A pharmacist who built a health care company. A Newbery Medal winner. A cancer policy pioneer. A Fortune 500 trailblazer. An Olympic captain. This year's Distinguished Alumni Award recipients took very different paths to make an impact in life, and every one of them started at Pacific.

"These alumni have achieved monumental success in their respective fields while also honoring their Pacific roots with their time, talent and resources. We are proud of them and grateful to celebrate their many contributions," said Vice President for Development and Alumni Relations Scott Biedermann '05, '20.

The Pacific Alumni Association will host the 67th Distinguished Alumni Awards ceremony Saturday, January 30, 2027, on the Stockton Campus.

Clark Gustafson '66

Medallion of Excellence | Honors alumni who are faculty, staff or regents and have exhibited exceptional service to the university, their profession and the community.

Clark Gustafson has spent his career proving that a pharmacist is so much more than the person behind the counter.

He founded Optimal Health Services, where he served as president and chairman, and Kern Pharmacies, Inc. He also started the nonprofit Optimal Hospice Foundation to support underinsured patients and grieving families.

Gustafson has also been a leading voice for his profession. He served as treasurer of the American Pharmacists Association and as president of the California Pharmacists Association, which named him Pharmacist of the Year in 2001.

Pacific has always been close to his heart. He served on the Board of Regents from 2014-20 and has long been a leader on the Pharmacy Dean's Leadership Council and Campaign Committee. 

Together with his wife, Pamela, he has created numerous endowments that support pharmacy recruitment, interprofessional education and community outreach. Their generosity will shape pharmacy education at Pacific for generations.

“Clark Gustafson's legacy is measured not only by the companies he built or the profession he helped advance, but by the lives he has enriched through his leadership, mentorship, generosity and commitment to Pacific,” said Berit Gundersen ’84, dean of the Thomas J. Long School of Pharmacy.  “Clark and Pamela have exemplified what it means to give back to the institution that helped shape their lives, ensuring that future generations of Pacific students will have the opportunity to learn, lead and serve.”

Matt de la Peña '96

Distinguished Professional Service Award | Honors alumni who have achieved notable success in their professional field. 

Matt de la Peña came to Pacific as a first-generation college student and basketball player. It's also where he fell in love with literature.

That love took him far. He's a No. 1 New York Times bestselling author and an associate professor of English and comparative literature at San Diego State University. He made history as the first Latino author to win the Newbery Medal, for his picture book “Last Stop on Market Street.” His novels and picture books have since been adapted into major stage productions and feature films.

"I always tell people, I walked onto the campus at Pacific as a basketball player, and I left as an intellectual," de la Peña told Pacific in 2022. "Without that experience, I don't know if I would have ever found my voice as a writer."

His honors include the NCTE National Intellectual Freedom Award and the Champion of Children Award. At Pacific, he was a member of Phi Beta Kappa, and in 2019 he delivered the university’s commencement address and received an honorary doctorate. He remains part of the Pacific family as an author and speaker.

Diane Balma '88, '91

Distinguished Public Service Award | Honors alumni who have made exceptional professional contributions to society through civic or other public service.

Diane Balma was a 30-year-old litigator in the San Francisco Bay Area when she was diagnosed with breast cancer. She has spent more than 20 years since fighting for others facing the disease.

At Susan G. Komen for the Cure, she rose from legal counsel to vice president of public policy and created Komen Champions for the Cure, a nationwide movement of hundreds of thousands of advocates. 

"Diane was instrumental in the growth and development of Komen as a key member of our leadership team during a critical time in the organization's history. Her personal story is truly inspiring," Komen founder Nancy G. Brinker once said of Balma.

She advised President George W. Bush at a White House breast cancer summit and worked with Sen. Ted Kennedy's team on federal cancer legislation. In 2009, she became the first executive director of Stand Up To Cancer.

She also co-founded Discovery180, an outpatient treatment program addressing the opioid epidemic, and today fights for injured people as a partner at Laskin Balma.

A graduate of both College of the Pacific and the McGeorge School of Law, Balma stays closely connected to Pacific. She serves on the Benerd College Healthcare Industry Advisory Council.

Mary Lynn Ferguson-McHugh '81

Distinguished Volunteer Service Award | Honors alumni who have given generously of their time and talent to their community, their causes and the university.

Mary Lynn Ferguson-McHugh rose to the top of her field, and she never stopped looking for ways to lift others up along the way.

The Eberhardt School of Business graduate retired as CEO of Family Care and P&G Ventures at Procter & Gamble. She was the first woman to lead both P&G's European operations and its global paper products division, and Fortune regularly named her one of its "50 Most Powerful Women." She also serves on the boards of global companies including Molson Coors and Smurfit Westrock.

“Mary Lynn has had a remarkable trailblazing career. She was the ‘first’ in many categories in the corporate world that we now consider regular,” said Eberhardt School Dean Lewis Gale. 

Outside the boardroom, she has given countless volunteer hours to her Cincinnati community, serving on the boards of United Way of Greater Cincinnati, the YWCA, the Art Academy of Cincinnati and the Cincinnati Youth Collaborative. That work has reached families working toward stability, women building careers, young artists finding their voice and students on the path to graduation. The YWCA honored her with its Career Women of Achievement Award.

That same commitment brings her back to Pacific. She mentors students through the TIDES Career Resource Center, helping the next generation of Tigers find their footing. She's also a generous supporter of the Pacific Fund and the Southwest Hall renovation.

Alex Obert '16

Outstanding Young Alumni Award | Honors recent graduates whose early achievements and service already set them apart.

Alex Obert showed up at Pacific as a walk-on water polo player. He left as a three-time All-American, a Cutino Award finalist and an engineering management graduate.

Since then, he's become a three-time Olympian with USA Water Polo, competing in 2016, 2020 and 2024. As team captain, he led the U.S. to a bronze medal at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games, the program's first Olympic medal in 16 years. He also has three Pan American Games gold medals.

He did all this while building a career off the pool deck. Obert earned his MBA and MS in finance from the University of Arizona and works as a solution consultant for Experian.

Assistant Coach Derek Clappis ’17 said, “Alex embodies every attribute celebrated by the Outstanding Young Alumni Award: professional brilliance, global distinction, personal character and enduring loyalty to University of the Pacific.” 

Now he's giving back to the program that gave him his start. He volunteers at Pacific as the nation's first-ever collegiate men's water polo general manager.