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 Again this year, the college will host a special
public “Excellence in Leadership” panel the day before graduation,
featuring the college’s two honorary degree recipients – John D.
Blackburn, former President of Lincoln College and CEO of Country
Financial, and Lawrence E. Thomas, a principal at Edward Jones in
St. Louis.
The “Excellence in Leadership” panel is set for 3 p.m. on Friday,
May 10, on the main stage of the Johnston Center for the Performing
Arts. The public is invited to join students, faculty and staff for
the session.
The commencement ceremony will take place in the Lincoln Center on
the Lincoln campus beginning at 12:30 p.m., on Saturday. As in past
years, the ceremony includes graduates from the Lincoln campus, as
well as from Lincoln College’s Accelerated Bridge to Education (ABE)
program, which includes students from the Normal, Lincoln, Peoria
and Oglesby campuses. An estimated 88 students from the ABE program
are eligible to participate, while the Lincoln campus is expected to
have about 130 students. Over 35 percent of the graduates, for a
total of 79 students, are eligible for honors lists. That includes
17 of the Associate Degree graduates and 62 bachelor’s degree
recipients.
The featured speaker at the commencement and one of
the members of the “Excellence in Leadership” panel is Lawrence E.
Thomas, a principal at Edward Jones in St. Louis, where he began
working as an intern in 1977.
After completing his bachelor’s degree in Business Administration in
1977, Thomas was hired full time in the firm’s Corporate Bond
Trading department. His role involved locating corporate bond
investments to fit the needs of individual investors. Five years
later he became principal. In 1985, he established the Government
Bond department. Thomas has held a number of leadership positions at
Edward Jones, including area leader for the 13-state Northeast
region, heading the Syndicate and Unit Investment Trusts groups,
overseeing the firm’s financial advisor minority recruitment and he
now leads the university channel for Financial Advisor Career
Development in Talent Acquisition.
Thomas also serves as Chairman of Forest Park Forever, a private
nonprofit conservancy that works to restore, maintain and sustain
Forest Park as one of America’s greatest urban public parks.
John Blackburn is best known to the Lincoln College
community as the 21st President of Lincoln College, but prior to
accepting that positon, he had a 30-year career with COUNTRY
Financial, ultimately serving from 2001 to 2012 as CEO and chairing
the boards of its four alliance companies.
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During his tenure as CEO the company had exponential
growth, expanding from 18 to 40 states and growing its assets from
under $8 billion to over $14 billion. In addition, COUNTRY joined
the prestigious Fortune 1,000 list in 2004 while Blackburn served as
CEO.
Prior to joining COUNTRY Financial in 1982 as an agent, John spent
12 years as a high school English teacher, varsity basketball coach,
athletic director and administrator. During his coaching career he
was twice named District Coach of the Year by the Illinois
Basketball Coaches Association. He was the first Class A coach to
take two different schools to the State Finals, Morrisonville (1975)
and Pana (1981).
Blackburn began his service to Lincoln College in May 2002 when he
joined the Board of Trustees. In 2011, Blackburn was unanimously
chosen as president of Lincoln College, a position he held until
2015.
During his tenure as Trustee and later as President, Lincoln College
successfully launched and completed the construction of the Lincoln
Center, acquired the WLNX radio station building, created a Summer
Bridge Program to assist student transition to college, opened the
Dr. G. Dennis Campbell Creekside Outdoor Center for Environmental
Education, established the Lincoln College Athletic Hall of Fame and
expanded and moved the Lincoln Heritage Museum to the Lincoln
Center.
In addition to the two honorary degree recipients,
the student speaker this year will be Brighton Robbins, of Lincoln.
Robbins is receiving her bachelor’s degree in Criminal Justice. She
is a graduate of Lincoln Community High School and is the daughter
of Teresa and Mike Robbins of Lincoln. She is graduating Summa cum
Laude and was the 2018 Student Laureate of the Lincoln Academy of
Illinois for Lincoln College, an annual selection of one top senior
from each college or university in Illinois.
At Lincoln College she was a member of Phi Theta Kappa honor society
and was an NJCAA Academic All American for two years in both
volleyball and softball. During her final semester she was a student
mentor and worked in the financial aid office throughout her time at
Lincoln College.
[Mark Gordon
Public Relations and Media Manager
Lincoln College] |
