Alumni Magazine - Fall 2008 - (Page 53) Mexican restaurant in Boston. The food was just great. That’s the first noteworthy Mexican restaurant that I remember. It was very small, family operated, but the food was just terrific.” Pittard’s days at Tech did help prepare him for success in the business world. “My degree in industrial management was a very strong foundation in all the functions of management, from strategy to marketing to accounting,” he says. “I always tell people when I think of my Tech education the opportunities I had in various student leadership positions were some of the most valuable things I had while I was at Tech and were really great experience. That was very helpful in building leadership skills.” Pittard was a dorm resident adviser and active in his fraternity, Sigma Chi. He was inducted into the honorary societies Omicron Delta Kappa, Koseme and ANAK. As student body president, Pittard pushed for — and achieved — an improved registration process and funding for a student athletic complex. He has tried to remain involved with Tech matters. He served as an Alumni Association trustee from 1986 to 1989 and as chair of the Georgia Tech Advisory Board in 1997-98. As a student and then as an alum, Pittard has worked directly with three Institute presidents: Joseph Pettit, Pat Crecine and Wayne Clough. Pittard didn’t enroll at Tech to become a politician or a restaurant CEO. “My initial ambition was to become an astronaut,” he says. “At the time, aerospace engineering was the big, hot major. In my sophomore year, they called everyone in and said, ‘We landed on the moon. The funding for space exploration is going to be cut and there won’t be many jobs for aerospace engineers. You’ve got to really think about what you want to major in.’ “A lot of people switched out of aerospace engineering at that time. No one mentioned the shuttle program when I made that decision. I don’t think that had been conceived. Everyone said, ‘The next goal will be Mars and that’s decades off.’” Pittard is banking on Rubio’s reaching the East Coast before man reaches Mars. ving the Sweet Life By Kimberly Link-Wills Li ALE D “It was kind of a bonding thing between father and daughter. It was fabulous. My mother was a gourmet cook. I learned from Mother as well but really learned baking from my dad.” SMITH POTTS’ CUSTOMERS MUST BE grateful her job in the construction industry was sidetracked. It inspired her to share her gourmet shortbread and confections with a new recipe for success. Potts, BS 79, BC 80, founder and owner of Sugar Marsh Cottage Specialty Confections Inc., learned to bake from her father, Frank Smith Jr., CE 46. “Dad loved to bake pies. He had the canvas mat with the pie crust diameters on it. It was kind of a bonding thing between father and daughter. It was fabulous,” Potts says. “My mother was a gourmet cook. I learned from Mother as well but really learned baking from my dad.” Her father also inspired Potts to attend Georgia Tech, where she continued to bake between studies and projects. “There were several buddies of mine in the College of Architecture study abroad program. I would send them packages containing my baked goods. One of those people is my husband,” she says of architect Charlie Potts, Arch 78, M Arch 80. “The majority of my career was with Hardin Construction,” Potts says. “I really enjoyed what I was doing, but I was ready for a change. I was managing interior construction for Hardin and my division and position were phased out. That was the catalyst. “I had had the idea in the back of my mind for quite some time. You know when you >>> Georgia Tech Alumni Magazine • Fall 2008 53
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