Gies College of Business MBA alumnus Edgar J. Curtis became one of six recipients named by Gov. Bruce Rauner this month to the 2019 Order of Lincoln. The award is considered the state’s highest honor for professional achievement and public service.

On May 18, 2019 the Lincoln Academy of Illinois hosts its 55th annual Convocation, where it will present the award. Curtis combined his devotion to the medical field with business leadership to become president and chief executive officer of Memorial Health System in Springfield – where he has served in a number of role since 1975. This year the Order of Lincoln also includes former sports executive Jerry Colangelo, film producer and co-founder of Black Entertainment Television (BET) Sheila Crump Johnson, former Illinois Supreme Court Justice Benjamin K. Miller, cancer risk assessment expert Olufunmilayo Olopade, and Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist George F. Will.

“These distinguished individuals make us proud to be Illinoisans,” Rauner said. “They have honored us with their achievements in medicine, business, the arts, the law, and sports, so it is only fitting and proper to bestow upon them the state’s highest honor.”