Welcome to IBHF

The Illinois Business Hall of Fame seeks to foster pride in the free enterprise system and in the tradition of business leadership, which has made that system work so well in Illinois.

This is accomplished by identifying outstanding examples of business leadership and by presenting those examples to high school and college students. Presentations are made in the students' regular classrooms where they become the subject of serious study.

For student audiences each Hall of Fame success story offers a potential role model. For all audiences the leadership success stories bring out the importance of hard work, a high standard of ethics, a concern for the customer, a willingness to take risks, and a concern for the well being of employees. The presentations dramatically bring out the crucial role that profit plays in making the economy work.

The Illinois Business Hall of Fame program originated at Western Illinois University in 1972. Active participation in the program is open to any community college or university that believes in the objectives of the program.

The board of directors of the Illinois Business Hall of Fame includes representatives from Eastern Illinois University , Southern Illinois University , Northern Illinois University, and Western Illinois University ; from Illinois State University ; from the University of Illinois, from Bradley University ,and University of Illinois-Chicago. Daily management of the Illinois Business Hall of Fame programs is conducted by Western Illinois University Libraries.