The University of Louisiana at Lafayette Alumni Association recognized Stacey Henderson Doré, ’93, an attorney, and Dr. Michael W. Langston, ’77, a professor of chaplain ministries, with its 2015 Outstanding Alumni Award on Friday.
They received the award during a reception at the UL Lafayette Alumni Center.
The Outstanding Alumni Award is the highest honor UL Lafayette gives to a former student. It is presented for professional and personal achievements that have brought honor and distinction to the University. Graduates and former students who attended no less than 10 years ago are eligible for this award.
Doré graduated summa cum laude with a bachelor’s degree in journalism and received a law degree cum laude from Harvard Law School. She is executive vice president and general counsel of Energy Future Holdings Corp., a Dallas-based energy company.
Langston graduated from the University with a bachelor’s degree in education. He holds a doctorate from Bethel Theological Seminary. He is a professor of chaplain ministries at Columbia International University, Seminary and School of Ministry in Columbia, S.C.
Stacey Henderson Doré
Doré advises EFH’s senior management team on legal, regulatory and corporate governance matters, oversees the corporate secretary’s office, and leads the company’s legal and compliance team. She also serves as co-chief restructuring officer for the EFH portfolio of companies as they make their way through the largest Chapter 11 bankruptcy ever filed in Delaware. Doré is managing all aspects of the process as the companies work out a plan to restructure more than $40 billion in debt.
Previously, as vice president and general counsel of EFH subsidiary Luminant, she and a team of about 20 professionals provided legal, compliance and contract administration services to the company. In that role, she led the legal team that successfully challenged the EPA’s Cross-State Air Pollution Rule, enabling Luminant to avoid nearly 500 job losses in East Texas.
Prior to becoming Luminant’s general counsel, Doré served for three years as associate general counsel in charge of litigation for EFH, where she managed all litigation for EFH, Luminant and TXU Energy. In that role, Doré led the trial team that secured a defense verdict and $12 million in counterclaim damages for Luminant in a $500 million lawsuit brought by Alcoa Inc., an aluminum company. The Association of Corporate Counsel and DCEO Magazine named her as Outstanding In-House Counsel in 2010 for her work on the Alcoa case and other accomplishments at EFH.
Prior to joining EFH in 2008, Doré was in private practice at Vinson & Elkins LLP, where she engaged in a business litigation practice for 11 years with a focus on antitrust law and media defense work. She led the firm’s defense efforts on numerous complex business litigation matters, including several large consumer and antitrust class actions. At Vinson & Elkins, she served as pro bono coordinator for the Dallas office and handled numerous pro bono cases involving immigration and family law matters.
Doré serves on the board of Girls Inc., where she is a founding member of the Women for Girls giving group. She is also a member of the 2013 class of the Dallas Assembly, a civic organization composed of business and community leaders.
In 2012, the United Way of Metropolitan Dallas awarded her its prestigious Advocate Award for her advocacy on behalf of United Way and its causes. Also in 2012, Dore was named by the Dallas Business Journal as one of the top 25 Women in Business. She is a 2010 graduate of the Dallas Regional Chamber’s Leadership Dallas program and a 2011 graduate of the General Counsel Forum’s Institute for Leadership in the Law.
At UL Lafayette, Dore was named Outstanding Graduate in the College of Liberal Arts. She was managing editor of The Vermilion student newspaper and a beat reporter for The Advocate in Baton Rouge, La.
She has been married to Kenny Doré for 21 years and has two sons, Nicholas and Luke.
Dr. Michael W. Langston
After graduating from UL Lafayette, Langston was commissioned a second lieutenant in the U.S. Marine Corps. He was a platoon commander before he was assigned to The Basic School in Quantico, Va., as an instructor, where he taught land navigation, patrolling, physical fitness, and techniques of military instruction.
In 1983, Langston resigned his regular active duty commission and accepted a reserve commission serving Marine Corps Reserve units in Raleigh, N.C., and Greenville, S.C.
In 1986, he earned a master of divinity degree in theology and pastoral care from Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary. Upon completion of a year residency in clinical pastoral education at Baptist Hospital in Columbia, S.C., Langston became pastor of Cherryfield Baptist Church and was chaplain for the Transylvania County Sheriff’s Department in Brevard, N.C.
Langston was recalled to active duty as a U.S. Navy chaplain in 1988. His service included tours on board the USS Guam during Operation Desert Shield/Desert Storm and at Naval Air Station Keflavik in Iceland. Langston served as theater chaplain, Combined Forces Command–Afghanistan in Kabul, Afghanistan, from 2005-2006. He supervised 71 U.S. chaplains, 76 chaplain assistants and 36 coalition chaplains from other nations.
In 2007, he was the force chaplain in Fallujah, Iraq, where he supervised 85 chaplains and 89 chaplain assistants.
From 2008-2011, Langston was commanding officer of the Naval Chaplaincy School and Center in Columbia, S.C. He was executive director of the Armed Forces Chaplaincy Center in Columbia from 2008-2009.
Langston retired from the military in 2011. He holds the Legion of Merit, Bronze Star Medal, Defense Meritorious Service Medal, Meritorious Service Medal, Navy Marine Corps Commendation Medal, Army Commendation Medal, Air Force Commendation Medal, Navy Marine Corps Achievement Medal, Combat Action Ribbon, and various unit citations and campaign ribbons.
In 2003, he earned a master of arts degree in national security and strategic studies from the Naval War College in Newport, R.I. He is working on a dissertation for a Ph.D. program at Kings College, University of Aberdeen, Scotland.
His community service includes working with the Blythewood City Council Board of Architectural Review in South Carolina and Habitat for Humanity in Blythewood and Jacksonville, N.C. In Newport, R.I., he was an assistant Boy Scout master and a volunteer with the Emanuel Episcopal Church Food Bank and Shelter.
Langston has been married to the former Kathy Lee Jones for 30 years. They have three grown children, Michael Jr., Jefferson and Elizabeth.
Caption: Dr. Michael Langston and Stacey Henderson Doré