Triton pride runs deep in 2026 honorees
UCSD Names Eight Former Tritons to 2026 Illustrious Alumni Awards
UC San Diego just announced its 2026 Illustrious Alumni Award recipients, and the eight honorees read like a who's who of American finance, biotech, tech, and education. The awards represent one of the university's highest honors, celebrating Tritons who have made an outsized impact on the world after leaving La Jolla.
San Diego sports fans will recognize one name immediately. Aryeh Bourkoff, the founder and CEO of LionTree LLC, is among the New York City ceremony honorees. Bourkoff graduated with an economics degree from Muir College in 1995 and went on to build one of the most influential merchant banks in media and technology. His $5 million gift to UCSD Athletics resulted in RIMAC Arena being renamed LionTree Arena, where Triton basketball fans now pack the stands for Big West showdowns.
Another standout is Sian Leah Beilock, who studied cognitive science at Marshall College before becoming the first female president of Dartmouth. Her TED talk on performance under pressure has racked up more than three million views.
The Bay Area ceremony will honor tech executive Janice Durbin Chaffin, biotech CEO Ann Lee-Karlon, venture partner Gregory Papadopoulos, and Hatch sleep wellness co-founder Ann Crady Weiss, whose product was named one of TIME's 100 Best Inventions.
Rounding out the New York honorees are Robert Koenigsberger, who founded emerging markets firm Gramercy Funds Management, and David Marchick, dean of the Kogod School of Business at American University, who previously served as COO of the U.S. Development Finance Corporation.
The awards will be presented at ceremonies in April. For a campus that now boasts 256,000 alumni worldwide, these eight Tritons prove that what starts in La Jolla rarely stays there.
Sources: UC San Diego Today | UCSD Alumni | UCSD Tritons | San Diego Union-Tribune