Auburn Alumni Engineering Council honors 6 with college’s highest awards for 2025

Five outstanding engineering alumni and one longtime staff member of the Samuel Ginn College of Engineering were honored by the Auburn Alumni Engineering Council during a ceremony Friday, Sept. 12, for their distinguished professional careers and service to the college. These alumni include three who were recognized as Distinguished Auburn Engineers, two as an Outstanding Young Auburn Engineer and an administrative support associate for Superior Service.

Distinguished Auburn Engineers
Brad Christopher, ’91 and ‘93 Civil Engineering
Brad Christopher is a 1991 graduate of Auburn University with a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering and a 1993 graduate with a master’s degree in civil engineering. He currently serves as president of LBYD Engineers, where he has dedicated his entire 32-year career. Christopher began as an entry-level engineer there and worked his way up to lead the firm. Today, he oversees major structural design projects and guides a team committed to delivering practical and innovative solutions.

Christopher’s structural design experience spans more than three decades and covers institutional, athletic, commercial, municipal and industrial facilities. His Auburn University work includes the Jordan-Hare Stadium end-zone video boards, Woltosz Football Performance Center, Indoor Football Practice Facility, and the School of Forestry & Wildlife Sciences. Beyond Auburn, he has led high-profile projects for the University of South Alabama, Jacksonville State University, Florida A&M University, University of Florida, Clemson University, University of Illinois, Lockheed Marti, and St. Vincent’s Hospital in Birmingham.

His contributions to the profession have been recognized widely. In 2023, the Birmingham Business Journalnamed him to its “Who’s Who in Building” list, and in 2024, he received the Alabama Concrete Industries Association Chairman’s Award and was named Auburn University’s Outstanding Alumnus for the Department Civil and Environmental Engineering.  That same year, he served on the committee that selected Auburn’s new dean of engineering. Christopher is also a licensed professional engineer in 12 states.

As a proud Auburn graduate, he has remained closely connected to the Samuel Ginn College of Engineering. He is a past chair of the Auburn Alumni Engineering Council and of its Academics and Student Experience Committee. He also serves on the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering Advisory Board. Together with his wife, Sonya, he established the Brad and Sonya Christopher Endowed Scholarship.


Linda DuCharme, ’86 Chemical Engineering
Linda DuCharme joined Exxon Company in 1986 after graduating from Auburn University with a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering. She spent the first 10 years of her career in New Orleans gaining experience in engineering and project management for production operations in the Gulf of Mexico. She subsequently held roles with increasing responsibility throughout the organization both domestically and internationally, serving as director of ExxonMobil International Limited for Europe, Russia and the Caspian region and vice president of the Americas, Africa and Asia Pacific New Markets, to name a few.

In August 2016, DuCharme was appointed president of ExxonMobil Global Services where she led organizations providing support in information technology, global real estate and facilities, procurement and environmental services. She was named president of ExxonMobil Upstream Integrated Solutions (UIS) in April 2019 as part of a restructuring of ExxonMobil’s seven upstream companies to three. In this role, she was responsible for setting the vision and direction of the engineering, geoscience, research and commercial centers that execute drilling operations, develop and deploy technology, provide expertise in subsurface and surface engineering and drive commercial and trading performance. DuCharme was then named ExxonMobil’s president of Upstream Business Development Company, a position she held for two years before being named as president of ExxonMobil Technology and Engineering Company. In this role, her mission was to focus the best talent to innovate, integrate and implement transformative and technological digital solutions to solve world energy challenges.  She retired from ExxonMobil in April 2024 with 37 years of service.

For her professional achievements, she was inducted into the State of Alabama Engineering Hall of Fame in 2020.

DuCharme has been a longtime supporter of Auburn Engineering. She is a member of 100+ Women Strong and served as the keynote speaker at the program’s 2018 spring conference. She also established the Linda DuCharme Endowed Scholarship for students in chemical engineering in 2017.


David Kudlak, ’86 Civil Engineering
David Kudlak is a 1986 graduate of Auburn University with a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering. Upon graduation, he was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the United States Marine Corps after serving as a battalion commander of the Naval ROTC Battalion while at Auburn. Kudlak served six years on active duty as a combat engineer officer, including service in the Middle East during Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm. He also commanded a Security Forces Detachment aboard the aircraft carrier USS Ranger. For his service, he received the Navy Achievement Medal, the Navy Commendation Medal and the Southwest Asia Service Medal.

After leaving the military in 1992, he began a career with Exxon that spanned nearly three decades. He advanced from the Baton Rouge refinery to global leadership roles across the U.S, Australia, Argentina, Canada and Kazakhstan. While serving as New Developments Director for the North Caspian Operating Company in Kazakhstan, he was recognized by the joint venture partners and the Kazakh government for mentoring national employees and helping prepare them to lead one of the world's largest oil and gas projects.

Now retired in Australia, Kudlak is a graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors and serves as a non-executive director of PERLAK Enterprises, his independent consulting company. He advises organizations on risk management and serves on the Risk Advisory Committee for the Australian Institute of Marine Science, which is leading a national effort to restore and protect the Great Barrier Reef.

As a dedicated Auburn alumnus, Kudlak is a lifetime member of the Auburn Alumni Association and a member of the Auburn Alumni Engineering Council. He supports the George and Edna Russian Endowment for Civil Engineering Scholarships and, through his estate, has committed to funding an endowed professorship and additional scholarships. He is also a member of the Engineering Eagles, Foy, Petrie, Ginn and 1856 societies.


Outstanding Young Auburn Engineer
Joseph Moore, ’08 Aerospace Engineering
Joseph Moore is a 2008 graduate with a bachelor’s degree in aerospace engineering, and he went on to earn a master’s degree in aeronautical and astronautical engineering from Purdue University in 2010. He is currently a technical process improvement leader at GE Aerospace, providing continuous improvement expertise and coaching to the large combat engine engineering teams.

Moore’s 15-year career at GE Aerospace began by completing GE’s Operations Management Leadership Program. Then, as a field engineer, he supported the GEnx engine’s entry into service on Boeing’s 787 and 747-8 aircraft. He later played a key technical role in launching GE’s first high-volume additive manufacturing facility in Auburn, Alabama, and later went on to lead turbine shroud hanger manufacturing operations at the facility. Then, as the process improvement lead for additive development engineering and manufacturing, Moore introduced innovations that drove $2M in annual savings. He also led the initial transformation of material management systems for GE Aviation’s core manufacturing shops. Most recently, Moore served as product cost leader for in-production defense engines, managing a $300M productivity portfolio.

Outside of work, Moore maintains a passion for service and mentorship. He is active in his local church, a liaison to the Jackie Robinson Foundation, a certified project management professional, a former Auburn Engineering Young Alumni member, a former campus recruiting leader for Auburn and a current high school basketball referee.


Hayley Sistrunk, ’10 Civil Engineering
Hayley Sistrunk graduated magna cum laude from Auburn in 2010 with a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering, and she’s been making an impact in the construction industry ever since. Today, she serves as chief preconstruction manager at Brasfield & Gorrie — a role that highlights not only her technical expertise but also her leadership and influence on some of the company’s most complex heavy civil projects.

Sistrunk started her career with Brasfield & Gorrie upon graduation and has steadily advanced through several roles in preconstruction and project management. She’s a key contributor to the company’s Self Perform Group, where she helps improve operational performance and efficiency. On top of that, she leads training initiatives for cutting-edge software tools that model and quantify mass grading operations across a project’s lifecycle. From 2016 to 2022, she served on the steering committee for Brasfield & Gorrie’s Operational Women’s Network, helping to advance and retain young women in the industry. She now serves on the company’s professional engineering program steering committee, supporting employees as they pursue their PE licenses.

Her commitment to Auburn is just as strong. Since 2016, Sistrunk has been an active member of 100+ Women Strong, serving as a corporate sponsor representative and co-chairing the retention committee. She even co-led planning for the organization’s annual networking and development event four years in a row. In addition, she’s a member of the Auburn Engineering EAGLE Society and the Civil and Environmental Engineering Advisory Board.


Superior Service
Heather Conner, Administrative Support Associate
Heather Conner served as an administrative support associate to the Auburn Alumni Engineering Council and the Samuel Ginn College of Engineering for 20 years. She currently serves as an administrative support associate for the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, where she assists the graduate program coordinator and management of graduate school applicants, recruiting activities, new student hires and more.

For 20 years — that's 40 council meetings — Conner assisted in planning and facilitating Auburn Alumni Engineering Council events in both the fall and spring, including procuring event space, ordering food/beverages, set-up, hotel contracts, working with vendors as needed for each event and communications with council members and award winners including hotel reservations.

“I cannot understate the important role Heather played in making alumni council weekends go off without a hitch. Her service and attention to detail was superb. Heather and Angie Lemke worked hand-in-hand for many years and were the backbone that helped stand me and Jim Killian up in our roles as secretaries to the council. We could not have done it without them for more than two decades,” said Austin Phillips, Auburn Alumni Engineering Council secretary and director of engineering communications and external relations.

For her professional achievements, Conner was named the Auburn University Employee of the Month in January 2002 and was awarded the Auburn University Spirit of Excellence June 2006 and again in July 2025.

The Auburn Alumni Engineering Council (AAEC) was formed in 1966 as a group of Auburn Engineering alumni who work together to support the vision and goals of the Samuel Ginn College of Engineering. The council meets twice annually to assist and advise the college, and its members serve on a variety of committees geared to the mission and operation of the college. Council members are an active and valued component of the College of Engineering family. They demonstrate a continuing commitment to move the college to new levels of excellence and take its place among the nation’s premier engineering institutions. The council provides leadership and participation in areas such as academics, development, governmental affairs and public relations.