Boilermakers moving Indiana forward: Purdue leaders, trustees, alumni named to IBJ Media’s Indiana 250

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Purdue University is once again well represented in IBJ Media’s annual Indiana 250, which honors the state’s most impactful and influential leaders across sectors such as business, government and philanthropy. The Boilermakers recognized have made significant impacts in the fields of civic leadership, higher education, life sciences, agriculture and more across the state.

Purdue’s 2026 honorees include interim President Mitch Daniels; Dan DeLaurentis, executive vice president for research; Matt Painter, head coach of the Purdue men’s basketball team; David Umulis, senior vice provost for Indianapolis; three members of the Purdue University Board of Trustees — Sonny Beck, JoAnn Brouillette and David Ricks — and 23 alumni.

The 2026 Indiana 250 list primarily includes business leaders and executives at the helm of the state’s largest and most significant public and private companies and institutions. Purdue, Indiana’s only land-grant institution, is represented in all 10 list categories, and Boilermakers who are recognized promote international research, education and outreach in all corners of the state and beyond.

Daniels was named to the annual IBJ list for the fifth time, recognized in the Civic Leadership category. He was appointed as Purdue’s interim president July 1 and served two terms as Indiana’s governor from 2005-13. He also previously served as Purdue’s 12th president from 2013-22, during which time he led the university to become the nation’s most recognized public university, ended 36 consecutive years of tuition increases and made student affordability a central priority.

DeLaurentis enters the IBJ list for the first time in the Nonprofit & Education category. He is a longtime Purdue administrator, scholar and award-winning educator. As executive vice president for research, he steers the university’s robust, record-setting research enterprise. Under his leadership as the previous vice president for Institutes and Centers at Discovery Park District at Purdue, its 15 centers and institutes in 2024 were involved in more than $205 million of Purdue’s $647 million in total research awards from federal and industry sources, both of which were university records.

Painter landed a first-time spot on the list in the Hospitality, Arts & Entertainment category. He is a five-time Big Ten Coach of the Year recipient and is the university’s second-winningest head coach in program history with more than 500 wins. Since 2005 Purdue has won five Big Ten Conference regular-season championships and three Big Ten Tournament titles under Painter’s leadership. His teams have been a fixture in the NCAA Tournament, including Final Four and national championship game appearances in 2024.

Umulis also joined DeLaurentis on the list for the first time in the Nonprofit & Education category. He has been with Purdue as an impactful research leader, mentor and administrator since 2008, spending the last several years spearheading the launch of Purdue’s expansion in Indianapolis — an ambitious initiative to further enhance Purdue’s presence in, and connection to, the capital city. The university has cultivated relationships with many companies to support their workforce and research development needs and provide Purdue students with internship, co-op, research and hands-on experiential opportunities.

Ricks, a Purdue board member and Eli Lilly and Company chair and CEO, has again been named to the Life Sciences & Health Care category. Fellow board members Beck and Brouillette made the Energy & Agriculture category. Beck has been on the list five times, and Brouillette has been recognized four times.

Prominent Purdue alumni also on the 2026 Indiana 250 honorees list are:

• Scott Brand, president and COO, Subaru of Indiana Automotive, Carmel
• Mike Clem, president and CEO, Sweetwater Sound, Grabill
• Rick Conner, CEO, American Structurepoint, Noblesville
• Christopher Day, CEO, Elevate Ventures, Zionsville
• Heather Ennis, president and CEO, Northwest Indiana Forum, Porter
• Chuck Goodrich, secretary of commerce, state of Indiana, Noblesville
• Shane Hageman, president, Hageman Group, Indianapolis
• Lacy Johnson, partner, Taft Stettinius & Hollister LLP, Indianapolis
• Randy Kron, president, Indiana Farm Bureau, Evansville
• John Laurie, CEO, Jack Laurie Group, Fort Wayne
• Shawn McCoy, CEO, Deaconess Health System, Evansville
• Seth Morales, CEO, Morales Group, Indianapolis
• Mark Music, owner and CEO, Ruoff Mortgage, Fort Wayne
• Paul Okeson, president, Garmong Construction, Fishers
• Ersal Ozdemir, founder, owner and chair, Keystone Group and Indy Eleven, Carmel
• Mamon Powers III, president and CEO, Powers & Sons Construction Co., Indianapolis
• Jennifer Rumsey, chair and CEO, Cummins Inc., Columbus
• Loretta Rush, chief justice, Indiana Supreme Court, Lafayette
• Tiffany Sauder, founder, Life of And, Zionsville
• Marilee Springer, partner, Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP, Carmel
• Melissa St. John, owner and CEO, Relocation Strategies and Relo Design, Indianapolis
• Brent Yeagy, president and CEO, Wabash, Lafayette
• Sherri Ziller, president and CEO, Northwest Indiana Regional Development Authority, Crown Point

IBJ Media’s Indiana 250 honorees were recognized Tuesday (July 21) at a reception in Indianapolis.

About Purdue University

Purdue University is a research institution ranked among the top 10 public universities in the United States. More than 106,000 students study at Purdue across multiple campuses, including more than 57,000 at our main campus locations in West Lafayette and Indianapolis. As a land-grant university committed to affordability and accessibility, Purdue’s main campus has frozen tuition 14 years in a row, enabling more students than ever to graduate debt-free.