(INDIANAPOLIS) — The Indiana Chamber of Commerce held its 36th Annual Awards Dinner tonight at the JW Marriott Indianapolis, which featured a keynote speech from Daymond John – a fashion pioneer with his streetwear company FUBU and a branding guru known to millions as an investor on ABC’s Shark Tank.
Presented by Meijer, Inc., the special event recognized three noteworthy individuals and one exceptional county. The honorees were as follows:
Ogletree Deakins Business Leader of the Year: Jim Ryan, chairman and CEO of Old National Bank in Evansville – He notes, “The key to leadership is knowing that you can’t do it all yourself. It’s got to be a team. There are no individual successes, there are only team successes.”
Birch Bayh-Richard Lugar Government Leader of the Year: Indiana Secretary of Education Dr. Katie Jenner – She shares: “I think the potential for impact (is the best part of my job). That’s what feeds me. What feeds me is making it better. The potential for impact in this space is immense.”
Yamaha Community of the Year: Kosciusko County – Indiana Chamber President and CEO Vanessa Green Sinders says: “The area’s vibrant ecosystem of public and private partnerships works together for the collective good and demonstrates inspiring servanthood leadership.”
NextEra Energy Resources Dynamic Leader of the Year: Dan Elsener, president of Marian University in Indianapolis – He advises, “Do your best. Everybody gets one shot. We all have a first breath and a last in between. You get to choose what you’re going to do with it. And I have a calling to education.”
“It was a wonderful evening honoring Indiana’s most influential contributors in the past year,” shares Sinders. “We celebrated key leaders who have shaped our state’s economic growth and prosperity thus far and those who are paving the way for an even brighter future. The night was a true tribute to Indiana’s spirit of leadership, collaboration and innovation.”
Earlier in the day, the Indiana Chamber welcomed Scott Brand, president and COO of Subaru of Indiana Automotive in Lafayette, as its new chairman of the board. The organization also presented the 2025 Samuel C. Schlosser Volunteer of the Year award to three individuals who helped the Indiana Chamber better serve its members. Honorees, presented by Goelzer Investment Management, included: Bill Barrett, partner, Williams Barrett & Wilkowski LLP (Greenwood); Aubrey Noltemeyer, partner, Kightlinger & Gray LLP (Indianapolis); and Matthew Rust, associate vice president of student navigation/support, Indiana University (Bloomington). Their respective efforts this past year helped propel Indiana Chamber activities around its political action committee, business education event on workers’ compensation and work-based learning initiatives for students.
Feature stories on all of the award winners will be available starting this evening in BizVoice® magazine at www.bizvoicemagazine.com.
The speaker sponsor was Zimmer Biomet. The opening reception sponsor was PNC. Corporate sponsors were Anthem Blue Cross & Blue Shield, AT&T Indiana, Ball State University, Eli Lilly and Company, French Lick Resort, Harrah’s Hoosier Park, NIPSCO, Pacers Sports & Entertainment, Parkview Health, Polaris Marine and Tilson.
Contributing sponsors are AECOM Hunt, Cherry Bekaert, Connor Painting, Fineline Printing, Indiana Soybean Alliance and Indiana Corn Marketing Council, Inside INdiana Business – A division of IBJ Media, Maple Leaf Farms, Inc., Markey’s and Subaru of Indiana Automotive.
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The Indiana Chamber partners with 25,000 members and investors – representing over four million Hoosiers – to achieve the mission of “cultivating a world-class environment which provides economic opportunity and prosperity.”
