IBJ Media’s Indiana 250 features Purdue executives, trustees and alumni among Indiana’s most influential leaders

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — From agriculture to civic leadership and from higher education to life sciences, Purdue University is well represented in IBJ Media’s annual Indiana 250, which highlights the state’s most impactful and influential leaders.

Purdue’s 2025 honorees include President Mung Chiang; President Emeritus Mitch Daniels; Dan Hasler, chief operating officer, Purdue University in Indianapolis; Philip Low, Purdue’s Presidential Scholar for Drug Discovery; three members of the Purdue University Board of Trustees — Sonny Beck, JoAnn Brouillette and Dave Ricks — and numerous alumni.

The overall Indiana 250 list for 2025 comprises primarily business leaders, including executives who are guiding the state’s largest and most important public and private companies and institutions. Purdue is represented in all 10 categories.

Chiang, named for the third straight year, joins the list of 28 leaders in the Not-for-Profit & Education category, which represents school and university officials and not-for-profit and foundation executives.

President Emeritus and former Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels is named to the Civic Leadership category, marking his fourth time in the annual IBJ list. Daniels served two terms as Indiana’s governor from 2005-13. He is currently chair of the Purdue Research Foundation.

Dan Hasler enters the IBJ list for the first time, joining Chiang in the Not-for-Profit & Education category. Hasler held several high-level roles within Purdue University and Purdue Research Foundation before retiring in 2020. He returned to the university to assist in the launch of Purdue University in Indianapolis.

Low, the Ralph C. Corley Distinguished Professor of Chemistry in the College of Science, joins the list for the first time and is in the Health Care & Life Sciences category. In April, Purdue announced the creation of the Low Institute for Therapeutics. LIFT will work toward accelerating lifesaving therapeutics from the lab and into the world by funding necessary early-stage trials in partnership with Purdue University and Purdue Research Foundation.

Joining Low in that category is Eli Lilly and Company chair and CEO David Ricks. He was named to Purdue’s Board of Trustees last fall and began his two-term year in January.

Board members Lawrence “Sonny” Beck and JoAnn Brouillette made the Energy & Agriculture category. Beck has been on the list four times, and Brouillette has been named three times.

Prominent Purdue alumni also on the 2025 Indiana 250 honorees list are:

• Scott Brand, president and COO, Subaru of Indiana, Carmel
• Rick Conner, CEO, American Structurepoint, Noblesville
• Ellen Swisher Crabb, chair, United Animal Health, Indianapolis
• Christopher Day, CEO, Elevate Ventures, Zionsville
• Heather Ennis, president and CEO, Northwest Indiana Forum, Porter
• Chuck Goodrich, CEO, Gaylor Electric Inc., Noblesville
• Shane Hageman, president, Hageman Group, Indianapolis
• Kent Hawryluk, president and CEO, MBX Biosciences, Carmel
• Lacy Johnson, partner, Taft Stettinius & Hollister LLP, Indianapolis
• Robert Johnson III, president and CEO, Cimcor Inc., Merrillville
• Phil Kenney, president of A. Wilhelm Construction Co., Indianapolis
• Randy Kron, president, Indiana Farm Bureau, Evansville
• Robert Martin, president and CEO of Elkhart-based Thor Industries
• Shawn McCoy, CEO, Deaconess Health System, Evansville
• Mark Music, owner and CEO, Ruoff Mortgage, Fort Wayne
• Ersal Ozdemir, founder and chairman, Keystone Group, Carmel
• Mamon Powers III, president and CEO, Powers & Sons Construction
• Jennifer Rumsey, chair and CEO, Columbus-based Cummins Inc.
• Loretta Rush, chief justice, Indiana Supreme Court
• Tiffany Sauder, founder, Element Three and Life of And, Zionsville
• Jim Schumacher, co-founder and co-owner, Indy Pro Volleyball LLC, Indianapolis
• Brent Yeagy, president and CEO, Wabash, Lafayette
• Sherri Ziller, president and CEO, Northwest Indiana Regional Development Authority, Crown Point

About Purdue University 

Purdue University is a public research university leading with excellence at scale. Ranked among top 10 public universities in the United States, Purdue discovers, disseminates and deploys knowledge with a quality and at a scale second to none. More than 107,000 students study at Purdue across multiple campuses, locations and modalities, including more than 58,000 at our main campus in West Lafayette and Indianapolis. Committed to affordability and accessibility, Purdue’s main campus has frozen tuition 14 years in a row. See how Purdue never stops in the persistent pursuit of the next giant leap — including its comprehensive urban expansion, the Mitch Daniels School of Business, Purdue Computes and the One Health initiative — at https://www.purdue.edu/president/strategic-initiatives.