Bradley University Board Approves New Trustees

President Gary Roberts says "These new trustees bring with them an invaluable amount of leadership experience and an undeniable passion for their alma mater. They are a great addition to our current group of trustees, and I look forward to working with them to take Bradley to new heights."

 

Melvin ‘Mel’ Flowers of Chicago, IL (60601-3206) serves as the North America Legal Lead at Accenture. Mr. Flowers graduated from Bradley in 1990 with a Bachelor of Science in Marketing, he received his Juris Doctorate from Chicago-Kent College of Law, and he received an MBA concentrating in finance and marketing from Benedictine University. In previous years, Mr. Flowers served on several boards at Bradley. He served on the Black Alumni Scholarship Committee at Bradley, the Bradley University Alumni Association Board, the Black Alumni Alliance Board, and the National Alumni Association.

 

Ray LaHood of Peoria, IL most notably served as the Secretary of Transportation during President Barack Obama’s first term. Previously, Mr. LaHood served as the U.S. Representative of Illinois’s 18th congressional district. Currently, Mr. LaHood works as Senior Policy Advisor for DLA Piper.  He holds a Bachelor of Science in Sociology from Bradley and received an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters in May 2011.  At Bradley, Mr. LaHood is a former trustee (1996-2006), served on the College of Education & Health Sciences Advisory Board, and was part of the National Alumni Association. He received the 2008 Bradley University Distinguished Alumnus Award and was inducted into the Centurion Society that same year. He is also the first Honorary Senior Distinguished Fellow for the Institute for Principled Leadership in Public Service (IPL) at Bradley.

 

Michael Scimo of Wayne, IL (60184-2349) is a 1985 graduate of Bradley, the 2016 Distinguished Alumnus Award recipient, and was inducted into the Bradley Centurion Society in 2016.  Mr. Scimo retired from Accenture in 2015 after more than 30 years serving in many leadership roles.  In his most recent role as Global Managing Director, he served on the company’s Global Leadership Council and managed Accenture’s 5,500-employee Chicago office. In that capacity, he was responsible for growing local business and the company’s civic presence and impact. He also led Accenture’s North American Corporate Citizenship programs, a key part of the company’s global “Skills to Succeed” initiative, which has equipped more than 1 million people around the world with the skills to get a job or build a business.

 

Tana Utley of Peoria, IL is Vice President, Large Power Systems Division at Caterpillar Inc. Mrs. Utley joined Caterpillar in 1986 where she held several different engineering and general management positions before being promoted to Vice President and Chief Technology Officer in 2007.  She was named to her current role at VP in 2013.  Mrs. Utley graduated from Bradley in 1986 with a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering and received her Master of Science in Management from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2007. At Bradley, she served on the Engineering & Technology Mechanical Engineering Alumni Advisory Council and the Engineering & Technology Executive Advisory Council.