Distinguished Alumni Award

Wendy K. Thomas , ’98 International MBA

Wendy K. Thomas has served as the CEO of Secureworks (NASDAQ:SCWX), a Sophos global cybersecurity company, since 2021, securing customers globally with expert services and Taegis™, an AI driven cybersecurity platform. Since joining the company in 2008, Wendy has played a leading role in Secureworks' growth through multiple acquisitions, an initial public offering in 2015, and most recently shaping the company's transformation from a pure-play security services organization to a leading global SaaS security company. Wendy's experience in strategic and visionary leadership spans over 25 years in public and private technology companies, in roles including Chief Financial Officer, Chief Product Officer, and President Customer Success.   
  
Wendy is a frequent speaker on Bloomberg Business, CNBC, and global security and technology panels discussing the trends, regulations, and challenges shaping the cyber landscape. Passionate about the collective endeavour to secure human progress, Wendy serves on the boards of IonQ, an industry leader in quantum computing, and the Technology Association of Georgia. She is also a member of the Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce Executive Committee and a liaison for AFS, a 100+ year old global exchange student program.  
  
Wendy earned an International MBA from the University of South Carolina School of Business and a double major in Economics and Foreign Affairs from the University of Virginia. 

Distinguished Young Alumni Award

Brendan Nagle, '15 BS

Brendan Nagle is an executive director on the Biopharma Investment Banking team at Wells Fargo, where he advises clients on their financing, business development and mergers and acquisitions strategy. In 2024, Nagle led the origination and execution of $2.3 billion in equity capital raised across 10 equity offerings and $32 billion in debt capital. During his career at Wells Fargo, he has advised on more than $23 billion in equity capital markets offerings, $4 billion in completed mergers & acquisitions transactions, and $121 billion of debt capital markets offerings. Nagle joined Wells Fargo directly after graduating summa cum laude from the Darla Moore School of Business and South Carolina Honors College in 2015 with a B.S. in finance and minor in economics. Brendan lives in Charlotte, North Carolina, with his wife, Caroline, and his two children, Truman and Shay.

Distinguished Service Award

Cliff Brune, ’74 BS

Cliff Brune, a Certified Public Accountant, before retirement, had over 40 years of experience working in and directing all areas of business operations. His expertise was centered on the timely identification and implementation of strategic initiatives in both public companies and private entities.

Formerly with now PWC, one of the world's largest accounting and consulting service organizations, Cliff directed all phases of client services, including advisory and tax services, for numerous emerging growth companies as well as large multinational accounts. Additionally, he served on various national committees and was responsible for the development of industry specific training and instruction materials and processes, as well as staff recruiting and development.

Cliff also held a variety of senior executive and board of director's positions, including CFO, Group President, and COO, in numerous emerging growth private and public companies. He oversaw legal and regulatory compliance, manufacturing and distribution, research and development, intellectual property, sales and marketing, finance and accounting, mergers and acquisitions, as well as public and investor relations, both in domestic and international operations.

Through this experience, he acquired a vast expertise in the restructuring and organizing of growth-oriented companies and continued using his expertise in a consultancy role through his personal launching of his Strategic Business Initiatives, LLC practice. He successfully guided entities by developing growth-oriented business plans, identification and acquisition of the necessary internal and external resources for implementation, as well as scrutinizing, negotiating, and finalizing complex financial and fund-raising transactions necessary for plan execution.

Cliff is a native South Carolinian from Greenville, and a 1974 graduate of the University of South Carolina, with a BS degree in accounting and finance.

Since retirement he has been active at the Darla Moore School of Business, and incubated through consultation and contributions, a new program for sales curriculum, which resulted in the development of the Center for Sales Success, as well as the student organization Carolina Sales Institute. The Brune family also has endowed the USC Business Partnership Foundation to provide scholarships for needy students interested in the sales initiative. He also recently served on the DMSB dean search committee and assisted in the selection of the newly appointed Dean Verma. 

An avid sports enthusiast, Cliff supports Gamecock athletics as a Diamond Spur member and is also a proud member of the Garnet Society.

He and his wife, Cathy Brune, also a 1974 business school graduate and recipient of the Distinguished Alumni Award, reside in Florida.