INDIANAPOLIS (November 14, 2017) – The Greater Indianapolis Progress Committee (GIPC) and Mayor Joe Hogsett presented Andre B. Lacy with the 2017 Charles L. Whistler Award during a breakfast and ceremony today, November 14, at the Ivy Tech Community College Culinary and Conference Center.

The annual award recognizes individuals who, outside the regular duties of their chosen professions, have brought together the public and private sectors for civic improvement in Indianapolis. Lacy is the former CEO and current Chairman of the Board of LDI, Ltd. (formerly Lacy Diversified Industries), one of Indiana’s largest private companies, which operates as a family office that funds middle-market enterprises.

Lacy has served Indianapolis as both a civic and corporate leader for over half a century. Following graduation from Denison University, Lacy started his career at LDI’s founding enterprise, U.S. Corrugated Fiber Box Co., where he worked his way through the corporate ranks. After the sale of U.S. Corrugated, he was named executive vice president and COO of the newly created Lacy Diversified Industries, the holding company that would become LDI. He was elected CEO of LDI in 1983 and Chairman of the Board in 1991 and has remained Chairman since his retirement in 2006. A strong advocate of civic progress, especially in economic development, agriculture, and education, Lacy was co-chair of the Cultural Trail fundraising committee and a co-creator of Conexus. He currently serves as an advisor for the Lacy School of Business at Butler University. In 2009, Governor Mitch Daniels appointed Lacy chairman of the Indiana State Fair Commission, a role in which he remains today. As Commission Chair, he was a driving force behind the State Fair Coliseum restoration.

Lacy has provided leadership for several boards, including the United Way of Central Indiana, Indianapolis 500 Festival, Indianapolis Public School Board, and Economic Club of Indianapolis, among others. He is an alumnus of the Stanley K. Lacy Executive Leadership Series (SKL) and served as moderator of Class XV. He has also been active on numerous corporate boards and is past chairman of the Indiana State Chamber of Commerce and the chairman of the National Association of Wholesaler-Distributors.

“Andre Lacy has devoted much of his remarkable life to making Indianapolis a more prosperous and interesting place to live,” said Jeff Gaither, GIPC board chair and managing partner of Bose, McKinney and Evans. “He is a terrific addition to GIPC’s list of outstanding men and women who have received this extraordinary award and established a culture of private-public collaboration so vital to this city’s success.”

In presenting the Charles L. Whistler Award, Mayor Hogsett said, “Andre Lacy has acted as a pioneer, helping to strengthen Indianapolis’ legacy of progress through public-private partnerships – the kind of leader who set aside personal interests for the greater good. And so it is only fitting that today, we celebrate him with the Charles L. Whistler Award.”

This year’s event was made possible by the generosity of its many sponsors. Faegre Baker Daniels continued to support the event as Title Sponsor, while Partner Sponsors were Fairbanks; LDI, Ltd.; Yvonne Shaheen; and RepuCare. Associate Sponsors were The Clarke Companies, The Mind Trust, IUPUI, Ivy Tech Community College, and WISH-TV.

Additional biographical information:

Governors Roger Branigan, Robert Orr, and Mitch Daniels each recognized Lacy as a Sagamore of the Wabash. His leadership in business and community is matched by an abounding sense of adventure as a motorcycle rider and former pilot. He and his late wife Julia were married for 53 years; they have three sons and nine grandchildren.

About the Charles L. Whistler Award:

Charles L. Whistler understood working for the future. To ensure Whistler’s legacy lives on, GIPC instituted The Charles L. Whistler Award – the most prestigious award given annually to a community volunteer. The Charles L. Whistler Award continues to honor the legacy of Whistler, a lawyer and community leader in the grand tradition, who gave his time and extraordinary abilities to the Indianapolis community without asking for power or position in return. At the time of his death in 1981, he was a senior partner at Faegre Baker Daniels and chair of both the GIPC’s Urban Growth and Revitalization Task Force and the White River State Park Citizen’s Advisory Committee.

Mr. Lacy’s name will be added to a limestone and granite monument containing past award recipients’ names located in the Charles L. Whistler Memorial Plaza at the City Market in downtown Indianapolis.

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