Please join us in extending congratulations to Brother
Charles "Chuck" Hess, 1967 initiate and founding member of Theta-Upsilon and Brother
Christopher Broome, 1989 initiate as the 2024 inductees into the
Theta-Upsilon Hall of Fame!
Their induction will be held in Oxford during the
Homecoming Weekend this September 28, 2024. Friends and Brothers are encouraged
to come and join in the celebration!
With this announcement, nominations of other deserving alumni can be made by filling out this HOF Nomination form.
For a listing and bios of the members of the Theta-Upsilon Hall of Fame, please see the HOF page on this site.
KSTUAA also voted to permit Brother Robert "Bob" Coons to be considered for induction into the 2023 HOF Class. The HOF Members voted unanimously to receive Bob into the Hall of Fame after he was recognized last year as our Chapter's first John G. Tower Award winner
Christopher Broome
Brother Christopher Broome, IC ‘89 is the President of Draper, Inc - a 700 employee company with ~$220 Million in revenue. He has made many significant contributions to Kappa Sigma including currently serving on the KSTUAA Chapter Advisory Council and the community.As an undergraduate Brother Broome served as the Alumni Relations Chair and was the first President of the Miami Student Federal Credit Union. He graduated with honors in 1992 with a bachelor’s in business administration and a minor in European History.
In 2019, Chris became president of Draper, Inc a private company established in 1902 as an innovative manufacturer of spring-roller window shades to address the sun’s heat and glare at schools and colleges in the Midwest. Draper, Inc has grown to be a world-class manufacturer of shading, audiovisual, and athletic facility solutions serving commercial and residential markets.
Brother Broome joined the company in 1994 and progressed through various managerial roles. Chris was instrumental in broadening Draper's international reach, setting up offices in England and Hong Kong, starting a manufacturing facility in China, and acquiring companies in Sweden. As a descendant of the owner, Chris takes particular pride in the company's commitment to its employees, maintaining a no-layoff policy throughout its 120-year history.
Brother Broome has also been very involved with the efforts of KSTUAA to help our Chapter making many important donations supporting several Chapter House renovation projects and most recently outfitting the Chapter with customer fitted fire-rated blinds to avoid $1000s of fines threatened by the Oxford Fire Department and a new projection screen to help with chapter meetings.
He has answered the call to help giving his time numerous times for more than a decade, helping with the Alumni-led initiation of a pledge class in 2015 when the Chapter was suspended, working as the Chairman of one of the four Chapter Restart committees in 2017 and being an inaugural and active member on the KSTUAA Chapter Advisory Committee.
Chris has served on the Board of Directors of local Boys and Girls Club and coached youth soccer and directed the local club and was recognized as the Indiana Youth Soccer Travel Boys Coach of the Year in 2009. Chris has been married to his wife, Jill, for 27 years and has two children: son, Mitchell, graduated from Miami in 2021; daughter, Molly is a senior at the University of Kentucky.
Chris' leadership and generosity have left a lasting impact on his company, community and the Kappa Sigma fraternity, embodying the spirit of service and excellence in the Star & Crescent.
Charles “Chuck” Hess
Brother Charles “Chuck” Hess, IC ‘67 was a founding member of the Star & Crescent Fraternity which became the Theta-Upsilon Chapter. Brother Hess was one of the trail blazers that recognized that hazing didn’t make for a strong brotherhood in contrast to other Miami fraternities at that time and establishing a legacy exemplified by academic achievement, friendship and personal commitment for the 1200+ members that would follow. As an undergraduate Chuck served as the House Manager and as Social Chairman for a time and graduated from Miami University in the summer of 1967 with a degree in Pulp and Paper Science and Engineering.
Having been part of the Air Force ROTC at Miami, Brother Hess joined the Air Force after graduation. Intending to become a pilot, Chuck decided changed his focus to aircraft maintenance and was assigned to the 2951st Combat Logistics Support Squadron (CLSS) where he supported operations in Taiwan, Okinawa, Vietnam and Thailand. He earned the rank of Captain and became Chief of Maintenance for the 2951st CLSS and received the Air Force Outstanding Unit Award.
Brother Hess served six years in the Air Force and concluded his final months as squadron commander, Budget Officer, Security Officer, Safety Officer, and Special Projects Officer. He received the following accolades during his active duty: National Defense Service ribbon, Vietnam service ribbon, Expert Marksman ribbon and the Air Force Commendation Medal for meritorious service.
Following his military service, Chuck returned to the industry of his undergraduate studies and accepted a position with Western Kraft Paper Company (acquired by Weyerhaeuser in 2002) working as a process engineer in the Technical Department for a mill in Oregon. He was promoted to pulp mill foreman and soon the Technical Superintendent over R&D, Quality Control and Environmental Compliance. After this he became the mill’s first and only double Superintendent adding business administration responsibilities, serving four years before become the company’s Technical Director and assigned to assist the Corporate Engineering Department where he led the effort to install the companies first 24 million watt jet engine gas turbine generators and the a new mill in South Carolina.
Chuck served on the National Air and Stream Improvement Committee (NASIC) for paper mills for 12 years working with the Federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on preventative and remediation efforts. He also served six years on the Board of the Western Kraft Credit Union.
Brother Hess has stayed active in his local church, Tigard United Methodist Church, serving in numerous roles. He chaired the church finance committee for six years, the church’s endowment committee, served as a church trustee, and is still very active in the church’s outreach program that serves meals to over 400 needy community members each week.
Brother Hess is probably best known among Kappa Sigma circles for his passion, hobby and achievements in private aviation. As documented in an article in the January 2022 edition of the Fricker Report , Chuck is a licensed pilot who has built two planes, including one that won first prize in 2014!
He also achieved the Wright Brother Master Pilot Award for flying more than 50 years without an airspace violation or mishap! The award, given by the Department of Transportation’s FAA is rare even among commercial pilots. Chuck has flown over 55 years without accident, incident or violation.
HOF process:
Nominations were gathered from alumni through a
Survey Monkey form last year. That information was provided to the HOF
Nomination Committee who spoke to the nominees and built out profiles that were
then provided to the 26 HOF Inductees from 2000-2023 who voted for 2 inductees!
KSTUAA would like to thank the members of this year's HOF Nomination Committee:
George Duffield IC '67; Fernando Romero IC ’22 and Rick Sippola IC '85,
Chairman for their work compiling the information.
KSTUAA is seeking additional alumni to serve on the Nominating Committee. We would like to have an alumnus from each decade on the committee to help us identify deserving alumni from every decade. Please email us at KSTUAA@gmail.com if interested.
ALL ALUMNI CAN SUBMIT NOMINATIONS. Nominations of deserving alumni can be made by filling out this HOF Nomination form. please see the HOF page on this site for criteria and the names of those already inducted.
