Careers, Life, and Yale Thursday Show: Alumni Proposed Multi-Purpose Conference Facility: The Architect's Perspective

John “Sarge” Burke is a retired insurance professional having served senior positions at Chubb, Crystal & Company, and AIG. He directed the ’72 Whiffs his year and decided to keep singing after graduation until he “got it right!” He’s still trying. John served as a YWA Board member for over two decades until 2011, when he decided it was high time to focus on his day job. In 2018 John was elected president of Yale Whiffenpoof Alumni, Inc., a position so inspiring that it has added at least 5 years to his life – which is a good thing because no one else wants the job.

Reflecting on the challenges faced by Whiffs and Whim ‘n Rhythm over the past 4 years, John hopes to enthuse alums and undergraduates around initiatives that could maintain cherished traditions and bring to light new ones that will address, head on, issues of parity, perceived university indifference, toxic politics, and other constraints. John currently directs or co-directs five Whiff alumni groups and a 17-man group known as The Ten (he minored in accounting), who are part of the University Glee Club of New York. His musical background is varied, spanning both coasts and a stint as a card-carrying member of the San Francisco Symphony Chorus, under the batons of Louis Magor and Margaret Hillis. John resides in White Plains, NY, where he’s actively engaged in making sure his children don’t return to the nest.

Elizabeth Hedde, AIA, is a Principal at Centerbrook Architects and Planners. Raised in the suburbs of Washington, D.C., she earned a Bachelor of Science in Architecture from the University of Virginia and her Masters of Architecture from Yale, where for her final project she rethought Le Corbusier’s Capitol Complex project for the Utopian city of Chandigarh, India.

Elizabeth joined Centerbrook in 2012 and has contributed to projects at the Jackson Laboratory for Genomic Medicine in Farmington, Connecticut, a renovation at the University of Texas Law School, a wellness retreat at Quinnipiac University, and The Pavilion at Grace Church in Providence, Rhode Island. Recently she has been involved in designs for Fairfield University, Greenwich Country Day School, and a private lakefront residence in Connecticut. She is currently designing a new building for the Alumni Association at UVA.

Justin Hedde, AIA, is a Principal at Centerbrook Architects and Planners. He graduated Summa Cum Laude with a Bachelor in Architecture from the University of Florida, and thereafter received his Master of Architecture from Yale in 2011.

Since joining Centerbrook the same year, Justin has been involved with several projects at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, a longtime client. He worked on a private coastal residence in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico and more recently has honed his museum expertise through design work for the University of New Hampshire, the New England Air Museum, the Florence Griswold Museum, and a new museum of American Impressionism in Westerly, Rhode Island. Justin returned to Yale to serve on the design team for the renovation and expansion of the Peabody Museum of Natural History.

Jeff Riley, FAIA, is a Principal Emeritus of Centerbrook Architects and Planners. He received his Master of Architecture degree from Yale University in 1972 and soon thereafter co-founded the firm of Moore Grover Harper, the predecessor of Centerbrook.

Jeff’s work includes private residences, community centers, hotels, churches, museums, sports arenas, music halls, and numerous educational facilities across the United States. Quinnipiac University in Hamden, Connecticut, retained Jeff as its sole architect for four decades. In 1992 Jeff was invested into the College of Fellows of the American Institute of Architects. His work has garnered more than 80 design awards, including the prestigious American Institute of Architects Firm Award.