Congratulations to our 2020 recipients
Charles Alexander '68 and George Pine '68

Alexander, a Webb Trustee Emeritus, is a freelance writer and editor. After receiving a B.A. degree in economics from Harvard, he taught algebra, biology and general science at Webb for a year, and taught biology at Montgomery Bell Academy in Nashville for three years before changing careers by getting an M.S. in journalism from Columbia in 1977.

For 23 years, Alexander was a reporter, writer and editor at Time magazine. During his tenure he became Business Editor, then Science Editor and finally International Editor. During his last 13 years at Time, he was best known for directing the magazine’s environmental reporting, including numerous major stories on climate change. In 1989, he edited a historic special report: instead of naming a Person of the Year, Time published “Planet of the Year: Endangered Earth.” In 2000, he edited Time’s first globally distributed special issue, which was devoted entirely to climate change and other environmental concerns. Over the years, he edited articles by, among many others, Bill Clinton, Al Gore, Mikhail Gorbachev, Jane Goodall, Edward O. Wilson, Jon Krakauer, Richard Leakey, Felix Rohatyn, Paul Krugman, Salmon Rushdie, Jared Diamond and Leonardo DiCaprio. Among his awards for stories written or edited are the Page One Award for Excellence in Journalism from the Newspaper Guild of New York, the John Hancock Award for Excellence in Business and Financial Journalism, the National Conservation Achievement Award from the National Wildlife Federation and the Bassow Award from the Overseas Press Club for Best Reporting on Environmental Issues. 

After leaving Time in 2001, Alexander continued to freelance occasionally for the magazine and began doing some work for the corporate side of the company. He wrote Time Inc.’s first two Sustainability Reports. Since then he has written for such publications as The Nation, Conservation and E Magazine and for many years was a blogger for The Huffington Post. 

All the while, Alexander was no stranger on the Webb campus. Over the years, he gave several chapel talks and delivered the 2008 Commencement Address. He has often been a guest speaker in such classes as AP Government and Issues in Democracy. In 2018, he sponsored a field trip for a group of Webb students who wanted to attend the March For Our Lives, and he joined the students in our nation’s capital for a lesson in political activism. Alexander is a major financial contributor to the school: he sponsored the Alexander Cafe in the Elkins Student Center in memory of his parents and led the fundraising drives that paid for the Craig Ferrell Science Office and Wendel Haynes Hall. He orchestrated the Class of 1968’s donation to the McDonnell-Follin Scholars Program. For nine years he was a Webb Trustee, serving on the Governance Committee and chairing the Academic and Student Affairs Committee. He is particularly proud to have been on the Head of School Search Committees that recommended the hiring of Ray Broadhead and Ken Cheeseman. 

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During his 37-year career in radio, Pine, a native of Lake Village, Ark., owned six radio stations, three in Greenville, Miss., two in Wilmington, N.C., and one in West Palm Beach, Fla. He also was one of the industry's leading executives. In 2003, he became President and Chief Operating Officer of Interep, the nation's largest independent advertising sales and marketing company specializing in radio, the Internet and complementary media, with offices in 16 cities. Interep was the parent company of ABC Radio Sales, Allied Radio Partners, Cumulus Radio Sales, among others, as well as Interep Interactive, the company's interactive representation and web publishing division specializing in the sales and marketing of online advertising, including streaming media. As President and C.O.O., a position he held until 2013, Pine oversaw all of Interep's radio representation firms. 

Prior to assuming that position, he was President of ABC Radio Sales, an Interep company, and was accountable for ABC's national sales and marketing company. Under Pine's leadership, ABC achieved a national compounded annual growth rate twice that of the industry. Previously, Pine managed Interep's Eastern Region, including the New York, Boston and Philadelphia offices; the region, with billings in excess of $300 million annually, consistently outperformed the national market. 

Pine began his national radio sales career with McGavren Guild Radio in 1973 as an Account Executive in the New York office. After a series of promotions, in 1985 he became Executive Vice President of the New York region. In 1989, he was appointed a Regional Executive for Interep/New York and in 1993 became President of Interep East. 

His father George Pine Jr. was a 1945 Webb graduate, and Pine enrolled at Webb in 1964. He received a B.S. degree in Television and Radio at Ithaca College and in 2000 was elected to the Ithaca College Board of Trustees. While a student at Ithaca, Pine was the youngest Webb Board of Trustees Student Trustee in 1971- 1972. He began serving as a trustee in 1973 and was elected as chairman for two terms, 2011-2015. He served on the Governance, Development and Building and Grounds committees. He continues to serve as a trustee and an Executive Committee member. Pine has long supported Webb as a major financial contributor, was Webb Fund chair in 1995-96 and is a faithful Webb auction donor. He has been a campaign cabinet member and was named a Distinguished Alumnus in 2000. He is also a member of the school’s Burkhead Legacy Society.

*Denotes deceased