance, where he led efforts to develop and support policies that helped to make the dream of home ownership available to the greatest number of Americans in history. When GE spun off three divisions into what became Genworth Financial, he was appointed senior vice president of affordable housing and industry relations for U.S. mortgage insurance business. He led the formation of meaningful partnerships that helped expand affordable home ownership opportunities, as well as a broad coalition that successfully fought to provide for tax deductibility of mortgage insurance payments. This action saved American homebuyers millions of dollars, many of them first-time homeowners.
Retiring from Genworth in 2012, Mr. Goldhaber continues to pursue his passion for making the American dream of home ownership both accessible and sustainable to all Americans through his own firm, Goldhaber Policy Services, LLC. He serves on the board of the Center for Responsible Lending, where he works to ensure that lower income Americans have access to loans and to stop predatory lending practices.