Devine, Litton are 'Distinguished Alumnus' and 'Young Alumnus' of year
L-R: Patrick Devine and Robert Litton
- March 22, 2010
An innovator of corporate finance and an impresario of music are the Distinguished Alumnus and Young Alumnus of the year for California State University, East Bay.
Patrick Devine, senior director of global incentive compensation for Oracle Corporation, is the university’s Distinguished Alumnus of the Year for 2010, while Robert Litton, a composer of music for motion pictures, is Cal State East Bay’s Young alumnus of the Year.
Both will be honored by alumni, friends, faculty and staff of the university Saturday, April 10, at the to be held on Cal State East Bay’s Hayward campus.
Devine earned his bachelor’s of science degree in finance (in 1987) and MBA in management sciences (1991) from CSUEB. Litton, who earned his bachelor’s (2000) and master’s degrees (2002) in music composition and percussion performance from CSUEB, also graduated first in his class from the University of Southern California’s prestigious Scoring for Motion Pictures and Television program in 2004.
“I’m proud that these two outstanding individuals have taken what they initially learned at Cal State East Bay to build the foundations for unique and dynamic careers for themselves, while continuing to contribute to this university and to their respective communities,” said Mohammad H. Qayoumi, CSUEB president.
Devine, a resident of Castro Valley, has served since 2004 in his current position at Oracle, the world’s largest enterprise software company with 85,000 employees in more than 150 countries. Between 1995 and 2003 he was director of worldwide compensation and benefits for Applied Materials, where he developed a compensation program that has become the standard of the semiconductor industry. Within a year of receiving his MBA from CSUEB, Devine was manager of international compensation with Seagate Technologies, where he served from 1992 to 1995.
He emigrated to the United States from Ireland at the age of 18, and was a construction worker and bartender while living on the East Coast. Shortly after relocating to the Bay Area, he attended Chabot College on a part time basis, before starting his business studies at CSUEB in his 30s.
Despite his corporate successes, Devine said: “I’m most proud of my two degrees from Cal State East Bay and becoming a naturalized citizen of the United States.”
Devine was nominated for Distinguished Alumnus of the Year by John Kilgour, CSUEB professor emeritus of business.
“Patrick has made important contributions to his various communities, including his alma mater, his profession and his church,” Kilgour said. “He has appeared a number of times as a guest lecturer in my management classes and in the classes of other professors in the College of Business and Economics here at Cal State East Bay. He also has taught a course on compensation management in CSUEB’s Division of Continuing and International Education. He always invites our students to contact him if he can be of any help to them. I know a lot of students who really appreciate his help.”
Litton, who grew up in Walnut Creek and currently resides in Los Angeles, was invited to participate in the highly regarded Film Scoring Workshop conducted by ASCAP (American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers), where his composing and conducting capabilities led to his being awarded its highest scholarship.
He has had his musical works performed by members of the San Francisco Symphony, San Francisco Opera and the New York Philharmonic, and he was honored for his compositional talents with a featured performance in New York’s legendary Carnegie Hall.
Litton has composed musical scores for Hollywood feature films such as “Hidalgo” and “The Matrix,” as well as the fanfare for the Universal Pictures logo. Most recently, he scored award-winning films for up-and-coming directors, including “Love in the Summertime” by Paul Wie, “Gerald’s Last Day” by Justin and Shel Rasch, and “Negotiations” by Ethan Cushing. The latter film was selected to be part of the 2008 Cannes Film Festival.
His talent also brought him back to Cal State East Bay when he was commissioned to write the fanfare for the inauguration of Mohammad H. Qayoumi as the university’s fourth president in June 2007.
Frank La Rocca, professor emeritus and former chair of the CSUEB Department of Music, said that he selected his former student to compose the inaugural piece “to focus on an alumnus who had achieved a lot at an early age.”
“In my opinion, he’s the most gifted composing student to ever study in this department,” LaRocca said. “I’m exceedingly proud (of him).”
Litton gives credit for his successes as composer, and for the opportunity to have one of his compositions performed at Carnegie Hall, to his education and two degrees earned at CSUEB. In addition to teaching music, Litton said that his CSUEB professors take an interest in the lives of their students.
“I’m very pleased and proud of the education I received,” Litton said. “The music department provides exceptional education for its students.”