Heather Miller Thompson ’10 received the Young Alumna Award. She is director of innovation at GROWMARK, where she drives strategic priorities within the organization. She also serves as the business liaison to GROWMARK’s venture capital fund, investing in early-stage startups in crop production, supply chain and sustainability.

Brandon Reed ’07 received the Young Alumnus Award. He is a partner and owner at Crowe LLP, a global accounting and technology firm. He is a CPA and the managing partner for Crowe’s Springfield office.

John Drea ’80 received the Faculty Ambassador Award. He joined the faculty of his alma mater in 2014 and retired from IC in May as the Ruth Badger Pixley Professor of Social Sciences and a professor of business. Drea spent 30 years of his career in public higher education.

Kevin Klein received the Faculty Ambassador Award. He is a professor of economics and serves as the business department chair and the coordinator for online business majors. He joined the faculty at Illinois College in 1986 and has taught a variety of courses in business and economics.

Vicki Hood received the 2023 Friend of the College Award. She is a retired partner of Kirkland & Ellis, LLP, where she was head of the employee benefits practice group at the firm. She has contributed her time and leadership to multiple causes, including her alma mater, Northwestern University. Hood’s commitment to Illinois College was a partnership with her late husband, Bill Hood ’66, who was a strong advocate for higher education. The couple was married for over 50 years, and has two sons and four grandchildren.

Kevin Petty ’89 received the Distinguished Service Award. Petty is the CEO of Aeris LLC, a software engineering and scientific technical services company specializing in high-resolution numerical modeling of the atmosphere and the analysis of potential impacts to environmentally sensitive systems. He shared that his time at Illinois College was instrumental to establishing a solid foundation for his life and career.