The quality of leadership development SigEp provides continues to be a hallmark of what makes our Fraternity different. For so many brothers, taking on leadership roles in SigEp was their first opportunity to build valuable skills such as budgeting, public speaking and managing teams. And as alumni, those skills have served as the foundation for their professional development and career advancement.

The Fraternity celebrated the careers of several highly accomplished alumni at the 2023 Conclave in San Antonio, each of whom first cut their teeth as student leaders in SigEp. During the Arête Awards Luncheon, the Fraternity presented four brothers who have distinguished themselves in their respective fields with the Sigma Phi Epsilon Citation, the Fraternity’s highest award for career achievement.

Mark Davis, Nebraska ’90
For nearly 30 years, Mark Davis has been a leader in the disaster restoration and reconstruction industry. He took his first company, Rocky Mountain Catastrophe, from one office with 33 employees to 52 offices and 1,700 employees in just 8 years. Together with Brother Jeff Johnson (Colorado ’89), Davis cofounded BELFOR USA in 1999 and grew the company to be the market leader in North America in the disaster restoration industry.

After selling BELFOR, Davis purchased Signal Restoration Services and soon earned a major contract from the City of New York for the company’s first responder team to assist with remediating and rebuilding five major hospitals after Superstorm Sandy. Davis is currently chairman and CEO of both Signal and PuroClean, the fastest growing restoration franchise in North America. Since purchasing PuroClean in 2015, he has expanded from 200 locations to more than 500 locations and is proud to have helped more than 300 PuroClean franchisees launch their journey as small business owners.

Working with people and launching new ventures are in his blood: Davis’ first job after college was as a regional director and then expansion director at SigEp Headquarters, where he started 22 chapters. He said his time in SigEp played a huge role in shaping him personally and professionally: “One of my favorite quotes is, ‘Show me your friends, and I will show you your future.’”

Today, Davis continues to pursue his interest in helping young people reach their full potential by raising three young adults and serving as a member of the Junior Achievement of Southeast Michigan advisory board.

Mike Hurst, Missouri S&T ’74
A civil engineer and construction manager, Mike Hurst has managed commercial building projects for a wide range of clients, from universities to tech companies.

Hurst says his undergraduate experience, including his time as a member of Missouri Gamma, laid the foundation for his career in construction. With nearly 100 active brothers, leadership positions in the chapter were difficult to come by. Members were encouraged to also seek out other leadership opportunities on campus, and that’s where Hurst made his mark. In addition to serving a term as the chapter’s historian, Hurst was president of two other campus organizations. In all, he was active in an astounding 11 different groups. “My participation in campus organizations was the start of developing my leadership skills, which was fundamental to my career success,” he explained.

Following his graduation in 1974, Hurst began his career with McCarthy Building Companies, one of the country’s largest construction firms. In 1995, after successfully overseeing a large project that grew far beyond its original scope and more than tripled in cost, Hurst was named president and chief operating officer of the company. During his 33 years with McCarthy, Hurst not only contributed greatly to the company’s expansion and development — growing revenue to $2.9 billion — he also implemented new safety measures that are now standard throughout the industry. He retired from McCarthy in 2007.

A longtime Missouri Gamma volunteer, Hurst is also a member of the Missouri S&T board of trustees.

Jay Hurt, Davidson ’88
Jay Hurt grew The Hurt Company, a family business specializing in marketing and distributing fuel and lubricants that operated primarily in the Houston market, into an international player in the industry. Capitalizing on the company’s location in a major port city and recognizing that upheaval in the former Soviet Union opened the region to new business partnerships, he began exporting lubricants to the newly independent republics.

Hurt observed that many of the skills he uses everyday in business were honed out of a desire to be an effective leader at North Carolina Epsilon. He shared, “Early on, I learned and practiced visioning, change management, conflict management and a host of other things that have served me well in my professional pursuits.”

He later merged The Hurt Company with three others to create RelaDyne, and served as executive vice president of the $3.5 billion company.

After selling RelaDyne in one of the largest private equity-backed transactions in industry history in 2015, Hurt retired and has since focused on higher education. Serving on the Board of Visitors at Davidson College, he established the Hurt Hub for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, the first center of its kind at a liberal arts college. The 26,000-sq.-foot building’s classrooms, co-working space and other facilities were designed to spur creativity and collaboration within the Davidson community.

Hurt has served on SigEp’s National Board of Directors, the board of SigEp National Housing and as Educational Foundation president. He received SigEp’s highest honor in 2019, the Order of the Golden Heart.

Reid Porter, Texas-Austin ’99
Reid Porter’s eyes were opened to the challenges crime-ridden properties bring into their communities while serving in a historically underserved neighborhood in his formative years as a young attorney. Using his legal knowledge, Porter developed a legal solution that leverages existing civil laws to complement police efforts to eradicate crime by holding owners accountable for the activity occurring on their properties.

Porter founded Act (Advocates for Community Transformation) to help make neighborhood safety a normal reality for everyone by connecting impacted residents to their neighbors, local police officers and pro bono attorneys. Since 2009, Act has represented over 400 clients to end criminal activity at more than 240 formerly crime-ridden properties throughout Dallas and Fort Worth.

Porter noted that serving as a chapter officer during his days at Texas-Austin gave him an opportunity to build many of the skills that have been crucial to his law career and overseeing his nonprofit. He said the experience helped him learn how to prepare for and lead meetings, speak in public and make decisions that are in the best interests of others. Perhaps most importantly, he said, serving as chaplain was instrumental in helping him develop the ability to navigate difficult conversations and to engage in meaningful discussions with brothers, even when they didn’t see eye to eye. Porter began to be noticed as a leader on campus, which led to him running for office and joining student government.

“I am grateful for my experience as a SigEp,” Porter said. “It definitely helped shape my professional and personal pursuits.”

Larry Kirkland, Oregon State ’72
Few professionals get to affect people in their everyday lives the way Larry Kirkland does. For over 50 years, Kirkland has designed large-scale public art pieces that reflect the unique history and culture of their surroundings. His work has graced libraries, parks and plazas, transportation hubs, universities, and research centers.

A National Endowment for the Arts fellow, Kirkland designed the American Veterans Disabled for Life Memorial in Washington, D.C. One of his most recent commissions is the breathtaking Waterfront Park in Vancouver, Washington. Featuring an enormous, elongated mast with cables supporting a 90-foot pedestrian pier, the installation gives the feeling of sailing on the Columbia River.

During an intimate celebration of brotherhood at Oregon Alpha’s 2023 annual alumni event in Portland, brothers and friends gathered to honor Kirkland’s decades of artistic achievement with the Sigma Phi Epsilon Citation.

Kirkland, who served as chapter president during his junior and senior years, expressed appreciation for the award and gratitude for the enduring friendship of his Oregon Alpha brothers. In particular, he noted his friendship with little brother and former roommate Ken Maddox, ’75, stating, “He has been a champion of my creative endeavors for many years.”

Some of Kirkland’s best-known works can be seen at New York’s Penn Station; the headquarters of the American Red Cross and the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine, both in D.C.; and Hong Kong Airport Central Train Station. His current commission is a national Peace Corps park in D.C.

Read more about Larry Kirkland and view select pieces of his work at www.larrykirkland.com.