N. Clay Robbins Receives Highly Esteemed Whistler Award
Mayor Joe Hogsett, GIPC leaders presented Lilly Endowment Chairman and Chief Executive Officer with the 2025 Charles L. Whistler Award at annual breakfast ceremony

INDIANAPOLIS – The Greater Indianapolis Progress Committee (GIPC) and Mayor Joe Hogsett presented the 2025 Charles L. Whistler Award to N. Clay Robbins, Chairman and CEO of Lilly Endowment Inc., at a breakfast ceremony this morning at the Indiana State Museum. 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.

“Clay Robbins truly embodies the spirit of civic leadership this award honors,” said Mayor Hogsett. “Through his leadership at Lilly Endowment and his deep commitment to transformational initiatives, Clay has helped enhance the quality of life for Indianapolis residents for generations. The Endowment’s historic investments in our city’s neighborhoods, parks, and community-led organizations stand as a testament to his ability to recognize how collaboration between the public and private sectors can strengthen our city.”

For more than three decades, Robbins has served in multiple leadership capacities at Lilly Endowment Inc., offering thoughtful, principled guidance to one of the country’s major private philanthropic foundations. Since its founding in 1937, the Endowment has awarded more than $17.5 billion in grants supporting the causes of community development, education, and religion throughout the United States. Under Robbins’ stewardship, the organization has continued its founders’ special interest in their hometown and has invested nearly $3.9 billion to enhance the quality of life for all Indianapolis residents.

Named one of TIME’s “100 Most Influential People in Philanthropy” for 2025, Robbins has been widely recognized for advancing initiatives throughout Indiana. Through his leadership, Lilly Endowment has played a pivotal role in revitalizing neighborhoods, addressing food insecurity, supporting arts and cultural institutions, fostering innovation through 16 Tech and the life sciences sector, and championing the National Urban League Indianapolis African American Quality of Life Initiative.

Beyond his professional accomplishments, Robbins has demonstrated a deep commitment to fostering collaboration among civic, nonprofit, governmental, and business leaders. He was a founding board member of the Central Indiana Corporate Partnership and has served on the boards of United Way of Central Indiana, the Greater Indianapolis Chamber of Commerce, the Greater Indianapolis Progress Committee, and Damar Homes, Inc. In addition, Robbins was a founding director and president of the Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra.

“Clay represents the very best of cross-sector civic leadership,” said GIPC Board Chair Heather Wilson. “Through his guidance at Lilly Endowment, he has helped catalyze partnerships that have energized innovation and improved quality of life across Indianapolis. It is an honor to recognize a leader whose impact is both profound and lasting.”

This year’s event was made possible by the generosity of its many sponsors. Faegre Drinker continued as Title Sponsor, and The Shaheen Family Foundation, Eli Lilly and Company, and KeyBank were the event’s Legacy Sponsors. Visionary Sponsors included Bose McKinney & Evans LLP, Central Indiana Corporate Partnership, The Dorsey Foundation, Frost Brown Todd LLP, Shrewsberry & Associates LLC, and Taft Stettinius & Hollister LLP. Loyalty Sponsors were Old National Bank, Junior Achievement of Central Indiana, Pacers Sports & Entertainment, and Visit Indy. The Indianan State Museum and Historic Sites and Markey’s supported the event with in-kind contributions.

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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 Whistler Award continues to honor the legacy of its namesake, 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, Whistler was a senior partner at Faegre Drinker (then Baker and Daniels) and chair of both GIPC’s Urban Growth and Revitalization Task Force and the White River State Park Citizen’s Advisory Committee.
N. Clay Robbin’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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Past Whistler Award Recipients:
1983: Thomas H. Lake
1984: Thomas W. Binford & David R. Frick
1985: Frank P. Lloyd
1986: Phillip R. Duke & Thomas W. Moses
1987: Mattie M. Coney
1988: Donald W. Tanselle
1989: Ramon L. Humke & Henry C. Ryder
1990: Richard O. Morris
1991: Eldon Campbell
1992: Michael A. Carroll
1993: William W. Mays & James T. Morris
1994: Fred C. Tucker, Jr.
1995: Robert H. Reynolds
1996: Thomas M. Miller & Sam H. Jones
1997: Dr. Gene Sease
1998: Jack Shaw & Dan & Lori Efroymson
1999: Andrew Paine & Yvonne Shaheen
2000: Rev. T. Garrott Benjamin & Michael Maurer
2001: Jerry Semler & Fay Williams
2003: Alex Carroll & Rev. Charles Williams
2004: Dr. Beurt Servaas & Gerald Bepko
2005: Joseph D. Barnette, Jr. & G. Frederick Glass
2007: P.E. MacAllister & Marge Tarplee
2008: Patrick J. Early
2009: John T. Neighbours & Sallie W. Rowland
2010: Michael G. Browning
2011: Samuel L. Odle
2012: David Shane
2013: John M. Mutz
2014: Martha Lamkin
2015: Thomas A. King
2016: Sarah & John Lechleiter
2017: Andre B. Lacy
2018: Marianne Glick
2019: Bill Shrewsberry
2020: Milton O. Thompson
2021: J. Murray Clark 2022: David L. Johnson
2023: J. Albert Smith Jr.
2024: Tamika Catchings & Jeff Smulyan

About GIPC:
Founded in 1965, the Greater Indianapolis Progress Committee (GIPC) is a non-partisan organization that partners with leaders of the public and private sectors of Indianapolis to study, discuss, and address issues of concern and areas of opportunity to advance the progress of the City.

About Lilly Endowment Inc.:
Lilly Endowment Inc. is an Indianapolis-based private foundation created in 1937 by J. K. Lilly and his sons, Eli and J. K. Jr., through gifts of stock in their pharmaceutical business, Eli Lilly and Company. While those gifts remain the financial bedrock of the Endowment, the Endowment is a separate entity from the company, with a distinct governing board, staff and location. In keeping with its founders’ wishes, the Endowment supports the causes of community development, education and religion. While the Endowment funds programs throughout the United States on an invitational basis to support these causes, especially in the field of religion, it maintains a special commitment to its founders’ hometown, Indianapolis, and home state, Indiana.