Catawba College alumna Sally Whitney (class of ’77) has made a gift to establish the Parham-Whitney Family Endowed Scholarship Fund at her alma mater. The fund will provide scholarship assistance to deserving females majoring in business.
“We are extremely grateful to Sally for giving back to Catawba in this way,” said Catawba Senior Vice President Tom Childress. “She is a business leader and sets a fine example to other young women aspiring to a career in business.”
“I am excited to set up this scholarship to honor both of my parents, Ora and Kenneth [“Whit”] Whitney, as well as their parents [my grandparents], Sadie and William Parham, and Helene and Arthur Whitney,” explained Whitney, who lives in Mooresville.
A native of Lancaster, Pa., Whitney earned a bachelor of arts degree in accounting, economics and business from Catawba and played two sports, basketball and volleyball, while she was an undergraduate.
Since landing her initial job at Duke Power, today known as Duke Energy, Whitney has held a variety of leadership positions in information technology and information management. She has also helped develop and support computerized applications for areas including human resources, financial and materials management.
Whitney directed Duke Energy’s enterprise-wide Year 2000 Program, which was designated “best-in-class” in independent reviews. In that assignment, she was responsible for matrix management of more than 20 projects throughout the world to assure Duke Energy’s systems were Y2k ready.
A certified public accountant in North Carolina, she holds her master of business administration degree from the University of North Carolina-Charlotte and is also certified as a project management professional from the Project Management Institute, of which she is a member.
Whitney serves as the senior vice president for financial re-engineering and financial information technology for Duke Energy. She directs the major finance process improvement initiatives and associated revamping of the supporting information systems.
She currently serves on the college’s board of visitors. In October during a luncheon associated with Catawba’s homecoming activities, she received the Distinguished Alumnus Award.