President Emeritus Honored

EVANSTON, Ill. --- Northwestern University President Emeritus Henry S. Bienen has been honored for his leadership in helping to rev up the Chicago economic engine.

Bienen will receive the 2012 Civic iCON award from the iBIO Institute at an Oct. 4 event. The sixth annual iCON awards celebrate the accomplishments of outstanding innovators and leaders whose work provides the basis for biotechnology developments worldwide.

“When it comes to building an innovation-based economy here, Henry Bienen has moved the needle forward in many ways,” said iBIO chairman Norbert Riedel, corporate vice president and chief science and innovation officer at Baxter International, Inc. “He built Northwestern University into a world-class research powerhouse, while lending his leadership skills to a wide range of civic and entrepreneurial endeavors in Chicago and Illinois."

Bienen served as president of Northwestern from 1994 to 2009. He was appointed in 2011 to the Chicago Board of Education by Mayor Rahm Emanuel.

Currently, he chairs both the boards of Ithaka Harbors and Rasmussen College. He is a member of the Board of Directors of the Chicago Council on Global Affairs and serves on its executive committee. He also serves on the board of Onconova Therapeutics, Ryan Specialty Group, Gleacher Investment Bank and Grosvenor Fund of Funds. Bienen is on the executive committee of the Steppenwolf Theatre and is an honorary Trustee at the Shedd Aquarium. He recently was elected by the Cornell Board of Trustees as Presidential Councillor, the highest honor the board can bestow.

Bienen will be presented the award Oct. 4 at the iCON Awards dinner at The Field Museum in Chicago.