Alumni News: April 2025
Hello friends –
Each year in May we welcome alumni on campus for Alumni Weekend. This year, we will be celebrating classes ending in 0 & 5. As part of Alumni Weekend, we honor members of the Friends School community who have distinguished themselves with outstanding professional and personal achievements and those who have loyally dedicated their time and service to the School. I am excited to share those names with you today!
We present three awards: the Distinguished Alumni Award, the Outstanding Alumni Service Award, and an Honorary Alumni Award.
- The Distinguished Alumni Award was established to recognize and honor alumni whose professional or volunteer achievements have brought distinction within a particular field or vocational endeavor, locally or on a national level.
- The Outstanding Alumni Service Award was established to honor an alum who has generously and loyally donated time and energy to enrich Friends and its future.
- The Honorary Alumni Award was established to honor a Friends School community member who exemplifies the Quaker philosophy and spirit, and who gives themselves to further the growth of Friends School and its community.
This year’s Award recipients are:
Amy M. Morrison ’80 – Distinguished Alumni Award Recipient
Jahan C. Sagafi ’90 – Distinguished Alumni Award Recipient
Christopher A. Feiss ’80 – Outstanding Alumni Service Award Recipient
Members of the Class of 1980 – Special Honorable Mention
Lisa L. Countess – Honorary Alumni Award Recipient
Below you can read about each recipient and their achievements. We are thrilled to present these four individuals with our Alumni Awards!
Additionally, we will also induct several alumni into the Friends School Athletic Hall of Fame which recognizes outstanding individual athletes, teams and coaches who have exemplified the School’s tradition of extraordinary sportsmanship and meritorious service to the athletic program.
The 2025 Athletic Hall of Fame inductees are:
Katherine E. Bryant ’75
Brian P. Valle ’99*
James F. Flinn ’00
Sarah M. Ritter ’05
Kailie E. Saudek ’15
2005 Varsity Indoor Soccer Team
2005 Varsity Softball Team
*Brian was inducted as part of the 2024 Athletic Hall of Fame but will be honored during the 2025 ceremony
I welcome you to join us in honoring this year’s award recipients and inductees on Saturday, May 3 at 11:00 a.m. during the Athletic Hall of Fame & Alumni Award ceremony. Additionally, we will have a special tribute to our 2020 Alumni Award recipients and Athletic Hall of Fame inductees whose ceremony was only held online. Click here to register for the ceremony and other Alumni Weekend activities.
As always, if you need anything or have any questions, please do not hesitate to reach out. I hope to see many of you on campus in May for Alumni Weekend!
Sophia Springer '13
Director of Alumni & Parent Engagement
P.S. Baltimore area alumni: If you're near York Road today (Tuesday, April 8th) between 5 - 9pm, be sure to grab dinner at Chipotle (6314 York Rd, Baltimore, MD 21212-2361) to support the Class of 2025 Senior Family Gift Effort! Details below.
2025 Alumni Award Recipients
Distinguished Alumni Award Recipients
 Amy M. Morrison ’80
Amy is the CEO, Co-Founder and Board Member of Music Sustainability Alliance (MSA), a company that empowers the music industry to tackle the climate crisis. Amy has created a way to fuse her expertise in the music touring industry with her passion and background for sustainability. At MSA, she leads a team of event and sustainability professionals to move the music industry towards more sustainable outcomes. Prior to MSA, Amy was a trailblazer in the live music world for more than three decades, including as SVP of Marketing for Concerts West/AEG Presents, where she worked with the Rolling Stones, Celine Dion, Paul McCartney, Prince and others. According to renowned music journalist Larry LeBlanc, “Her touch is legendary, and she has unquestionably changed the way music events and tours are being marketed.” In 2021, to reinforce her commitment to climate action, Amy achieved a sustainability certificate from Presidio Graduate School.
 Jahan C. Sagafi ’90
As the partner-in-charge at Outton & Golden’s San Francisco office, Jahan represents workers in employment class actions challenging discrimination, wage and hour abuses, Fair Credit Reporting Act violations, and other types of exploitation of workers. He has won a jury trial for a nationwide class of technical support workers, an en banc appeal in the Ninth Circuit, settlements protecting software engineers from gender and race discrimination and older applicants to accounting jobs, and many other settlements to recover backpay for overtime compensation, meal and rest breaks, vacation benefits, discriminatory pay and promotion gaps, and more. Jahan is an active community member, serving on several Boards in the San Francisco area. He has also been recognized by a number of legal and non-profit organizations. Jahan has received the Community Justice Award from Centro Legal De La Raza, has been repeatedly recognized as a California Super Lawyer, one of the Top 100 lawyers in all fields in Northern California (2015-21), one of the Daily Journal’s “Top 75 Labor and Employment Lawyers” in California (2015-20), and one of Lawdragon’s 500 Leading Plaintiff Employment Lawyers in the United States (2018-20).
Outstanding Alumni Service Award Recipient
 Christopher A. Feiss ’80, P’18 **
Chris is a proud alum, parent of alum, dedicated volunteer, and an invaluable champion of Friends School. Following in the footsteps of his brother Geoff Feiss ’72, Chris joined Friends School in 4th Grade and has remained actively engaged ever since. As a member of the Class of 1980, Chris has been a leader for class reunions and alumni gatherings nationwide, nurturing relationships throughout the alumni community. As a parent, he and spouse Hadley were regular fixtures on campus during their child Carter's ’18 time, attending concerts and performances, and helping with important admissions and alumni activities. Chris has had the most impact on Friends, however, through his dedicated service to the Board of Trustees from 2017-2024. During his 7 year tenure, he garnered philanthropic support for the School as clerk of the Development Committee from 2018 to 2021, paving the way for future capital and comprehensive campaigns and championing the most recent renovation of the Lower School complex. He led the Board's recruitment and governance activities as the clerk of the Committee on Trustees from 2021 to 2024. He devoted time and energy to the Executive Committee in his role as Board Secretary for 3 years, and provided financial counsel on the Finance and Investment committees during his entire tenure. On top of all of this, for the past five years, he has also contributed his insights and support as a founding member of the Head’s Advisory Council, a group that serves as a sounding board and advisory cabinet to the Head of School. To be sure, many from the Class of 1980 have contributed strongly to Friends School's success, but Chris Feiss's passion, generosity of spirit, devotion of time and talent, and steadfast leadership have truly set him above and apart.
** Special Honorable Mention for members of the Class of 1980: The Class of 1980 is a particularly supportive and altruistic alumni class. During the Awards Ceremony, special remarks will be made in appreciation for all that this class has contributed through volunteerism to Friends School.
Honorary Alumni Award Recipient
 Lisa L. Countess
Nearly every Friends School graduate can share how deeply their teachers influenced them, and Lisa Countess is one of those exceptional educators whose impact spans generations. Joining the school in 1984, Lisa dedicated herself to the Foreign Language Department and was a mentor to students and colleagues alike. As former student and colleague Jordan Wright ’10 poignantly expressed, “In reality, there are insufficient words to really describe her contributions to Friends and how much she means to this community…She truly is part of the history of the school with her seeing many different principals, heads of school, colleagues, strategic plans, and capital campaigns.” Throughout her 40 years, Lisa was instrumental in the Black Student Union, the Hiram Holton II Scholarship, Sister to Sister Mentoring, Squashwise, and the Convocation Committee. She championed language study-abroad trips, supported the Performing Arts Department, and organized Upper School Collection among other things. Lisa’s legacy endures at Friends, and we are proud to recognize her with the Honorary Alumni Award.
Alumni Weekend | May 2 & 3, 2025
Registration for Alumni Weekend is open! Call your friends from Friends and enjoy Alumni Weekend festivities together. While the weekend is focused on Reunion Classes ending in 0 and 5, we welcome all Friends alumni and families to celebrate with us. Don’t wait to sign up for activities. Be sure to register by Wednesday, April 23!
Information about Class Parties and activities can be found on the Alumni Weekend webpage: friendsbalt.org/alumni/alumni-weekend.
- Register and view the Alumni Weekend schedule here.
- Update your information with the Alumni Office here.
Alumni Happenings and News
Celebrate Earth Day with Dr. Jody Johnson | The Conservation of Elephants Using Honey Bees in Tanzania
The Alumni Office is pleased to welcome Dr. Josephine (Jody) Johnson to campus on Tuesday, April 22nd for a special alumni Earth Day event. Dr. Johnson has been engaged in a project in Tanzania in which honey bee hives are installed to deter migrating African elephants from raiding village croplands, thereby avoiding deadly human-elephant conflicts. She will discuss sustainability and her work on the project.
For more information about the event, Dr. Johnson and to register for the event, click here: https://alumni.friendsbalt.org/pages/events/2025-alumni-earth-day.
Senior Family Gift Student Fundraiser: Chipotle (York Road location) on Tuesday April 8th from 5-9pm
Order from or dine in at Chipotle (6314 York Rd, Baltimore, MD 21212-2361) on Tuesday, April 8th to support the Class of 2025 Senior Family Gift Effort. From 5pm - 9pm, if you show the cashier a digital flyer prior to paying OR use code RHZDVZF on the Chipotle app or website, 25% of profits will go towards the Class of 2025 Senior Family Gift. The Class of 2025 Senior Family Gift will fund a wayfinding fox sculpture to enhance the School’s Native Plant Gardens.
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For additional information, ongoing volunteer opportunities or to get involved, please contact the Alumni Office: alumni@friendsbalt.org or 410-649-3205.
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