Bill Landry
Kim White, president and CEO of River City Company, gives a presentation in this 2014 file photo.IF YOU GO
What: UTC Legends and Leaders Banquet. When: 6 p.m., Friday, May 1. Where: Chattanooga Golf and Country Club, 1511 Riverview Road. Tickets: $30; reservation deadline is Tuesday. Information: 423-425-4785
Bill Landry, host/narrator and co-producer of "The Heartland Series," has been named the 2015 Distinguished Alumnus of the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga.
He and Kim White, recipient of the UTC Outstanding Service Award, will be honored Friday, May 1, during the annual Legends and Leaders banquet at Chattanooga Golf and Country Club.
"The Heartland Series," which airs on WBIR-TV in Knoxville, was originally intended to last three months but is now in its 30th year. The series was created to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the founding of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Since the show began in 1984, more than 1,900 short features have been shot about the people and land of Southern Appalachia as well as 150 half-hour specials.
Landry, UTC class of 1972, has received two Emmy Awards for directing episodes of "The Heartland Series" and also the Education in Appalachia Award from Carson Newman College.
Over 30 years, Landry has performed the one-man play he wrote and produced , "Einstein the Man," more than 1,000 times in 38 states and two Canadian provinces. In 2000, the script was distributed throughout the state by the Department of Education and, in 2003, Landry's production of "The George Washington Carver Project" was also distributed statewide.
In 2009, Landry premiered his production of "William Bartram An Unlikely Explorer" for the 75th anniversary of the founding of The Great Smoky Mountains National Park. The multimedia video presentation tells the tale of little-known 18th-century explorer, adventurer and naturalist.
He has served on the boards of the Princess Theater Foundation in Harriman, Tenn., and Sequoyah Birthplace Museum in Vonore, Tenn. He's a member of the Tennessee Historical Commission.
Kim White, class of 1982, is River City Co. president and chief executive officer. Prior to that job, she was president and chief executive officer of The Corker Group and of Luken Holdings.
White is a member of the UTC Chancellor's Roundtable, is real estate chairman for the UC Foundation and is a past president of the UTC Alumni Board.
She is a board member of the Enterprise Center and the Chattanooga Area Chamber of Commerce, and a past board member of Erlanger Hospital Authority. She is a member of the Chattanooga Rotary Club, Signal Mountain Presbyterian Church, co-chaired the Mayor's Downtown Task Force for Chattanooga Forward and Siskin Children's Institute's StarNight.
She has been inducted into the Hixson High School Hall of Fame, named a Woman of Distinction by the American Lung Association and honored by her sorority, Chi Omega, for community service leadership.