Betsy Dollar (Public/nonprofit sector award)

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Betsy Dollar grew up in a family of artists in the Chicago area. Directly from High School Betsy attended Minneapolis College of Art and Design majoring in printmaking and photography. After two years in Minneapolis, Betsy returned to Chicago to work as an industrial film animator and layout artist. Ultimately, she moved to Boulder, Colorado where she earned both bachelor's and master's degrees in fine art with an emphasis on printmaking and papermaking. She has been producing and showing prints, handmade paper works, artist books, photographs and installation pieces for the past forty years.

Her administrative skills emerged through owning and operating an audio-visual production company that served Fortune 500 companies and local entrepreneurs in Boulder, Colorado. Additional skills developed through extensive community participation with non-profit organizations like Business and Professional Women, Family Self-Sufficiency, and a variety of art and architecture organizations. She has taught art to every age group from toddlers to seniors in a variety of settings and media.

Betsy Dollar has been the Executive Director of the Springfield Art Association for the past fifteen years. Under her direction, the SAA is re-emerging as an arts leader and transforming into a true community visual arts center that serves 100,000 people per year. With a staff of 11 full-time employees, the SAA works tirelessly to enliven the visual arts in Springfield.

Satch Pecori (Private sector award)

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Sergio “Satch” Pecori is chairman and chief executive officer of Hanson Professional Services Inc., a national, employee-owned engineering, planning and allied services company. 

With nearly 50 years of experience in the engineering industry, he has championed Hanson’s efforts to provide engineering design services on complex projects worldwide. He also is highly regarded in the technical field, serving as an ambassador for the engineering profession in numerous leadership roles. 

Mr. Pecori earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in civil engineering from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC). 

Mr. Pecori is a member of the American Council of Engineering Companies and served as national chairman from 2017–18. He is a member of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), serving on its Industry Leaders Council; serves on the board of directors for the Institute for Sustainable Infrastructure; and is a member of the Illinois Society of Professional Engineers. Locally, he serves as a board director for INB, Memorial Health Systems, Lincoln Presidential Foundation and the Springfield Sangamon Growth Alliance. 

He has served on the U.S. Department of State’s Overseas Buildings Operations’ Industry Advisory Panel and the U.S. Department of Defense’s Reserve Forces Policy Board. He was appointed in 2011 to a four-year term on the board. In 2013, he was selected to lead the board’s Cyber Policy Task Group. Mr. Pecori has served on the UIUC’s College of Engineering Advisory Board, the University of Illinois Foundation President’s Council and the University of Illinois Springfield’s Business Advisory Council for the College of Business and Management. 

He has received numerous awards, including the U.S. Secretary of Defense Medal for Exceptional Public Service in 2015, the Ellis Island Medal of Honor in 2019, ASCE’s Outstanding Projects and Leaders (OPAL) award in management and the Alumni Award for Distinguished Service from UIUC’s Grainger College of Engineering in 2023

Grace Hou (Public/nonprofit sector award)

Edgar J. Curtis (Private sector award)

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Edgar J. Curtis retired as President and Chief Executive Officer of Memorial Health at the end of March 2025, after serving in that role since 2008. He led the Springfield-based health system through a period of transformational growth guiding its strategic direction and advancing its mission to deliver comprehensive health services across central Illinois. 

Curtis began his career at Memorial in 1975 as a registered nurse and held a variety of progressive administrative roles during his nearly five-decade tenure. He is a Lifetime Fellow of the American College of Healthcare Executives, a past chair of the Illinois Health and Hospital Association (IHA) Board, a past member of the board of the BJC Collaborative board and currently chairs the Springfield Sangamon Growth Alliance Board. 

In 2019, he was appointed by Governor JB Pritzker to the Southern Illinois University Board of Trustees. He has also served on the Illinois Board of Higher Education Commission on the Future of the Workforce and the advisory board of the University of Illinois Chicago College of Nursing. 

A dedicated civic leader, Curtis is a past chair of the boards of the Springfield Urban League, United Way of Central Illinois, and Central Illinois Foodbank. His contributions have been recognized through numerous honors including his induction into the Lanphier High School Hall of Fame in 2013, being named a Grassroots Champion by the American Hospital Association in 2015, receiving the Order of Lincoln by The Lincoln Academy of Illinois in 2019, and the Railsplitter Public Service Award in 2023. 

A lifelong resident of Springfield, Curtis earned a Bachelor of Science in Nursing from Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, where he was inducted into the School of Nursing Alumni Hall of Fame, and a Master of Business Administration from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. He also received an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters from the University of Illinois Springfield. 

In recognition of his extraordinary leadership, Memorial Health's Board of Directors established the Edgar J. Curtis Leadership Endowment Fund to support the development of future healthcare leaders. More than $1.7 million was contributed by 57 charter members in his honor. The organization's learning facility was also renamed the Edgar J. Curtis Memorial Learning Center in recognition of his pivotal role in shaping Memorial's learning culture.

Betsy Goulet (Alumni award)

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Dr. Betsy Goulet retired in July 2024 from her position as the Assistant Professor and Coordinator of the University of Illinois Springfield Child Advocacy Studies Program (CAST) in the School of Public Management and Policy where she taught for twelve years, receiving the Alumni Railsplitter award from the School of Management and Public Policy in 2023.

Dr. Goulet also served as the Director of the Alliance for Experiential Problem-Based Learning, a training unit she developed in 2021. For over forty years, Dr. Goulet has worked in child protection, serving as the founding director of the Sangamon County Child Advocacy Center, developing the State Chapter of Children’s Advocacy Centers and working as the Children’s Policy Advisor to the Illinois Attorney General. Prior to starting her career in higher education Dr. Goulet worked for the National Children’s Alliance as the first Membership Specialist, conducting accreditation reviews for children’s advocacy centers across the country.

In 2015 Dr. Goulet developed a new model for child protection training that emphasized experiential learning and the use of a Residential Simulation Lab and mock courtroom on the UIS campus. The Journal of Public Child Welfare published Dr. Goulet’s research article on the model “Moving from Procedure to Practice: a statewide child protection simulation training model” co-authored with the CPTA evaluation team, Dr. Theodore P. Cross and Dr. Yu-Ling Chiu. Other publications include the 2024 collaboration with Victor Vieth and Dr. Cross: “Unto the Third Generation Revisited: the Impact of a National Plan to End Child Abuse in the United States within Three Generations.”

Dr. Goulet was recently awarded the Shin Humanitarian Award for 2024, presented by the University of Illinois System and designated Emerita by the University of Illinois Board of Trustees.

She was recently named a Senior Fellow with the Child Welfare League of America where she will continue to develop best practices for child protection simulation training. Dr. Goulet continues to work with colleagues Dr. Chan Hellman and Dr. Angela Pharris from the University of Oklahoma as a Science of Hope Navigator, to build hope centered communities and organizations through her consulting affiliation with Ten-Eight Innovations.

David Racine

Scott Reimers

Barbara Ferrara (Public Sector Award)

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Dr. Barbara Ferrara was the recipient of Central Illinois ASPA's Rail-Splitter Public Service Award in 2017. She retired as associate director of the Center for State Policy and Leadership of the University of Illinois Springfield (UIS) that year. She joined the staff in 1976 (then Sangamon State University) and served in various research and administrative roles in Public Affairs for more than 41 years, including as interim executive director of the Center from 2004-06.

She played a leadership role in many of UIS' most significant public affairs activities, including the Illinois Civic Engagement Project (2001); the Illinois Channel (state C-SPAN) planning study (1999); the Illinois Campaign Finance Project (1995), the Evaluation of Community Integrated Living Arrangements in Illinois (1992); and Project Elder Find: A Long-Term Care Research and Demonstration Project (1985).

In 2001, she helped establish the Annual Lincoln Legacy Lecture Series at UIS and served as its coordinator for its first 16 years. Altogether, she planned and coordinated more than 40 public forums, conferences, seminars and lectures sponsored by UIS, including two national conferences held in Springfield: the Fifth Annual Links between Public Universities and State Capitals Conference (1997), and the 10th Annual State Politics and Policy Conference (2010).

She earned both the MPA and DPA degrees from UIS. After retiring in 2017, she established the Barbara Ferrara Public Service Scholarship at UIS to support and encourage undergraduate students to prepare for careers in public service.

Scott Kinsell(Student award)

Amy Leman(Student award)

Karen Hasara

Kathryn Harris

Joan Walters

Norm Sims (Public Sector Award)

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In a career of that crosses all levels of American government, Norm Sims spent over 40 years in senior positions involving public administration.

His career began on the research staff of the Kentucky Department of Education, followed by senior positions with the Council of State Governments (CSG), a national public policy research and information organization serving senior decision makers in all three branches of state government.

This work led to his being recruited to join Illinois Gov. Jim Edger’s new administration. In the Governor’s first term, Norm directed a newly established Office of Policy Development, Planning and Research (PDPR) for the Illinois Department of Commerce and Community Affairs, followed by his promotion to Deputy Director for Community Development. In 1994, Norm was promoted to Executive Deputy Director, overseeing the work of the department’s five bureaus, and then was named the agency’s Director.

Following this service, in 1999 Norm joined Mayor Karen Hasara’s staff as City Planner and then Director of Planning and Economic Development. He served in this role until 2004 when he was recruited by the Illinois Tax Increment Association (ITIA) to become its Executive Director.

In 2007 he was asked by municipal leaders in the Springfield area to return as Executive Director of the Springfield-Sangamon County Regional Planning Commission. He held this position until 2017 when he retired.
He has served on many local, state, and national advisory bodies, including as one of Illinois’ Commissioners on the U.S. Great Lakes Commission, as well as on many national and international study groups and panels.

Always involved in community life, his work has led him to receive such honors as: being named one of the top leaders in Springfield by the State Journal-Register newspaper; receiving the Railsplitter Excellence in Public Service award from the Central Illinois Chapter of the American Society for Public Administration; and receiving Downtown Springfield Incorporated’s Lifetime Achievement Award.

He continues to lecture, consult, and publish widely, with major emphasis on demographic and economic trends, and public agency planning and decision making.

Norm holds an undergraduate degree in mass communications and psychology from Western Kentucky University, a master’s degree in communication from the University of Kentucky, and successfully completed the coursework for the doctorate in public administration at the University of Illinois-Springfield. He also holds a certificate in Strategic Management from The Governors Center at Duke University.

Born in Louisville, Kentucky, he is married and has two daughters.

John Stremsterfer

William Holland

Naomi Lynn

Jesse White

Jim Edgar

Mike Lawrence

Paul Simon

Richard Moy

James Nowlan

Naomi Lynn

Sam Gove

Robert Cronson

Robert Mandeville