Distinguished Alumni Awards
2025 Distinguished Alumni Awards Ceremony
Friday, April 4, 2025 | 4:00 p.m.
Anheuser-Busch Hall
Bryan Cave Moot Courtroom
Reception to Follow
Congratulations to the 2025 Award Recipients!
2025
WashU Law Distinguished Alumni Awards Honorees
The WashU Law Distinguished Alumni Awards honor alumni who have obtained distinction in their careers and exemplify characteristics of leadership, integrity, commitment, courage, and confidence.
Distinguished Alumni
Calvin G. Butler Jr., JD '94
Calvin G. Butler Jr., JD ’94
2025 Distinguished Alumnus
Calvin Butler is president and chief executive officer of Exelon, the nation’s largest utility company by customer count, serving 10.7 million electric and gas customers in New Jersey, Maryland, Illinois, Delaware, Pennsylvania and the District of Columbia, through six local electric and natural gas companies. Butler serves on Exelon’s Executive Committee and is a member of the company’s Board of Directors.
Prior to being named CEO at the end of 2022, Butler was president and chief operating officer of Exelon with responsibilities for Exelon’s six local energy companies: Atlantic City Electric, BGE, ComEd, Delmarva Power, PECO and Pepco. Butler also served as CEO of BGE from 2014 to 2019. Previous roles at the company include senior vice president of Corporate Affairs at BGE and vice president of Governmental and Legislative Affairs at ComEd.
Before joining Exelon in 2008, Butler held senior leadership roles with the print, digital and supply chain solutions company R.R. Donnelley. Butler spent his early career with Central Illinois Light Company (CILCORP, Inc.), where he worked in government affairs, legal and strategy.
Butler serves as vice chair of the Board of Directors for the Edison Electric Institute (EEI) and as the chairman of the Board of the Cal Ripken, Sr. Foundation. He is the vice chair of the board of the Institute of International Education (IIE) and on the Board of Governors for Argonne National Laboratory. He is also on the boards of Battelle, Emerson Electric, Chief Executives for Corporate Purpose, the Economic Club of Chicago, the Greater Washington Partnership, the Caves Valley Golf Club and the Annika Sorenstam Foundation. He is a member of the Civic Committee of the Commercial Club of Chicago and serves on the James Madison Council of the Library of Congress. He is immediate past chair of the Greater Baltimore Committee and a past chair of the GridWise Alliance.
Butler has been recognized by several organizations for his leadership and community commitment. In 2024, Savoy magazine named him one of the “Most Influential Executives” in America; the Daily Record has also listed him three times as one of Maryland’s “Most Admired CEOs.” In 2020, he was named among Black Enterprise magazine’s “Most Influential Black Executives in Corporate America.”
In 2022, the Boy Scouts of America recognized Butler with the Distinguished Citizen Award. That same year, The Reginald F. Lewis Museum of Maryland African American History and Culture announced him as the first recipient of its “Titan Award.” Butler is an active member of the Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc.
Butler earned a bachelor’s degree from Bradley University in Peoria, Ill., and a Juris Doctor degree from Washington University School of Law in St. Louis, Mo. He received honorary doctorates from Morgan State University in 2014 and Delaware State University in 2024.
Mary B. Campbell, JD '84
Mary B. Campbell, JD ’84
2025 Distinguished Alumna
Mary Campbell is responsible for managing all aspects WashU’s off-campus real estate activities, including operating over 1,200 units of housing, and approximately 2 million square feet of administrative and academic space and community-based retail. Ms. Campbell plays a critical role in shaping the future of the University’s real estate portfolio by participating in long range planning and by leading deal flow, transaction management, and operations. Ms. Campbell is actively engaged in the development efforts on behalf of WashU in the Cortex Innovation District, the Delmar Loop Commercial District, and neighborhoods proximate to the University.
Prior to joining WashU, Ms. Campbell held various roles at Bank of America in Commercial Real Estate Banking. Ms. Campbell managed a team that originated affordable housing and community development loans in a thirteen-state region. Prior to assuming this role, Ms. Campbell was a manager for the Community Development Equity group, investing equity in real estate based private equity funds and joint ventures nationwide, and over $400 million directly in properties eligible for the Historic and New Market Tax Credit programs. The Banc of America Community Development Corporation under Ms. Campbell’s management invested over $70 million to acquire or develop 732 units of for-sale and rental housing, and ancillary commercial space in St. Louis and Kansas City. In the St. Louis area, these projects included the acquisition and redevelopment of the University Lofts, a warehouse conversion to loft live/work spaces on Washington Avenue; the acquisition of Cupples Station, a twelve-acre site in Downtown St. Louis containing vacant, turn-of-the-century brick warehouses; and the development of new, single family homes in Wellston and the West End neighborhood in the City of St. Louis.
Ms. Campbell has been a leader in housing and community development in the St. Louis community for over 30 years. Prior to joining Bank of America, Ms. Campbell held key policy and administrative positions in the City of St. Louis and St. Louis County, including the Director of Neighborhood Development for the City of St. Louis and the Director of the Office of Community Development for St. Louis County. Ms. Campbell’s responsibilities ranged from operating the City’s housing production programs to administering the County’s disaster recovery program in the aftermath of the Midwest Floods of 1993 and 1995.
Ms. Campbell received her law degree from WashU and her Bachelor’s degree from Kenyon College. In 1998, Ms. Campbell attended the program for Senior Executives in State and Local Government at the John F. Kennedy School at Harvard University. Ms. Campbell is a Past President of the Board of Directors of the St. Louis Zoo Association and of Rise Community Development. Ms. Campbell recently completed a 10-year term on the St. Louis Economic Development Partnership and is currently a member of the Urban Land Institute, serving on the national Responsible Property Investing Council. Ms. Campbell received the ‘Woman of Influence Award’ in 2019 from the St. Louis Commercial Real Estate Women (CREW) for leadership, entrepreneurship and ‘trailblazing’ in the field of real estate.
Hon. Stephanie Dawkins Davis, JD '92
Hon. Stephanie Dawkins Davis, JD ’92
2025 Distinguished Alumna
Stephanie Dawkins Davis is a United States Circuit Judge, appointed in June 2022 to the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, which exercises jurisdiction over federal cases brought in Michigan, Ohio, Kentucky and Tennessee. Prior to her elevation to the appellate bench, she served as a United States District Judge for the Eastern District of Michigan from 2019 until 2022 and as a United States Magistrate Judge in the same court from 2016 until 2019. A native of Kansas City, Kansas, Judge Davis earned a B.S. and A.A. from Wichita State University in Wichita, Kansas, and a J.D. from Washington University School of Law in St. Louis, Missouri.
Judge Davis began her legal career as a defense litigator at Dickinson, Wright PLLC in Detroit, Michigan practicing primarily in commercial and products liability litigation. After five years of private practice, she joined the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Michigan where she remained until her appointment to the bench. She spent her initial time there in the office’s affirmative litigation unit of the civil division before transferring to the criminal division in 2000. As a criminal prosecutor, Judge Davis practiced in both the general crimes and the controlled substances units. While in the controlled substances unit she was appointed as the deputy chief and high intensity drug trafficking area liaison. She prosecuted a variety of cases at both the trial and appellate levels, including those involving fraud, extortion, bank robbery, embezzlement, violent crime, public corruption and numerous criminal conspiracies involving high-level narcotics trafficking and money laundering. In 2010 she was appointed to serve as the Executive Assistant United States Attorney. In that position, she provided counsel to the U.S. Attorney and oversaw a variety of law enforcement and community initiatives, including Project Safe Neighborhoods and the Detroit Youth Violence Prevention Initiative. She also led the office’s diversity efforts, redesigned and administered its legal intern program, and led the development of its Legal Fellows program.
As a result of her work at the U.S. Attorney’s Office and service to the bar, Judge Davis has received a number of honors and awards, including amongst others, the Champion of Justice Award from the State Bar of Michigan, a Director’s Award from the U.S. Department of Justice, the U.S. Attorney’s Award for Outstanding Service, and the Bridget Vance Vision of Service Award for her work with youth violence prevention.
Judge Davis serves on the Civics and Outreach Committee and the Criminal Justice Act Committee for the Sixth Circuit. She is a member of the State Bar of Michigan, the Federal Bar Association and the Association of Black Judges of Michigan and has held memberships with the Wolverine Bar Association and the American Bar Association. Early in her career, she served as a member of the Representative Assembly for the State Bar of Michigan. Judge Davis serves on the Dean’s Advisory Board for the Detroit Mercy School of Law and is a former Executive Board trustee for Leader Dogs for the Blind and former 9-year Master of the Bench for the American Inns of Court, Detroit Chapter. She is also a member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc.
Distinguished Young Alumni
Ben A. Barnes, JD '12
Ben A. Barnes, JD ’12
2025 Distinguished Young Alumnus
Ben Barnes is a partner in Dowd Bennett’s Dallas office. A trusted business advisor, Ben has an established track record of courtroom success representing plaintiffs and defendants in commercial and energy litigation.
Ben has litigated a broad range of commercial disputes, including breach of contract, regulatory, environmental contamination, antitrust and unfair competition, breach of fiduciary duty, fraud, noncompete, and restructuring-related matters.
Recently, Ben has been actively involved in litigation before the newly established Texas Business Court. His cases in this forum have involved novel jurisdictional questions and sophisticated commercial disputes, showcasing his ability to navigate emerging judicial processes and provide clients with strategic guidance on complex legal issues.
Ben has worked extensively with clients in the energy, chemical, and industrial sectors, but he has experience across various industries. Beyond his energy-focused litigation practice, Ben has successfully handled disputes for companies in the real estate, financial services, restructuring, and consumer goods sectors, as well as for family trusts. He frequently works with commercial plaintiffs under contingency or alternative fee arrangements.
Ben’s work has earned him recognition from both legal media and his peers. Legal500 United States recommended him for energy litigation in 2023, and he has been listed among Texas’s top 100 up-and-coming lawyers by Texas Super Lawyers in 2023 and 2024. Best Lawyers recognizes him as “One to Watch,” and D Magazine has named him among the best lawyers in Dallas under 40. Before entering private practice, Ben clerked for the Honorable Raymond W. Gruender of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit.
Ben has been an officer in the United States Marine Corps Reserve since 2010 and most recently served as a policy analyst within the Office of the Secretary of the Navy. Ben is also on the National Council of the Washington University in St. Louis School of Law, his alma mater.
Madeleine E. Brunner, JD '17
Madeleine E. Brunner, JD ’17
2025 Distinguished Young Alumna
Madeleine Brunner is the Senior Attorney at HALL Group, which is a privately-held company with expertise in commercial real estate development, management and leasing, financial lending, and winemaking. In her role at HALL, Maddie reports directly to the General Counsel and works closely with the business teams to draft and negotiate commercial office and retail leases and related documents along with service, vendor, and consulting agreements.
Before joining HALL, Maddie was an attorney in the business litigation and dispute resolution practice group at Locke Lord, where she represented clients in complex commercial matters, including products liability matters, commercial contract disputes, and financial services and real estate matters.
Maddie is originally from Dallas, Texas and received her bachelor’s degree in theater from the University of Texas at Austin. After graduating from UT in 2008, Maddie worked as a theatrical lighting designer and master electrician in various regional and community theaters and performing arts centers. She attended WashULaw with a Dean’s Fellowship Scholarship and received her JD with a certificate in business law in 2017. During law school, Maddie was active in the Women’s Law Caucus, and she served as the editor-in-chief of Global Studies Law Review in her 3L year.
Maddie is currently a member of the WashULaw National Council and the WashU Dallas-Ft. Worth Regional Cabinet. Throughout her career, she has stayed involved in various non-profit organizations such as the Dallas Women Lawyers Association and Attorneys Serving the Community. Maddie is currently serving on the Board of Trustees of The Children’s Center.
Maddie currently resides in Dallas where she enjoys working with her husband, Bart, at his recording studio and spending time with their two young sons, William and Thomas.
