illini comeback guests
Illini Comeback, a program that began in 1980, honors prominent and accomplished alumni. The guests are invited to return to campus and interact with students, staff and faculty through formal programs, classroom visits, and social activities held at Homecoming. The program is coordinated by the Student Alumni Ambassadors and sponsored by the UI Alumni Association.
The 2009 Illini Comeback guests are:
Mark Filip
Rob Kennedy
Marvin White
The Hon. Mark Filip’s ’88 LAS law career has taken him from private practice to the federal bench to service at the U.S. Department of Justice. After being named deputy attorney general of the United States under President George W. Bush, Filip was asked to serve as acting attorney general of the nation by President Barack Obama’s administration. Upon the confirmation of the current attorney general, Filip joined the law offices of Kirkland & Ellis LLP in Chicago and Washington, D.C. He previously served as a federal judge in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois and was a law partner at Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom in Chicago. Filip has also worked as an assistant U.S. attorney in Chicago and taught law at the University of Chicago Law School.
Robert G. Kennedy ’78 ENG is co-president and co-chief operating officer at C-SPAN, the Cable Satellite Public Affairs Network created as a public service by America’s cable television industry to provide balanced, commercial-free coverage of the U.S. political process. Joining the operation two decades ago in its beginning stages, Kennedy has played a formative role in bringing C-SPAN to full-fledged status, with its programming now spread over three television channels, radio and a Web site. The network – which offers live proceedings with no editing, commentary or analysis – provides full, uncut coverage of government functions, including Congressional hearings, testimonies, speeches and political campaigns. C-SPAN also provides its viewers with direct access to public officials through its call-in programs, as well as programming related to nonfiction books and U.S. history.
Marvin White ’69 LAS is the chief technology officer of Sportvision, premier innovator of sports and entertainment products that enhance sports broadcasts on television and the Internet. Regarded as one of the world’s top experts in automated mapping and related technologies from his prior work with Etak, the navigation company, and the U.S. Census Bureau, White has been with Sportvision since its inception in 1998, leading the development of numerous technologies, including football’s Virtual Yellow 1st and Ten Line, the KZone virtual strike zone in baseball, and RACEf/x in auto racing. Sportvision’s products – used in broadcasts ranging from the NFL and college football to the NBA, NASCAR, NHL, Major League Baseball and the PGA and LPGA tours – have earned eight Emmy awards and dominate advancements in sports television.