Troy University has announced its 2021 Alumni of the Year award recipients.

The group of four honorees will be recognized during this year’s Homecoming football game on Nov. 13, when the Trojans welcome Louisiana to Veterans Memorial Stadium. Kickoff time for the game is set for 2:30 p.m.

This year’s Alumni of the Year are: Bryan Daniel Hubbard, Senior Vice President of Claims for Alfa Mutual Insurance Company; Rick Maxey, retired Assistant Vice President in the Office of Diversity and Inclusion at Florida Polytechnic University in Lakeland, Florida; Col. Kyna McCall-Paster (USAF, ret.), Client Executive for ARRAY, a subsidiary of CGI Federal; and, William (Randy) Wilkes, Superintendent of the Phenix City School system.

“We are excited this year to recognize four Alumni of the Year, and each recipient has clearly demonstrated the Trojan spirit in their service to community, career and Troy University,” said Faith Byrd, Director of Alumni Affairs.

The recipients will be honored during a special presentation at halftime of the football game.

Bryan Daniel Hubbard (’88) is Senior Vice President, Claims at Alfa Insurance Company where he leads a team of 250 employees who serve about 1.2 million policies in Alabama, Georgia and Mississippi. He also serves on the company’s 15-member Senior Management Team where he has input in the shaping of corporate strategy for the Alfa family of companies. After graduating from TROY with a bachelor’s degree in finance, he went on to complete the Associate in Claims at the Insurance Institute of America and later earned his Juris Doctorate degree from the Birmingham School of Law in 1997. Hubbard is a lifetime member of the Troy University Alumni Association, an active member of TROY’s Montgomery Metro Alumni Chapter and a member of the TROY Risk Management and Insurance Advisory Board. He has served as chairman of the Alabama Insurance Guaranty Board, secretary of the Mississippi Insurance Guaranty Board, a member of the Farm Bureau National Claims Committee, a member of the Claims Advisory Committees of both the American Property Casualty Insurance Association and the American Agricultural Insurance Company, a member of the Britton YMCA Board and a Jimmy Hitchcock Committee member. During his time at TROY, Hubbard was a member of the 1984 and 1987 national championship football teams and the 1984, 1986 and 1987 Gulf South Conference championship teams. He was also a second-team All-Gulf South Conference selection at linebacker in 1988.

Rick Maxey (’78) retired as Assistant Vice President of the Office of Diversity and Inclusion at Florida Polytechnic University. A member of the university’s staff since 2013, Maxey has also served in the roles of Director of Government Relations, Assistant Vice President of Government Relations, and Assistant Vice President of Economic Development and Board Liaison. Upon retirement he established a consulting company (Maxey, Inc.) with his wife Jackye. Prior to Florida Poly he served for 14 years in the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and four years in the Florida Department of Corrections. Among his roles in FDLE he was Chief of Training for Florida’s criminal justice training system and senior crime scene analyst. After receiving his bachelor’s degree in Biology from TROY, he went on to later earn a MPA from Florida State University in 1989. Maxey is a member of the Trojan Shield Society, a Silver Trojan Warrior Club member, a former member of the National Alumni Association Board of Directors and a member of the inaugural Troy University Sports Hall of Fame Advisory Committee. A member of the 1974-1977 football teams, Maxey helped lead TROY to a 1976 Gulf South Conference championship. He was inducted into the TROY Sports Hall of Fame in 2016. Maxey is very active within the Lakeland, Florida, community, currently serving or having served on the Board of Directors of the Central Florida Speech and Hearing Center, the Board of Directors of the Early Learning Coalition, the Board of Directors of Lakeland Vision, Inc., the Lakeland History and Culture Center Committee, Vice Chair of the Board of Advisers for Summerlin Academy, the Volunteers in Service to the Elderly Advisory Board and the Board of Directors of the Lakeland Rotary Club.

Kyna McCall-Paster (’89) retired at the rank of Colonel after 30 years of service in the U.S. Air Force. During her Air Force Career, she worked in six Major Commands, three Combatant Commands and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. McCall-Paster supported Desert Storm, Operation Allied Force and Operation Iraqi Freedom. When she was pinned as Colonel, she was one of only 24 African American females with the rank. Today, she serves as a Client Executive with ARRAY, an information technology company supporting U.S. Air Force contracts in Montgomery and other locations. McCall-Paster has served as Secretary and as a member of the social media team for the Trojan Tailgater Alumni Chapter since 2016. She has served as a guest speaker for Troy University ROTC Detachment 017 and has donated clothing to the TROY Career Closet. In 2020, she became a Circle of Honor donor for the National Pan-Hellenic Council Plaza. An active part of the Montgomery community, McCall-Paster has served as President of the AFCEA Montgomery Chapter since 2018 and Chairperson for Lake Elam Missionary Baptist Church’s Community Outreach Program since 2019, as well as having served as a leader for the church’s youth department since 2015. She also served on Montgomery Mayor Stephen Reed’s Montgomery United Infrastructure and Transportation Transition Team from December 2019 to February 2020. McCall-Paster received the AFCEA Meritorious Service Award in 2020, the Montgomery AFCEA Women in AFCEA Award in 2019 and led her chapter to winning the AFCEA International Harry C. Ingles Award. McCall-Paster also served as President of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. Nu Theta Chapter during her time at Troy University.

William R. (Randy) Wilkes (’89, ’92) has served as Superintendent of Phenix City Schools (PCS) since 2014. In 2018, he was named Alabama Superintendent of the Year. Wilkes’ primary focus has been on STEMing students from poverty, and as a result, the system earned its first-ever “A” in 2019.  Previously, Wilkes served as Superintendent of Crenshaw County for 3.5 years. He is in his 33^rd year of public school service. Wilkes received his Education Specialists degree from Auburn University at Montgomery and Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in mathematics from then-Troy State University. During his time at TROY, Wilkes was a three-year letterman on the Trojans football team and a member of the 1987 National Championship team. A lifetime member of the Troy University Alumni Association, Wilkes is a former member of the Alumni Association’s Board of Directors and past President of the Crenshaw County TROY Alumni Chapter. Wilkes was a member of the State Superintendent’s Advisory Committee in 2017, received the Marbury Technology Innovation Award from the Alabama State Department of Education in 2016, and served as the commencement speaker for Troy University’s Phenix City Commencement ceremony in 2015. He organized the “Friends of Phenix City Schools,” which raised $1.2 million for the new STEM Center for Phenix City Schools in 2015-2016, and was named as a Mover and Shaper by Business Alabama in 2014 and 2019. He serves on the Board of Directors and is President of District IV of School Superintendents of Alabama.