Peoria, IL (January 28, 2013) Bradley University alumnus Robert Turner has been elected chairman of the Bradley Board of Trustees.
Turner, a member of the board since 1998, earned a bachelor’s degree in accounting in 1977 and an MBA the following year. Raised in Yates City near Peoria, Turner is the chairman and chief investment officer of Turner Investments LP in Berwyn, Pennsylvania, a firm he co-founded in 1990. The resident of Paoli, Pennsylvania, has been chairman of the Board’s Finance and Property, Academic Planning and Executive committees.
Turner and his wife Carolyn are long-time supporters of the University, establishing the Robert and Carolyn Turner Center for Entrepreneurship in 2002. The Turner Chair of Entrepreneurship in the Foster College of Business Administration also is named in their honor. In October, the University established the Robert and Carolyn Turner School of Entrepreneurship and Innovation in recognition of their contributions. Turner was inducted into the Bradley Centurion Society in 2011, and he and Carolyn were recognized with the President’s Award in 2010.
The Board of Trustees also elected Douglas S. Stewart, regional president of PNC, its vice chairman. He has served on the board since 2003 and has been chairman of the Advancement Committee since 2007, and member of the Student Affairs and Executive committees. Stewart earned an MBA from Bradley in 1979. He is a resident of Germantown Hills, Illinois.
Georgina Heard-Labonne, associate director of the Illinois Department of Transportation, was elected secretary of the board. A 1974 graduate of Bradley, she has been a member of the board since 2003 and is a resident of Darien, Illinois.
Alumna Robin Kelly has been elected to a four-year term on the board. Kelly earned a B.A. in 1978 and a M.A. in 1982 from Bradley and a Ph.D. from Northern Illinois University. She previously served Bradley as an alumni trustee and was recognized as a Bradley Centurion in 2009. Kelly has been the chief administrative officer for Cook County since 2010, was previously a member of the Illinois General Assembly, and is a resident of Matteson, Illinois.
Bradley is a private, independent university in Peoria, Illinois, offering 6,000 students the choice of more than 100 academic programs. Bradley links academic excellence, experiential learning and leadership development with an entrepreneurial spirit for a world-class education. Its size provides students with extensive resources not available at most private colleges and the personal attention not commonly found at large universities.