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D.J. Reyburn 鈥�99

Reyburn is an umpire with Major League Baseball whose assignments have included the 2023 World Series.  Serum is an organic chemist who spent 26 years at Hewlett-Packard working on mass spectrometry instrumentation and subsequently co-founded his own technology and consulting companies.

In conjunction with the award recognition, Serum and Reyburn will deliver reflections on their career journeys during presentations on Friday, May 16, speaking at 9 a.m. and 10 a.m., respectively, at the Haworth Hotel.  The public is invited to the talks, and admission is free.

The annual Distinguished Alumni Awards are presented by the Alumni Association Board of Directors to recognize alumni who have demonstrated exceptional achievement in their chosen profession and have made a positive impact on their community. The award, inaugurated in 1970, is the highest honor that alumni can receive from Hope鈥檚 Alumni Association.

Reyburn has been an umpire for the entirety of his career since graduating from Hope.

He majored in sociology at the college, where he played football for two years, earning two varsity letters; and played baseball for four years, earning an additional four varsity letters, with the team earning MIAA championships in 1997, 1998 and 1999.

As he recalled in a profile in the , News from Hope College, he became serious about becoming an umpire during his sophomore year at Hope because of a conversation with his college roommate, Jay Leitz 鈥�99. 鈥淸We] were sitting around, talking about life and the future and I said, 鈥業f I could do anything for the rest of my life, I鈥檇 want to be a major league umpire," recalled Reyburn.

鈥淎nd I鈥檒l never forget what he said. Jay goes, 鈥極h, that鈥檚 attainable. I thought you were going to say you wanted to be an astronaut or something, but you can totally do that.鈥� And I said, 鈥榊ou know what? I can do that. I鈥檓 going to give it a shot.鈥欌��

Reyburn attended The Jim Evans Academy of Professional Umpiring in January 2000, just weeks after finishing his last semester.  The tuition for umpire school was a gift from his parents for earning a degree.

After finishing in the top 25 out of 125 students, he attended an advanced course, following which he was hired to umpire in his first professional league, The Arizona Rookie League.  He spent the next 14 years as a Minor League Umpire and fill-in Major League Umpire, making his Major League debut in 2008 in a game between the Oakland A鈥檚 and the New York Yankees.

He has worked full-time for Major League Baseball since 2014. In addition to the 2023 World Series, some of his noteworthy assignments have included the 2019 All-Star Game; League Divisional Series Playoffs in 2018, 2019, 2021 and 2023; Wild Card Playoff in 2020 and 2022; and League Championship Series Playoff in 2022.

Away from the playing field, Reyburn is on the executive board for Umps Care Charities, a non-profit organization established by Major League Umpires.  He has also been a volunteer for Meals on Wheels.

He and his wife, Cherie, have three children at home, Iris, Maxwell and Cody.

Dr. James Serum 鈥�65

Serum received a B. A. in chemistry from Hope College and was awarded a Ph.D. degree in organic chemistry, with his research directed toward mass spectrometry, in 1969 from the University of Colorado.  Following his graduate studies, he taught and did research at the University of Ghent, Belgium.  He spent a year at Rice University as a Welch Fellow, and then joined the staff at Cornell University as Director of the National Institutes of Health High Resolution Mass Spectrometry Facility.

He joined the Hewlett-Packard Company in 1973 as Applications Chemist for Mass Spectrometry.  He subsequently held a number of management positions, including Technical Support Manager for Mass Spectrometry in Europe (Paris, France); Marketing Manager for Mass Spectrometry and Spectroscopy at the Scientific Instruments Division; R&D Manager at the same division; and R&D Manager for the Avondale Division (Laboratory Automation and Chromatography Instrumentation).  Beginning in 1984, he held Business Unit level positions as Operations Manager for Laboratory Automation Systems, Automated Chemical Systems Operation and Analytical Group Research & Development Manager.  In 1992, he was named General Manager for Mass Spectrometry, Infrared, and Protein Chemical Systems.  He also founded HP鈥檚 Bioscience Products business, served as chairman of HP's Bioscience Council, and co-chaired the Hewlett-Packard R&D Council and the Pharmaceutical Business Council.

He retired from Hewlett Packard in August 1999 to co-found Viaken Systems Inc., where he was a Director and served as Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer.  Serum has been a Venture Partner with Flagship Ventures, and until retiring in 2011 served as President of Scitek Ventures, a science and technology consulting firm that he founded in 2002.

In 2002 he was elected as a lifetime National Associate of the National Academy of Sciences, and in 2004 he was elected to serve on the Visiting Committee for Advanced Technology of NIST.  In 2005, Serum was named to the President鈥檚 Advisory Board for Advanced Technology at the Research Corporation.  He has served as a member of the Board of Directors for a number of emerging technology-based companies.  In 2008, he was elected as Chairman of the Visiting Committee for Advanced Technology for NIST.

Serum remains actively involved in the future of science and technology in the U.S., and has testified several times in Congress related to this topic.  In 2013, he organized and chaired a National Workshop at NIST on advanced technology related to an improved measurement 鈥渄iagnostic鈥� for Lyme disease.  Serum has remained active in research collaborations such as, Johns Hopkins Medical School and NIST involving improved detection methodologies for Lyme disease, Science Advisory Board for GenPro, involving technology for detection of a variety of very early-stage cancers, and the Board of Directors of the non-profit organization, tranSMART Foundation, which is a member-driven non-profit foundation developing an open-source / open-data community around the tranSMART and OpenBEL translational research platforms.  He led the integration of tranSMART with i2b2 to further advance the understanding of diseases.  He currently serves on the Board of Advisors for the West Chester University Cottrell Center for Entrepreneurship and assists young technology companies in moving their technology to commercialization, and is on the Advisory Board of QuixLabs.

He is an active member of First Presbyterian Church of West Chester, Pennsylvania, where he is a ruling elder, has chaired multiple committees, leads a weekly men鈥檚 group Bible study, and founded the 鈥淔irst Crew鈥� Mission Team.  His community involvement has also included past service as president of the Kennett Area United Way.

Active in the life of the college, he served on the presidential committee on the 鈥淔uture of Hope College, and has returned to campus many times through the years as an invited speaker, including for multiple science seminars; a keynote speaker during the dedication of the A. Paul Schaap Science Center; and a keynote speaker for the conclusion of the colleges summer research program in the natural and applied sciences.  He and his wife, Marilyn (Hoffman 鈥�66), have also established a scholarship fund at the college.

The Serums have three grown children, Tracy, Carrie and Lisa.

Milestone Weekend

The college鈥檚 Milestone Weekend is timed and named in conjunction with one of the most significant dates in the college鈥檚 history:  May 14 is the anniversary of when in 1866 the college received its Charter of Incorporation as a College of Liberal Arts from the State of Michigan.

The weekend will feature a variety of activities for all alumni, family and friends of the college.  There will also be events for the 50-Year Circle (all alumni whose graduating classes are from 50 years ago or more) and a reunion for the 50-year Class of 1975 on Friday and Saturday, May 16-17.  The complete schedule and registration information are available online at hope.edu/milestoneweekend

The Haworth Hotel is located at 225 College Ave., between Ninth and 10th streets.