class act
alumni profile / Julie Keough ’87 and Mike keough ’87
E-cyclers Support Second Chances Julie (Klein) Keough ’87 started out at Maryland focused on academics.
Mike Keough ’87 was more interested in socializing. But, since meeting at the Vous, they’ve combined their yin and yang to form a lasting marriage and a successful e-cycling company. She’s an electrical engineer, and he spent years in waste management. Both noticed too few options for government agencies and businesses seeking secure and environmentally responsible disposal of electronics. In 2003, the Keoughs founded E-Structors Inc., an Elkridge, Md.-based electronics recycling and data destruction business. In 2010, it recycled approximately 22 million pounds of discarded computers, televisions and cell phones. Their mission extends beyond environmentalism. Worried about the lack of job prospects for their oldest son, who has multiple disabilities, they began working with local community programs to employ others with disadvantages or from other marginalized groups. Today, 20 percent of the company’s work force has disabilities. The entire staff also undergoes disability awareness training to strengthen employees’ understanding of each other. “Most companies talk about adding social components, but very few actually put that into practice,” Mike Keough says. “We’re changing the mindset of the work force. They see someone with a disability struggling on the street, they are now not afraid to engage and help.”–MB
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” The Evolution of Terp Traditions Testudo, it turns out, is one adaptable mascot. He’s gone from a 1930s hep Terp to a jolly 1970 jogger to a muscular menace, a fascinating evolution featured in the new book “University of Maryland Traditions.” The fun and breezy book, by alums and longtime Office of Marketing and Communications directors Margaret Hall and Linda Martin, also documents the campus hangouts, tailgating customs and romantic traditions carried on over the past 150 years. To find out more, visit www.traditionsu.com/UMD.–LB 6 terp winter 2012
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—Mike Keough
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1/24/12 2:39 PM