Two alumni receive Roanoke College Medal (w/video)

Two Roanoke College graduates recently received the College's highest alumni honor for strong contributions to their communities and in their career fields.

Mary Claudia Belk Pilon ‘96 and Michael A. Martino '79 are recipients of this year's Roanoke College Medal. They were honored during an April 8 luncheon at the College.

The medal recognizes Roanoke alumni who have demonstrated leadership, intellectual integrity, and a dedication to serving their communities.

While a student at Roanoke, Pilon majored in Sociology and was a member of the cross country team. After graduation, she worked as Roanoke College's assistant alumni director. Later she spent 12 years in retail management for Belk, Inc., in North Carolina and five years with The Belk Foundation, a family foundation that focuses on improving early childhood education, teaching, and leadership in public schools.

Pilon became chair of the John M. Belk Endowment in 2012. The endowment originally funded the John M. Belk Scholarship at Davidson College.

Pilon leads the endowment on its mission to create a stronger North Carolina by providing postsecondary education to underrepresented students. In 2015, the endowment gave more than $13 million to organizations and institutions.

Pilon and her husband, Jeffrey Pilon, have three children.

Martino majored in Business Administration at Roanoke College and played lacrosse and baseball. He also held leadership positions in the Pi Lambda Phi fraternity.

After graduation, he earned his MBA at Virginia Tech, and in 1983, Martino began a career in the pharmaceutical industry at Mallinckrodt Pharmaceuticals, where he held positions in planning, business development, marketing and general management. Martino later became vice president and general manager of Mallinckrodt's global nuclear medicine business.

Martino has been CEO at several medical and biosciences companies, including Sonus Pharmaceuticals, Arzeda and Ambit Biosciences.

In 2015, Martino became president, CEO, and a member of the Board of Directors of Hemaflo Therapeutics, a company that sells devices for the treatment of acute kidney injury and other conditions where an organ does not receive enough blood.

Martino is the father of two grown sons.