Dear Maroons,

We’re excited to share a new way to stay connected with Roanoke College.

Maroons for Life is our new podcast and newsletter. We’re planning to send it every-other-Friday for those that opt-in. The podcast and newsletter have two types of stories. In Motion stories are about Maroons out in the world doing innovative things. Insider segments are about what’s happening here on campus, from the people leading it. We’re going to be featuring a steady stream of Maroons on MFL. The podcast and newsletter will have different hosts, narrators, and contributors.

The first episode is below called Maroons making AI human. We have several exceptional alumni that are helping organizations innovate and improve processes. This episode is also about the new WorkAI Lab, a new program for leaders across the Roanoke Valley several instructors are also graduates. You’ll meet Zack Tembi ´06 and Justin Worrilow ´01, and you’ll hear why we think a liberal arts education is the best preparation anyone could have for a world full of AI.

(Listen to the full-length podcast at top of newsletter and subscribe using Apple Podcasts and Spotify)

Learn more & listen

Help us tell your stories on MFL

If you know a Maroon who is building something, leading something, or making their community better, share their story with us. If you’re on campus and discover a great story involving Maroons innovating that we should be covering, send us the tip. And if you have news of your own, a new role, or a new endeavor submit a class note. We may read them on the podcast and feature class notes in the newsletter.

We’re glad you’re here.

Nate & Rita

Introducing our Contributing Editors

Joyelle Ronan ´21 got her start in journalism writing for the Brackety-Ack, and now she’s back to tell Maroons stories as the first Contributing Editor for Maroons for Life. Since graduating with a BA in Communication Studies, she earned a master’s in arts journalism at Syracuse’s Newhouse School and has written for Richmond Magazine, Central New York Magazine and FilmObsessive, among others. Read her introduction and find out how to pitch her your story.

Meet Joyelle '21

Lewis Edwards ´24, ´25 is Contributing Editor for Maroons For Life and a digital marketing specialist at LeadPoint Digital in Roanoke and a proud Roanoke College graduate with both a BBA and an MBA. He moved to the US from England with his family in 2009, and he has since built Lewis Edwards Photography into a five-year business shooting weddings, portraits and events. He currently serves as President of Ad 2 Roanoke.

Meet Lewis '24, '25

Class Notes

Michelle R. Austin ´93, president and chief executive officer of Bank of Botetourt, has been appointed to a three-year term on the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond’s Community Depository Institutions Advisory Council, which carries the perspective of community banks to the Federal Reserve on economic and banking conditions across the Fifth District. Michelle began at the bank as a Roanoke intern in 1991, became CEO in 2025, and serves as vice chair of the School of Business, Economics, and Analytics Advisory Board.

Inside Philanthropy: Southwest Virginia Scholars Award

Roanoke College has launched the Southwest Virginia Scholars Award, an automatic $5,000 per year scholarship for incoming first-year students from 32 localities across Southwest Virginia and the Roanoke Valley, no separate application and no income requirement. Combined with other Roanoke grants and aid, it can cover the full cost of tuition for qualifying students.

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It’s also how I ended up at Roanoke College, where I earned both my BBA and my MBA. Along the way, I picked up internships in biopharmaceutical companies, spent a summer studying in Japan and took a research fellowship in South Korea. Each experience that Roanoke provided me taught me something I didn’t expect, usually from the person sitting across from me.

Today I’m a digital marketing specialist at LeadPoint Digital in downtown Roanoke. I work on SEO, paid media, email, and social, mostly for healthcare, technology, and dental clients. The work comes down to helping a real person find the right place at the right moment.

I also pick up a camera. Lewis Edwards Photography has grown over about five years into weddings, portraits, events and video. I shoot with Fujifilm gear, and I’ve photographed everything from charity races to the David L. Guy Lecture Series at the College. Photography taught me to wait for the moment someone forgets they’re being watched. That’s the moment I’m after in every interview.

I try to stay involved close to home. I’m President of Ad 2 Roanoke, a Talent Ambassador for Get2KnowNoke, and a returning face on campus. Last spring I got to speak to the Class of 2026 at Leave Your Mark about life after graduation, which reminded me how many stories our alumni have and how few get told.

When I’m not working, you’ll find me outside somewhere with my fiancée, doing work on my business or watching a soccer game.

That’s why Maroons for Life matters to me. Our alumni are building companies, leading teams, and quietly changing their communities. I want to sit down with them, ask good questions, and let their stories do the talking.

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I am drawn to telling the stories of people who seek to create, innovate, and think about life in new and interesting ways. Luckily, Maroons never cease to amaze me. From starting new businesses or continuing their education to being active members of their communities and making a real difference in the lives of others, RC graduates go on to do great things. I think it’s a real testament to how well Roanoke prepares us for life beyond college.

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Truly, so many of the skills I use everyday in my career can be traced back to my time there. I’ve now written about the arts for several print and digital publications, including Central New York Magazine, Richmond Magazine, Richmond Bride, and FilmObsessive. But, I’ll never forget the feeling of seeing my byline in the glossy pages of a magazine when I interned with a DC-based lifestyle and entertainment magazine, as part of the Lutheran College Washington Semester.

After graduating from Roanoke College in 2021 with a B.A. in Communication Studies with a concentration in Screen Studies, I attended Syracuse University’s S.I. Newhouse School Of Public Communications and earned an M.A. in Arts Journalism and Communications. As a student there, I created a film convention for the romantic comedy genre called Rom Con. The idea for this event began when I completed my honors in the major project– a video essay about the troupes and lack of diversity in rom coms.

My next adventure led me to Richmond, Virginia where I worked as a Content Writer for a real estate website. I wrote hundreds of neighborhood and city guides, from coastal California to small towns in the south, that captured each area’s essence and featured insights from local real estate agents. It was an amazing way to explore the country, despite never leaving the office, and shaped the way I define “home.”

When I’m not researching and writing, I love exploring my city. I’ve spent the past three years taking in all of the art, history, and culture that RVA has to offer. My weekends often consist of seeing a film, catching a live performance, exploring a park, or trying a new restaurant with my friends. Richmond is also full of Maroons, so I always feel close to campus despite the three hour drive.

I always love chatting with alumni, friends, and family of Roanoke College, so please reach out if you have a story you want to share. You can find me on LinkedIn, or my inbox is open at joyelleronan@gmail.com. I’m looking forward to the next chapter of RC’s social engagement with Maroons for Life, and can’t wait to hear from you!

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Four Roanoke graduates came back to teach the College’s new Work AI Lab, and the first issue of Maroons for Life asks what they know that the rest of us don’t. Zack Tembi ‘06 runs his company on a team of AI agents and explains what a “ghost task” is. Justin Worrilow ‘01 helps the federal government adopt AI at Microsoft and has one rule for everyone in the room: start with AI, end with I. Then Nate Stewart ‘03 and Logan Hammerschmitt take it back to campus and make the case that a liberal arts education is exactly what the AI era rewards.

• 1:26 Welcome to Maroons for Life: what the show is and how it works

• 2:58 In Motion: Zack Tembi ‘06, founder of Single Fin, on running a company with 15 AI agents

• 4:00 What’s a ghost task? The repetitive work AI should take off your plate

• 6:28 Why most companies are stuck in experimentation mode

• 10:08 Zack’s advice for any organization starting this quarter: build an idea factory

• 13:55 In Motion, part two: Justin Worrilow ‘01 on leading 250 people at Microsoft helping the federal government adopt AI

• 16:42 Who’s in the Work AI Lab cohort, and why you don’t need to be a technologist

• 17:53 Psychological safety, risk, and bringing the skeptics in

• 18:54 Start with AI, end with I

• 22:50 Insider: Nate Stewart ‘03 and Logan Hammerschmitt on why liberal arts skills just became hard skills

• 26:24 Knowing when not to use AI

• 28:37 Alumni coming out of the woodwork, and an open invitation back to campus

Nominate a Maroon in motion, send an Insider tip, or submit a class note at maroonsforlife.org.

MFL Issue #1 summary generated by AI

View the Issue #1 Newsletter

Roanoke College has always been a place where people leave and never quite leave. They carry the College into classrooms and courtrooms, startups and hospitals, city councils and family kitchens, from Salem to around the world. Those stories have been out there for a long time. Until now, there hasn’t been one place to find them.

Maroons For Life is that place. MFL is a place for everyone that wants to be part of the Roanoke College community.

What you’ll get

Every other Friday, one email with two kinds of stories.

Maroons In Motion follows alumni innovating in their fields and strengthening their communities. These are the people pushing their work somewhere new, and the people quietly making the place they live better. You’ll hear from them in their own words, on the podcast and in print.

Maroons Insider brings you back to campus. The faculty project that’s about to matter, the student doing something remarkable, the tradition you’d forgotten you missed. The College as it is today, not as you left it.

Plus class notes. Send us yours.

Who this is for

Alumni, of course. But also parents, families, faculty, staff, and friends of the College. Maroon is a mindset, not a graduation status. If Roanoke is part of your story, this is for you.

What it costs

Nothing. Every issue and every episode is free. Subscribe with your email and it shows up in your inbox. Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or right here.

How to take part

Submit a class note. Nominate a Maroon who should be featured. Send us a campus tip. Forward this to a classmate who’d want to know. Write to us at maroonsforlife@roanoke.edu.

The first episode arrives 10/23. Subscribe now and you won’t miss it.

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Maroons move mountains. Let’s tell the stories.