Brothers and friends gathered Saturday at the Arete Luncheon to award four notable alumni with the SigEp Citation in honor of their professional accomplishments. Following lunch, recipients participated in a panel discussion that drew out the stories and wisdom from their wealth of experience.

Newly-elected National Director Mike Duggan, Missouri State ’74, presented the ceremony’s first award to Mike Hurst, Missouri S&T ’74.

Hurst is a civil engineer and construction manager who has overseen commercial building projects for a wide range of clients, from universities to tech companies. Hurst began his career with McCarthy Building Companies, one of the country’s largest construction firms, following his graduation in 1974. In 1995, he was named president and chief operating officer of the company. During his 12 years as president, Hurst contributed greatly to its expansion and development, growing revenue from $800 million to $2.9 billion and implementing safety standards that have been adopted throughout the industry. Retiring from McCarthy in 2007, Hurst is a member of the Missouri S&T board of trustees and a longtime Missouri Gamma volunteer.

Reid Porter, Texas-Austin ’99, received his Citation from chapter brothers National Director Bruce Anderson, ’71, and Bill McCausland, ’83.

While working as a trial lawyer in Dallas, Porter realized his expertise could be used to combat the crime troubling underserved communities throughout the city. The founder and CEO of Act (Advocates for Community Transformation), Porter developed a place-based criminology model that empowers residents to fight crime and violence on their streets through the civil justice system. Act connects impacted residents with police officers, lawyers from top-tier firms, the courts and other affected neighbors. Since 2009, Act has assisted in ending criminal activity at hundreds of properties throughout Dallas, improving the quality of life for residents and cultivating stronger and more vibrant communities. Act has 222 resolutions to date.

Grand President Billy Maddalon, North Carolina State ’90, and Past Grand President Tom Jelke, Florida International ’90, joined together to present Mark Davis, Nebraska ’90, with the Citation award.

Davis has been a leader in the disaster restoration and reconstruction industry since 1996. Co-founder and CEO of Belfor North America, he expanded the company from one office and 33 employees to 52 offices and 1,700 employees — in just 8 years. Davis then moved on to Signal Restoration Services, growing revenue in a single year from $10 million to $150 million, and led Signal’s first responder team to assist the City of New York in remediating the massive damage caused by Superstorm Sandy. Focused on growth, Davis purchased a small restoration franchise brand, PuroClean. Now chairman and CEO of PuroClean, he’s grown the brand from 200 locations to over 450, making it the fastest-growing restoration franchise in North America. Davis began his career as expansion director on SigEp’s Headquarters staff, starting 22 chapters.

Jay Hurt, Davidson ’88, received the final award of the ceremony from NASA astronaut and 2011 Citation recipient, Drew Feustel, Purdue ’89.

Early in his career, Hurt joined the Hurt Company, a family business specializing in marketing and distributing fuel and lubricants. After rising to president and CEO, Hurt merged the company with three others to create RelaDyne, where he was executive vice president of the $3.5 billion company. After selling RelaDyne in one of the largest private equity-backed transactions in industry history in 2015, Hurt retired and turned his attention to higher education. Serving on the Board of Visitors at Davidson College, he established the Hurt Hub for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, the first center of its kind at a liberal arts college. Hurt co-founded SigEp’s Ruck Leadership Institute and has served on SigEp’s National Board of Directors, SigEp National Housing Board and as Educational Foundation president. He received SigEp’s highest honor in 2019, the Order of the Golden Heart.