The Society of Innovators’ honorees continue to inspire and broadcast a message of innovation through their recently unveiled banners, which are only awarded to the organization’s Fellows and Chanute Prize recipients. The Class of 2009-2010 joined new inductees at a recent Horseshoe Casino event to celebrate the innovative spirit and mark the group’s accomplishments. Each of last year’s honorees is depicted on a banner with a photo and description of why the individual is a part of the Society. The new class will commemorate its achievements with new banners next year.
Named a Fellow to last year’s class, Cliff Fleming found his development, The Village in Burns Harbor, immortalized on the placard, which features him and his wife, Joyce, hanging out in their neighborhood. The Village is the nation’s first neighborhood certified under the national Homebuilders America National Standards Institute-approved National Green Building Program.
“The banners are unique symbols of region innovation,” Fleming said. “I am honored to know that The Village has not only been recognized by region leaders but also has been captured in such a visual way so as to motivate anyone who is just walking by.”
Society of Innovators Managing Director John Davies said the banners accomplish two goals.
“Our banners are for educational purposes and to celebrate innovators,” Davies said. “To our knowledge, there is no organized effort in the United States that ‘places a face’ on innovation as does the Society of Innovators. “We place them at events, educational institutions and at such prestigious events as this year’s Indiana’s Innovation Showcase in Indianapolis.”
The Society inducts individuals and teams who have shown innovation through their work. After being named members, individuals can be recognized as Fellows and teams are eligible for the Chanute Prize for Team Innovation. The Society selects up to six Fellows a year and all must meet five criteria: challenging the status quo, visionary leadership, situationally collaborative, takes risk and committed to learning.
Davies said it is a “rigorous process,” which includes two-hour interviews for nominees followed by a review by a panel of judges who rate them based on a point scale and discuss who should make the cut.
Fleming took the stage along with other members of the 2009-2010 class honored with banners. The class includes John “Jack” Moreland, Visualization Specialist at Purdue University Calumet; Mark C. Kime, director of Cardiology and Neuroscience at Porter Health; Mike Sanders, president of CPX Plastics; Frank Brummett, founder of BerylMartin; Patrick A. Wilkins, president of Boss Industries; and Chanute Prize honorees: Fair Oaks Farms and ArcelorMittal, Global R&D.
“It is a privilege to take my place among such distinctive leaders in Northwest Indiana and join them to inspire the next generation of innovators,” Fleming said.
New honorees for 2010-2011 include Fellows: Ralph W. Braun, CEO of the Braun Corp.; Tom Sourlis, of MortarNet; Dr. Ernest Talarico Jr., founder of the International Human Cadaver Prosection Program at Indiana University School of Medicine – Northwest; P. Scott Bening, president and CEO of MonoSol; Purdue University Calumet Chancellor Howard Cohen; and the late Robert H. Forney Jr., of LaPorte, former president and CEO of the Chicago Stock Exchange. The two Chanute Prize team recipients are Purdue University Calumet's Exploration Earth: Mission Ocean program and Dage-MTI, a camera company in Michigan City.
The Society of Innovators was launched by Ivy Tech Community College of Indiana Northwest. By celebrating innovators and innovation, it brings attention to innovative individuals and teams in the not-for-profit, public and private sectors by encouraging leaders to rethink their commitment to innovation and foster more innovation in all sectors. Inspired by Fleming’s Gary roots, The Village in Burns Harbor is the nation’s first certified green neighborhood. It incorporates Fleming’s vision for social engineering with key components such as attention to land, community-based amenities, smaller street and pavement widths and traffic-calming measures.
For more information: www.societyofinnovators.org or www.villageinburnsharbor.com.