David E. Chamberlain Phi Tau Class of 1973. Brother Chamberlain has been named one of six Distinguished Fiji's for 2017 by the Archons of Phi Gamma Delta. He is the immediate past Chair of the Board of Directors of the State Bar of Texas and a partner in the Chamberlain/Mahaney Civil Trial Firm in Austin. He earned his juris doctor from St. Mary's University of San Antonio. In 2006 he received the Fred Sievert Award, presented to the Outstanding Defense Bar Leader in the nation by DRI, the largest association of defense trial lawyers in the U.S. He has served as President of the Texas Association of Defense Counsel and in 2009 received the association's Founders Award. He served as President of the Austin Bar Association in 2011-2012, and in 2014 he received the Standing Ovation Award from the State Bar of Texas for outstanding service as the course director or speaker on over 30 State Bar legal education courses. In 2015 he was President of the Texas Chapter of the American Board of Trial Advocates. He is named in the peer selected Best Lawyers in America and for 12 straight years has been named a Texas Super Lawyer in Texas Monthly Magazine. As an undergraduate David was President of the Phi Tau Chapter and President of the Interfraternity Council.
Michael T. Mannion, Phi Tau Class of 1981. Brother Mannion has served with distinction as President of the Phi Gamma Delta Arlington Graduate Chapter since 2000. In 2005 he took on the task of organizing our Annual Phi Tau Norris Pig Dinner and is so successful in that endeavor that he is drafted each year to that challenge. During his undergraduate days Brother Mannion served as recruitment chairman, not once but four times, and he and his team recruited more than 50 brothers to the Phi Tau Undergraduate Chapter. He continues his recruitment successes as an advisor to our Undergratuates. Brother Mannion settled here in Arlington, TX in 1999 and was a founding partner of the Keller Williams Realty Arlington office. Today Brother Mannion's business, which started with nine agents, consists of over 650 agents and is recognized as one of the top Keller Williams Realty Offices in the world.
Orsen E. Paxton, III, Phi Tau Class of 1971. Brother Paxton has put together a very successful law career here in Arlington, Texas, and has dintinguished himself as a very active graduate member of Phi Gamma Delta and the Arlington Graduate Chapter. He has served as a guiding Archon of our national fraternity, and is currently leading our undergraduate chapter's Board of Trustees. Additionally Brother Paxton is currently serving as a Section Chief and has been recently recognized as "Most Effective Section Chief" by Phi Gamma Delta National Headquarters. Brother Paxton has gone above and beyond the call of duty in service to his Fraternity, Alma Matter amd community.
Kirk D. Walden, Phi Tau Class of 1972. Brother Walden has achieved a most interesting and distinguished career as a high-tech marketing veteran, consultant and educator. He received his undergraduate BBA and his MBA from the University of Texas at Arlington and did doctoral work at Arizona State and executive education at Harvard Business School. It is notable that Kirk directed the original positioning research and developed the initial branding to launch Compaq Computer - the most successful start-up in history at the time. We are most proud of him for his unending support and participation in Phi Gamma Delta, our U.T.A. Undergraduate Chapter, and the Arlington Fiji Graduate Chapter. As an undergraduate he served as Recording Secretary and President of the Chapter, President of the Interfraternity Council and President of Order of Omega. He was also elected Mr. UTA and Sam Maverick. His graduate accomplishments have been no less impressive, and he has served on the Phi TAu Board of Chapter Advisors for many years, as a member of the House Corporation, as a National Fraternity Section Chief, as a member of the Secton Chief Executive Committee, as Chariman of the SCEC, and as a mentor to numberous chapters across Texas, including University of Texas, Texas A&M, Baylor, Sam Houston State and the colony at Texas State. Most recently Kirk has truly paid it forward by establishing three endowment grants for our undergraduate brothers (see more information on grants here.)
Walter E. Hammond, Phi Tau Class of 1971. Brother Hammond has enjoyed three distinguished, overlapping careers in the U.S. Air Force, in the Aerospace and Defense Industry, and as an author. He flew in the B-52 as an Electronic Warfare Officer and in the C-130 as a navigator. He performed a variety of assignments as an engineer for the National Air & Space Intelligence Center, the Air Force Research Laboratory, and the Air Force Scientific Advisory Board; earning an Air Force Commendation Medal (1997) and Meritorious Service Medal (2001). In industry he has 40 years of progressive experience in systems engineering and integration of a variety of aerospace and defense systems, including the design of liquid rocket engines, solid propellant motors, space transportation systems for NASA and the Air Force, ballistic missile defense systems, and a variety of futuristic space vehicles. Walter is a Fellow in the British Interplanetary Society and an Associate Fellow in the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics. As an author he has written 12 technical papers (presented at technical conferences), 15 technical reports (some classified), two engineering textbooks on the design and analysis of complex space transportation systems, and is presently engaged in publishing a four-volume series entitled Beyond the Saga of Rocket Science. Walter currently resides in Florida, but is nonetheless active in the Arlington Graduate Chapter and he intends to continue participation in Graduate Chapter activities in the future.