Leadership Life Series: Ed Charbonneau, Indiana State Senator, District 5

Leadership Life Series: Ed Charbonneau, Indiana State Senator, District 5
By: Kali Beatty, Stacey Kellogg Last Updated: July 21, 2020

First elected to the Indiana State Senate in 2007, State Senator Ed Charbonneau began a leadership journey that centered on educating leaders of the future and supporting strong fiscal plans for his home state. Charbonneau earned a bachelor’s degree from Wabash College, an MBA from Loyola University, and a law degree from South Texas College of Law. He has directed government and community affairs for US Steel Corporation/Marathon Oil, and served as interim president and CEO for Methodist Hospitals in Northwest Indiana before taking office. In this Leadership Life series, Charbonneau touches on the value of teaching young individuals about their civic responsibility to understand how government affects their lives and the lives of those around them, and reflects upon some of the positive outcomes of the Covid-19 pandemic, even as the state faces some belt-tightening in the near future. Charbonneau lives in Valparaiso with his wife Sharon and has two children and several grandchildren.

Leadership Life | Ed Charbonneau | Getting future generations involved in government

Indiana State Senator Ed Charbonneau is well known for his commitment to welcoming Senate pages to legislative sessions and involving them in government from an early age. The premise, he says, is that it develops civic-minded leaders of the future.

Leadership Life | Ed Charbonneau | Hoosier proud

Seeing members of government and the communities he represents come together to support each other as neighbors and colleagues during the recent pandemic has reminded Indiana State Senator Ed Charbonneau of why he got into public service.

Leadership Life | Ed Charbonneau | Government transparency

Conducting the people's business in front of the people has never been more important, and Indiana State Senator Ed Charbonneau agrees that the recent pandemic has helped open up government by challenging leaders to provide access to public meetings in new ways.

Leadership Life | Ed Charbonneau | Healthcare innovation

With little notice as the pandemic descended upon America, government entities quickly pivoted to remove the many barriers that were standing in the way of healthcare organizations delivering efficient, quality care to patients. Indiana State Senator Ed Charbonneau says we ought to take a good look at why those restrictions were in place to begin with as we begin to evaluate the long-term effects of the pandemic on our healthcare delivery system.