The Beta Zeta Chapter of Theta Xi Fraternity has been fortunate to benefit from many outstanding alumni. Only a few of them are represented below:
The Theta Xi flag pictured on the right, mounted in the chapter-house, was taken into orbit by James Voss, a Beta Zeta Alumnus who served as Chapter President from 1970-1971. Jim's many achievements while serving his country include the longest spacewalk on record (8 hours and 56 minutes) on STS-102, a distinguished career at NASA, service in the Army, graduation from both Army Ranger School and Army Airborne School, receipt of the Outstanding Student Award while attending US Navy Test Pilot School. After retiring from NASA in 2003, Jim became Associate Dean of Engineering for External Affairs at Auburn University, assisting with student projects and development for the College and teaching a class in Aerospace Engineering on human spacecraft design. While at Auburn he led a team of twelve aerospace engineering seniors and one graduate research assistant in the development of a crew seat prototype for space startup Transformational Space Corporation.
Dr. Allen Edgar was a Beta Zeta Board Member, and a Beta Zeta Brother initiated in 1959. He played a key role in the development and construction of the Beta Zeta chapter of Theta Xi Fraternity house, at Auburn University, on old-row. He is known worldwide for developing poultry vaccines and was key figure in the development of the poultry industry in the Southeast. In 1952 the Coccidia vaccine developed by Dr. S.A. Edgar. This ranks among the top discoveries because it allowed commercial poultry production to occur. Principles discovered and developed by Dr. Edgar remain an industry standard today. Dr. Edgar taught thousands of poultry undergraduate students during his 40-year tenure at Auburn. He served as major professor for over 50 graduate students, and many of these Auburn graduates now hold high level positions in government, universities, and the poultry industry. Dr. Edgar also served his country in WWII. As he was a recognized expert in human pathology and parasitology, Dr. Edgar’s services were in great demand throughout the war. Dr Edgar is pictured on the right, in his lab. He was initiated into the Beta Zeta Chapter of Theta Xi Fraternity in 1959.
James W. Rane is chairman, president, and CEO of Great Southern Wood Preserving, Inc., the leading producer of pressure treated lumber in the United States, and has been a member of the Auburn University Board of Trustees since 1999. He’s also a Beta Zeta Alumnus. James is president of the Jimmy Rane Foundation and actively works to raise money to fund college scholarships for deserving students. Through the Jimmy Rane Foundation, James has overseen the awarding of nearly $1 million in scholarships to more than 100 young people who otherwise probably would not have been able to go to college.
Eric O'Neill, pictured on the right while presenting at Hermitage High School, is a former FBI operative and Beta Zeta Alumnus. Eric's real-life work in the FBI was featured in the movie, Breach, while worked as an Investigative Specialist with the Special Surveillance Group (SSG) and played a pivotal role in the arrest and life imprisonment conviction of spy, and FBI double-agent, Robert Hanssen for spying on behalf of the Soviet Union and Russia. Hanssen was sentenced to life in prison. Hanssen’s treason has been described as "possibly the worst intelligence disaster in US history." In 1995 Eric earned a B.A., with honors, in political science and psychology from Auburn University. Following his FBI years, O'Neill earned a J.D., with honors, from The George Washington University Law School in 2003. In December 2008, O'Neill left DLA Piper and accepted a position as General Counsel of CHF International, a global humanitarian relief non-profit organization. In February 2009, O'Neill founded The Georgetown Group, an investigative and risk management company.
Steve Rubinacci was President of the Beta Zeta Chapter of Theta Xi Fraternity, at Auburn University, in 1992. Today Steve is a marketing executive based in Atlanta. Steve started his career at McCann-Erickson working on Coca-Cola, AFLAC, Motorola and Georgia-Pacific. His work at McCann-Erickson included the implementation of Coca-Cola’s 1996 Olympic outdoor campaign. Steve joined BBDOSouth in 1995 as a media planner on the Delta Air Lines and Georgia-Pacific accounts. In 1997, Steve moved from the airline and building products business to retail cars and fast food when he took on the $250MM Dodge Dealership group and the Hardees Franchisee operation in the southeast. In 2000, Steve was part of the team that won the consolidation pitch for Cingular Wireless. He and his team were responsible for national and regional planning, all college and minority market plans, as well as all sports and sponsorship programs for Cingular. In addition to the domestic accounts, Steve has had several opportunities to work with international accounts around the world including Iberia Airlines, Delta Air Lines, Costa Rica and Panama Departments of Tourism, Hilton Hotels, Icelandair, and IKEA. Steve is a graduate of Auburn University with a Bachelors of Science in Marketing and a minor in Computer Science. Steve also served on the beta Zeta Board of Governors from 2009-2011.
Matt Moore, who was graduated by Auburn in 1993, has put his journalism degree to practical use, working at newspapers in Alabama and Florida before joining The Associated Press in Mississippi in 1999 as a business writer and general assignment reporter. Since then he's reported for The Associated Press from Europe, the Middle East, Africa and North America as a regional correspondent, a news editor overseeing the Nordics and Baltics and finally chief of bureau for Germany and Poland. Those stints included more than nine years based in Sweden and Germany as well as extended reporting and coverage of the fighting in Iraq; war between Israel and Hezbelloh; the euro crisis; the 2005 London bombings; and numerous Nobel Prize announcements and award ceremonies (not to mention interviewing every single member of ABBA). During his undergrad years at Auburn he was Theta Xi's kitchen manager and managed to avoid serving Shepherd Pie during his tenure in that job. He currently lives just outside Philadelphia with his wife, Alicia and children Jerry and Harper, where he oversees AP's report for Pennsylvania as news editor.
Joshua Phillips graduated Auburn University in 1995 with a degree in accounting and a specialty in Japanese. As an undergraduate, Josh served as Vice President of the Beta Zeta Chapter. Upon graduation , Josh joined Nomura Securities International where he had been an intern during college, and eventually went on to head their commercial mortgage research group and be a trader on their residential mortgage backed securities desk. Following Nomura, he joined the proprietary trading group of Dresdner Bank where he ran structured products trading in New York and London. Next, he spent 18 months as a commercial real estate workout specialist for National Australia Bank following the start of the financial crisis. Currently, he works for Mitsubishi UFJ Securities (USA) where he trades structured products and is a member of their CLO new issue group in New York. Josh resides in Hoboken, New Jersey.
Ryan Nelson, graduated Auburn in 1997, with a degree in civil engineering. As an undergraduate initiated in 1992, Ryan served Theta Xi as rush chairman and social chairman. After graduation, he returned to his hometown of Hoover, Alabama and joined his family's growing engineering consulting firm. The firm, Nelson & Company Engineering specializes in public utility design and construction management services for municipal clients throughout Alabama. As an alumnus, Ryan has remained active with Theta Xi and was instrumental in helping manage various life safety upgrades at the fraternity house, including a fire sprinkler system and fire door upgrades. He currently lives in Alabaster, Alabama with his wife, Andrea.
Ryan C. Scott began his college experience at the Beta Zeta chapter of Theta Xi, and was recruited in his Junior year to start and lead the Theta Xi chapter at University of Southern California (USC) under full scholarship. Ryan received his BA in Economics from USC in 2001 and his MBA and JD from Case Western Reserve University in 2005. Currently Ryan is the Senior Policy Director for the Consumer Energy Alliance, where he is responsible for developing amicus briefs to the US Supreme Court on energy issues and briefing books for the US Congress. Prior to CEA, Ryan practiced in Deloitte Consulting’s Strategy & Operations business in New York City and Chicago. Clients included Bristol-Myers Squibb, Caterpillar, Sprint-Nextel and Wal-Mart. Ryan managed the design and implementation of capital and technology intensive projects. Ryan played an integral role in the successful rechartering of Beta Zeta in 2011. Ryan and his family reside in Chicago, Illinois.
Artie Vaughn is currently commissioned as a Captain in the United States Air Force JAG Corps. Artie grew up in Athens, Alabama where he attended West Limestone High School. In 1998, he enrolled at Auburn and joined Theta Xi. During his four years at Auburn, he served as Vice President & President of the Beta Zeta Chapter of Theta Xi and served two terms on Auburn University’s Interfraternity Counsel. He next attended Appalachian School of Law where he graduated Magna Cum Laude in 2007. In 2008, he was commissioned in the Air Force JAG Corps and after completing training, served as the Chief of Military Justice at Robins AFB, GA, the largest industrial complex in the State of Georgia. In 2011, Captain Vaughn was reassigned to Travis AFB, CA as the Chief of Civil and Operations Law for Air Mobility Command's busiest base. Most recently, in 2013 Captain Vaughn was selected as an Area Defense Counsel at Travis AFB where he is responsible for providing defense services to America's Airmen in adverse actions to include courts-martial and other criminal proceedings.
