April 5, 2002

City College honors grads

The New Orleans City College alumni board selected J. Michael Brown as the recipient of the 2002 Distinguished Alumnus award and Judith Baiamonte Stromme as the recipient of the 2002 Distinguished Alumna award. The awards are given to City College graduates who have distinguished themselves in their professions and the local community. Both received their awards at the college's Spring Salon scholarship fund-raiser March 23, at St. Elizabeth's, home of Stan and Anne Rice.

J. Michael "Mickey" Brown is president and chief executive officer of Automated Technology Machines, Inc., headquartered in New Orleans. He has led Automated Technology Machines to its position today as a national provider of electronic funds transfer services. The company, with 600 locations located from New York City to Honolulu, Hawaii, is ranked 28th nationally. In 2000, Automated Technology Machines was recognized as one of the Top 100 New Orleans privately owned businesses.

Prior to taking the lead at Automated Technology Machines, Inc., Brown was executive vice president of Retail Banking for First NBC for 23 years. During his tenure at First NBC, he became recognized in financial circles for his keen insight into retail banking. Industry leaders described his leadership role as "strong and innovative" and gave Brown enormous credit for building the strongest retail banking organization in the New Orleans market.

Brown earned his B.A.S. with a major in Organizational Science from City College in 1991. He also graduated from the Louisiana State University School of Banking of the South. Brown has been very involved in the local area community. He is an Executive Committee Member of the St. Bernard Chapter of the New Orleans Chamber of Commerce. He is a member of the Top 10 by 2010 Steering Committee for Southeast Louisiana. In 1995, he received the coveted "Sanchez to Sanchez to Smith" award given by the Gulf Coast International Hispanic Chamber of Commerce for his work with small businesses within the metropolitan community.

Judith Baiamonte Stromme graduated from Loyola in 1996 with a bachelor's degree, magna cum laude, in organizational behavior. She is a member of Alpha Sigma Nu Jesuit honor society and Alpha Sigma Lambda national honor society for students in continuing higher education. Stromme is an executive assistant with Tenet Health-System in the Gulf States Region.

A member of the Loyola City College Alumni Board since 1997, Stromme served as president from 1998-2001. She was a member of the group that developed the board. Most significantly Stromme helped conceptualize and served as chair of the first Spring Salon fund-raiser in spring 2000. Her determined efforts helped institutionalize the event, which has raised over $30,000 to date for adult student scholarships.

Stromme also has been a member of the Loyola Alumni Association Board of Directors since September 1998. While on the board, she served as the City College representative. She served on the Alumni Legacy Scholarship Gala committee, the Alumni Legacy Scholarship selection committee, the Integrated Marketing committee, nominating committee, and the community service committee. She also has been a tireless volunteer for Loyola's annual fund and alumni admissions efforts. In addition to her many contributions to Loyola alumni boards and committees, she has been a very generous benefactor. She also helps the college and its students in many informal ways, and has been featured in Loyola promotional campaigns over the past few years.

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