A 1970 graduate of Purdue's civil engineering program, Mamon M. Powers Jr. was appointed to the Board of Trustees on July 1, 1996. He was born March 10, 1948, in Gary. A registered professional engineer, Powers began his career as a civil engineer with the American Oil Company (Amoco) and then joined his father, Mamon Powers Sr., in Powers & Sons Construction Co., Inc. He was named president of the company in 1987.

Powers has been featured on the cover of Northwest Indiana Business Quarterly. He is a past president of both the Indiana Society of Engineers-Calumet Chapter and the Calumet Builders Association. In addition, he has served as chairman of the board of trustees of the Construction Advancement Foundation of Northwest Indiana, as trustee and president of the Boys and Girls Clubs of Northwest Indiana, and as a member and former officer of the Young Presidents' Organization.

He is a Golden Heritage Member of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), a trustee at First A.M.E. Church, a member of World Presidents' Organization, and a member of the Chief Executives Organization. He also sits on the board of directors of Fifth Third Bank, Chicago, and the Methodist Hospitals.

In 2002, he received the Purdue University Civil Engineering Alumni Achievement Award and in 2003 was a recipient of the Distinguished Engineering Alumnus Award from Purdue's College of Engineering. Named to the 2008 Class of The Times Business and Industry Hall of Fame.