The William H. Carr School of Accountancy in Troy University’s Sorrell College of Business has inducted three people into its Hall of Honor and named a Young Alumni Award winner.
In addition, the Carr School awarded 44 student scholarships during its 34th Annual Accounting Dayactivities.
Inducted into the Hall of Honor were Phyllis Ingram, Jean Shepherd and Jon Gordon. Heather Pugh was named the Young Alumni Award winner.
Pugh, a native of Destin, FL, is a two-time Carr School graduate and holds the Master of Accountancy degree. She is a manager in Warren Averett’s Audit Division, where she and her team provide external audit and review assurance services. She specializes in benefit plan audits and has experience in working with the construction and real estate, manufacturing and distribution, and retail and consumer industries. She’s been with the firm for eight years.
“Comparison is the thief of joy: I kept that quote on a sticky note on my desk in college, then on my computer at work, and it’s still taped to my computer at my home office,” she said receiving the award.
“If you take one thing from me today, let it be this: focus on yourself and your path. Don’t let someone else’s timeline, win or promotion take away from your joy; have confidence in yourself,” Pugh said. “You are more capable, intelligent and more outgoing than you give yourself credit for . . . remember, the key is humble confidence. Keep a willingness to learn and great attitude and you’ll go farther than you think.”
The Carr School names two alumni and one non-alumnus to its Hall of Honor each year.
Phyllis Ingram is partner-in-charge of Carr, Riggs & Ingram’s Montgomery office and leads the firm’s Financial Services Industry line.
“Phyllis truly represents the heart of CRI. Her passion and dedication to exceeding client expectations is reflected in CRI’s core values,” said Carr School Director Dr. Josh McGowan.
With more than 30 years of experience as a CPA, Ingram provides accounting, auditing and taxation services to insurance companies, captives, workers’ compensation self-insured funds, closely held businesses and non-profit trade associations throughout the United States.
In addition to her work at CRI, she serves on the board of directors of Trustmark National Bank, and various non-profit organizations.
Jon Gordon, also a two-time Sorrell College graduate, holds a bachelor’s degree and a Master of Business Administration degree from TROY. He is Chief Financial Officer and Chief Risk Officer at Troy Bank and Trust Company.
“Jon is known for his thoughtful counsel to his fellow executive team members and bank board,” McGowan said. “His commitment to sound financial stewardship, and his ability to navigate complex regulatory landscapes with clarity and confidence is an outstanding example of how TROY graduates impact the world around them.”
Following his graduation from TROY in 2004, he joined the audit division of Warren Averett, rising to the manager level before moving from public accounting into banking with TB&T in 2011.
Retired Carr School lecturer Jean Shepherd is a CPA with more than 25 years of experience in public accounting and oil field services, and served as Chief Financial Officer of the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians, where she had oversight of the finance function, internal audit, contracting and compliance for the tribe’s oil and gas exploration company, two casinos, wire harness plants in the U.S. and Mexico, a printing company and other business interests.
A licensed CPA in both Alabama and Mississippi, she served six years on the Mississippi State Board of Accountancy. She holds a Master of Business Administration Degree with a concentration in Accounting from Mississippi College.
After returning to Pike County, she began teaching accounting at TROY in 2014, becoming a full-time lecturer in 2020. She retired in May 2025.
Two other faculty members were singled out for recognition during the awards luncheon.
Receiving the Steve Grice Outstanding Accounting Professor of the Year, voted on by the student body, was Associate Professor Dr. Dena Mitchell, and a special service award recognized Dr. Lorraine McGrath, who retired in 2024 as the Carr School’s director.
“Dr. Magrath was one of the leading forces for the Sorrell College’s AACSB accreditation. She loved the Carr School, and her long-term, strategic thinking is what allowed us to excel as a program,” said McGowan. “I, and all of us in the Sorrell College of Business, are very grateful for her service over her career.”
The student scholarship awards represent not only the quality of students at both the undergraduate and graduate level, but reflect the support of individual donors, accounting firms and organizations and Accountancy Day sponsors. In all, more than $75,000 were provided to Carr School students.
Sponsors include the Alabama Society of CPAs, Aldridge, Borden & Company, BMSS, Carr, Riggs & Ingram, Dent Moses, Draffin & Tucker, Eisner Amper
Himmelwright, Huguley & Boles, Jackson Thornton & Co., Maulding & Jenkins, TaylorChandler, and Warren Averett.
The ASCPA’s Accounting Achievement Award is awarded to an outstanding student who has received an accounting undergraduate degree and is pursuing the Master of Accountancy degree. Kearston Clancy, of Enterprise, was this year’s recipient. ASCPA’s Educational Foundation Scholarships went to Master of Accountancy students Desiree Morena, of Monroeville, and Alden Barentine, of Deatsville.
Another national organization, the Public Company Oversight Board, named Carr School students Emma Weeks and Emily Stroud as PCAOB Scholars. Each received a $15,000 scholarship with the award.
The Accounting Society Award for Excellence went to Haley Hoggle, of Troy, who served as the Society’s president and was a Becker Student Ambassador.
Presenting the Bettie Hopper Outstanding Graduating Senior Award and the Bettie Hopper Perpetual Memorial Scholarship was Bill Hopper, who retired in 1996 as TROY’s Senior Vice Chancellor of Finance and Administration. Prior to that, he was Senior Vice Chancellor of the Troy State University System and Senior Vice President of Financial Affairs for the Troy Campus.
The senior award went to McKenzie Winslett, of Deatsville, while the memorial scholarship was awarded to Raegan Bragg, of Elba. The memorial scholarship recognizes a “hard-working student.”
Hopper and his wife Debbie, both long-standing TROY supporters, also established a perpetual endowed scholarship in memory of his father, Louis Hopper, Jr., in the College of Arts and Humanities.
“What matters in life is not what you have accomplished for yourself, but what part you have played in making the lives of others better while you lived,” Hopper said.
In all 31 different students received scholarships during the Accountancy Day.
