Alumni Award Winners
Story by Chris Francis '13
For more than two decades, Mark Denzler ’93 has worked across the aisle to promote robust economic policy in the state of Illinois.
Distinguished Alumni Award - Mark Denzler ‘93
Mark Denzler ‘93 wanted to get out of Decatur, Illinois, to become a doctor. Now he’s driving the length and breadth of the state representing Illinois’ manufacturing sector.
Mark first came to IWU as a pre-med student studying alongside Tim Pritts ‘91, the student who would go on to save NFL player Damar Hamlin’s life in a Cincinnati surgery ward. In fact, the two graduated from the same high school, and Tim recruited Mark into the Theta Chi fraternity. But Mark soon found that law was calling to him as a profession. He briefly considered becoming a lawyer before deciding he would rather have a part in the creation of policy at its roots.
He was particularly influenced by Assistant Professor George Kieh, who came to IWU in the 90s after a career as a Liberian dissident politician, and during his international peace advocacy with former President Jimmy Carter. After traveling to Nigeria with George, as Mark calls him, and a group of international studies students, Mark became determined to enter the world of politics.
“I just followed my passions and interests,” Mark said, which he had no reservations about pursuing at IWU. “I even took an acting class,” which Mark credits with honing the public speaking skills that would be useful for his career.
His political career began at IWU, where he was senior class president. For his commencement speech, he credited Illinois Wesleyan for allowing him to pursue his passions and for living up to what he was seeking in a small, liberal arts university with a tight-knit community. He recalls using the Cheers theme song to make his point.
After graduation, Mark worked as a staffer for Illinois Republicans, focusing on the behind-the-scenes work of researching and drafting policy. He served as the House Republican liaison to Governor Jim Edgar's Eikenberry Commission on school funding.
Mark has never been far from Springfield. He even played cards with former President Barack Obama while Obama was still a U.S. senator. The Illinois Manufacturers Association (IMA) hosted a regular Wednesday night poker game with senate Democrats where Mark would place bets with the future president.
His rising prominence as a policy expert brought him to the IMA, the nation’s first state manufacturing association and one of the largest, as its assistant director of government affairs in 1999 before taking on a similar role at State Farm Insurance in 2003. He returned to fill executive roles at the IMA in 2006.
The IMA was named by the American Society of Association Executives as one of “100 Associations Saving the World” and received the inaugural Cosma Leadership Award as Best State Manufacturing Trade Association in the U.S. in 2022.
Since 2018, Mark has led the IMA as its president and CEO. He has received numerous accolades including being named by Crain's Chicago Business as One of the Most Powerful Business Leaders in Chicago in December 2023. He has been appointed by three different Illinois governors to boards that require state senate confirmation, and he was an initial appointee by former Secretary of State Jesse White to his ethics board.
He has also been able to use his IWU degree in international studies as Illinois governors invited him to join overseas trade summits to the UK, Germany, Poland, Japan and Mexico.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Mark was an integral part of the state's economic planning. Governor J. B. Pritzker selected him to lead the Essential Task Force and former Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot asked him to lead efforts to rehabilitate manufacturing, utilities and construction in the state.
When considering his career, Mark is certain he has achieved the kinds of things he set out for when he initially wanted to be a doctor or lawyer. “My job changes every day”, Mark said, “and it’s always gratifying because I get to see the fruits of our success as companies and jobs are built in Illinois.”
He credits IWU with giving him at least two lifelong habits that have led to his success: “Lifelong friendships and lifelong learning. Wesleyan taught me how to build unique relationships and how to use strategic thinking,” Mark said, with both skills together forming the backbone of effective governance.
Also essential to good governance, Mark believes, is encouraging dialogue. “I really believe universities need to be champions of free speech and spaces of discussion and thought,” he said.
Mark has given back to IWU enormously. His generosity began with his volunteer work as his class’s agent, organizing class reunions. Since then he endowed a scholarship for girls entering STEM fields and most recently has been named to the IWU Board of Trustees in 2023. He also serves and has served on many boards including as chair of the Ronald McDonald House Charities of Central Illinois, former board member at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital and former Springfield Public Library board chair and foundation chair.
Most important for Mark, though, is the relationships he has maintained since college. He remains connected with many classmates, including Scott Bilyeu ‘93, Brian Gegel ‘94, Karin Churchey ‘93, Dean Jukovich ‘93, Chris Bisaillon ‘93, and his Theta Chi brothers.
Loyalty Award - Greg and Coe Gardner ‘60
Even though Coe Gardner ‘60 spent every spare moment she had studying as a pre-med student at IWU, she took a break to join Greg Gardner ‘60 on the campus tennis courts when he asked her for a match at The Grill restaurant on campus. Now the couple are an indispensable staple of IWU’s Southwest alumni network.
As soon as Greg and Coe moved out to Scottsdale in the mid 1980s, they joined Vic & Flo Armstrong ‘43 to build one of the strongest IWU regional alumni chapters. In addition to spending years on the Arizona Regional Team, Greg & Coe have hosted numerous events in their home for more than 30 years.
“We hosted connection events in our house every Saturday night until the events got too large,” Coe said.
They have hosted short term classes, the IWU Jazz Band when they played in Arizona for a University event, and they have annually hosted a small, private cocktail party in their home for more than 25 years.
For both, the connection to IWU faculty is deep with Professor Oliver Luerssen having been an influential figure.
“He started his teaching career during World War Two, but he was always a model businessman,” Greg said. “I took my first accounting class with him,” but, on account of Luerssen’s seemingly countless small businesses, the couple were also employed by him after graduation.
“He was in real estate, he sold airplane tires, he kept bees…” Greg recalled, while Coe went into business with Luerssen’s wife Lois trading antiques.
Greg and Coe were also campus Greek life members, with Coe joining Kappa Kappa Gamma and Greg being a Fiji.
After earning his MBA from Bradley University, Greg passed his CPA test and started his career working for an accounting firm in Bloomington. Eventually, Greg joined the accounting faculty at Illinois Wesleyan, where he taught until the mid 1980s. In addition to his teaching duties, Greg was also the faculty athletics representative as a CCIW delegate. It was a fitting position, given that Greg was an accounting professor for Basketball Hall of Famer Jack Sikma ‘77.
Even while Greg taught at IWU, he continued his CPA business on the side. In the mid 1980s, Greg was able to buy a local cable company along with two others, and they immediately saw the opportunity to expand their cable service to small, rural towns surrounding Bloomington-Normal. This astute business decision paid great dividends, resulting in the cable company dominating the cable business throughout Central Illinois.
With the success of this venture, Greg decided to retire from his teaching position at IWU, and Greg and Coe moved to Arizona in 1986. Greg immediately started his own CPA firm, from which he is now retired in Scottsdale, Arizona, where they sit on a local library board and are very involved in their church. Greg and Coe are also the inaugural tournament sponsors for the recently created Jack Sikma Hall of Fame Invitational basketball game, and they make it a point to return to Bloomington for IWU’s Homecoming often.
Outstanding Young Alumni Award - Babawande Afolabi ‘10
When Babawande Afolabi ‘10 was looking for a school to attend for his bachelor’s degree, he first knew that he wanted to study abroad. His love of travel, and especially flying, drew him to discover new cultures and appreciate their similarities with his own. As the founder and CEO of Green Africa airline, he is making the same opportunity more accessible in West Africa.
Illinois Wesleyan University first got Babwande’s attention on account of its colors, which matched those of the flag of his home country. This foreshadowed Babawande’s sense of belonging in Bloomington-Normal. IWU’s generous scholarship made the dream of a liberal art education possible for Babawande.
“There wasn’t any culture shock for me when I came to Central Illinois,” Babawande said of stepping off the plane and into the United States for the first time in 2006. “Where I’m from, in Southwest Nigeria, it’s very similar to Bloomington… I really felt the culture shock when I went to New York.”
Babawande studied business administration at IWU where he discovered his interest in the complex problem solving and relationship building of finance. He was both the founder of Bloomington’s local chapter of the National Association of Black Accountants and IWU’s first international student to become Student Senate president.
The impression of his education at IWU was deep. Babawande can seemingly name every professor he took a class with and credit them with some aspect of his growth.
“Professors like Elisabeta Pana, Greg Shaw, James Simeone, Jerry Olson, Michael Seeborg and Frank Boyd were instrumental. My Gateway class with Professor Lynn DeVore was a formative start to my IWU experience. Let’s see, who else?” he paused before continuing. “I really soaked it all in. It was amazing. Even outside of the classroom I had phenomenal support, especially from President Dick Wilson, Dean Kathy Cavins-Tull and Warren Kistner. I also had fond memories at my primary work-study job at Saga with Mama Rose, Rima and Saga Dave, among others.”
In New York City, Babawande interned with Morgan Stanley in the middle of the 2008 financial crisis. He was hired by the firm in 2010.
Just before heading east, “I remember sitting in Ames reading about the collapse of Lehman Brothers, so I felt some nerves about that,” he said. But the pressure of the experience solidified his interest in banking as a profession. “I had to learn things very quickly, which I think gave me a strong professional foundation.”
Today, Babawande has used the professional credentials he developed in New York, and later London, to return to his home country where he is filling a gap in the market of the quickly developing nation.
“In London I did a lot of research into low-cost airlines, companies like Indigo, Azul, Volaris, Southwest and JetBlue. Thee were revolutionary carriers in that they brought air travel to a much bigger pool of customers,” he said. “Nigeria has a population of more than 200 million with a growing middle class. So the domestic market has an enormous growth potential in the near future.”
In order to take his research interest further, Babawande went to spend some time at American Airlines in Dallas during his MBA program. The journey culminated in Babawande and his team launching Green Africa in 2021 when the new value carrier operated its first commercial flight.
“I love the experience of flying,” he said. “It’s an amazing experience that shows how incredible we are as human beings and how tiny we are in the grand scheme at the same time. It’s something that I would love everyone to be able to have. IWU’s challenge from former President Minor Myers Jr. to ‘Do well and do good’ has always resonated with me.”
“There’s a baseline of intellectual curiosity that everyone has,” he said. “Success is about finding a place where someone says ‘I really believe in you and am going to give you an opportunity to shine.’”