Mannie Jackson Keynote Speaker at University of Illinois College Business Spring Luncheon

Every year since 1960, the College of Business family meets in Chicago to honor faculty and alumni achievements at the annual Spring Luncheon. Please join us as we welcome keynote speaker Mannie Jackson, chairman, Boxcar Holdings, LLC; president, Mannie Jackson Center for the Humanities Foundation; and former chairman and owner, Harlem Globetrotters. The luncheon will recognize the recipients of the Excellence-in-Teaching Awards, the College of Business Appreciation Award and the College of Business Distinguished Alumnus Award.

Mannie Jackson is the chairman of Boxcar Holdings, LLC, publisher of his best-selling memoir Mannie Jackson - Boxcar To Boardrooms, co-producer of three award-winning documentaries, and owner/investor in several venture-capital business initiatives ranging from professional-sports properties and real-estate holdings to Broadway and casino ventures. He earned a bachelor’s degree in physical education and biological science in 1960 and an honorary doctoral degree in 2008 from the University of Illinois at Urbana- Champaign.

Jackson made history as the first African-American to own a major international sports organization, the The Original Harlem Globetrotters. A former Globetrotter player, Jackson purchased the team in 1993 and orchestrated a dramatic corporate turnaround of the Hall of Fame basketball team, reviving it from bankruptcy and restoring its status as a global officer and worldwide executive vice president of Honeywell, Inc. In his latest endeavor asicon. Prior to his leadership for the Harlem Globetrotters, he served as founder, president, co-founder and president of the Mannie Jackson Center for the Humanities Foundation in Edwardsville, Illinois, he strives to promote the importance of moving society forward toward acceptance and understanding of all groups and individuals.

Jackson’s work with his Center for the Humanities Foundation is far from his only contribution to society. He is a founder and former president of the Executive Leadership Council, which provides African-American executives with a network and leadership forum to promote excellence in business. Additionally, he has served on the Board of Directors for six Fortune 500 companies and on the Board of Governors for the American Red Cross. Jackson has been heavily recognized throughout his career at the national and international level, including an acknowledgment as one of the nation's 30 most powerful and influential black corporate executives, one of the nation's top 50 corporate strategists, and one of the 20 African-American highest-net-worth entrepreneurs. In 2010, he was bestowed the Order of Lincoln by the Lincoln Academy of Illinois – the state’s highest honor for individual achievement.