Virginia Tech has named Jeanne Centracchio DaDamio of Vienna, Virginia, one of its two 2016 Alumni Distinguished Service Award winners.

Alumni Distinguished Service Awards are presented annually at University Commencement to recognize alumni for their contributions to Virginia Tech.

DaDamio earned a bachelor’s in French in 1975 and a master’s in counseling in 1976, both from Virginia Tech. A 1985 recipient of the university’s Outstanding Young Alumni Award, DaDamio served on the Alumni Association Board of Directors from 1977 to 1989 and from 2005 to 2011. She currently is a member of the Dean’s Roundtable of the College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences and a member of the advisory board of the Division of Student Affairs.

She has served on the Northern Virginia Regional Campaign Committee, is a member of the Gateway Society, and is involved in the Hokies for Higher Education legislative advocacy group. She has also been involved with the university’s Women in Leadership and Philanthropy Council. Her commitment to mentoring young women dates back to her time as a student, when she was a charter member of Zeta Tau Alpha sorority and the Panhellenic Council. She and her family established the Centracchio-DaDamio Family Global Leadership Endowed Scholarship.

DaDamio retired from IBM in 2009 as a senior program manager in Global Business Services, after a 33-year career with the corporation, during which time she was a founding member of IBM’s SAP/ERP Consulting Practice. Her husband and daughters — Greg (Sociology ’74), Camille (Industrial and Systems Engineering ’11), and Nicole (Sociology ’13) — are also Hokies.