EIU Media Relations

Former Gov. Jim Edgar to headline leadership event at EIU’s Doudna Fine Arts Center April 28

Joe Dively, Kim Uphoff, Laretta Henderson also to share insight, experiences on organizational governance

(Charleston, IL) – Former Illinois Governor and EIU alumnus James Edgar will headline a “Reflections on Leadership” event, sponsored by Eastern Illinois University and the Charleston Area Chamber of Commerce Friday, April 28.

Gov. Edgar will offer remarks on leadership beginning at 3:30 p.m. before facilitating a panel discussion featuring Joe Dively, Chairman and CEO of First-Mid Bank, Kim Uphoff, CEO of Sarah Bush Lincoln Health System, and Dr. Laretta Henderson, Dean of EIU’s College of Education. The event will take place at EIU’s Doudna Fine Arts Center with a 5 p.m. reception to follow for speakers and attendees at Doudna’s Black Box Theatre. Admission is free and members of the general public are invited and encouraged to attend.

Prior to being inaugurated as Illinois’ 38th governor in January 1991, Edgar spent more than 30 years in state government, including terms as both a state representative and as secretary of state. Previously, however, he was enrolled at Eastern where he majored in history and minored in political science. He was extremely active in the university's student government, serving as student body president his senior year (1967-68). He was named an Eastern Illinois University Distinguished Alumnus, the highest honor the Alumni Association can bestow upon a former student, in 1982. Edgar met his wife Brenda at EIU who herself is responsible for establishing the Brenda Edgar Scholarship for Women, awarded to adult female parents over the age of 25.

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