Meet the Laureates

Seven honorees make up the inaugural class of the Gary Academy of Professional & Civil Laureates, each with deep roots in Gary, Indiana and a record of achievement that reaches far beyond it.

Chuck Hughes

Chuck Hughes has spent more than three decades shaping Gary's civic life, first as a 34-year member of the Gary Fire Department, then as a four-term Gary City Council member, and now as President & CEO of the Gary Chamber of Commerce. Long before that, he broke ground as the first Black Sports Director and Play-by-Play announcer for WWCA Radio in Gary, and went on to host "Dimensions," a talk program that ran for 12 years on WPWR-TV Channel 50 in Chicago, giving him a direct, decades-long relationship with the Chicago media market. He also successfully lobbied the Indiana state legislature to relocate Gary's casino boat, a significant economic development win for the city. He was awarded the Distinguished Hoosier Award by Governor Mike Braun, Indiana's highest civilian honor, and was inducted into the National Civil Rights Library Hall of Fame. Hughes represents a rare bridge between grassroots Gary institutions and the broader Chicago media landscape that once carried his voice into homes across the region.

Dr. Janet Seabrook

Dr. Janet Seabrook made history in 2024 when she was appointed the first female Health Commissioner in the City of Gary's history, a milestone in a city with deep public health challenges. She has led Community HealthNet as its CEO since 1996, building it into a central pillar of healthcare access for Gary's underserved communities for nearly three decades. Her dual role, running a major community health organization while simultaneously overseeing the city's public health department, gives her an unusually broad vantage point on Gary's health landscape. Community HealthNet has drawn regional philanthropic support, including a $125,000 donation from Hard Rock Casino Northern Indiana, reflecting its standing as a trusted institution in the area. Seabrook's story offers a compelling angle for outlets covering healthcare equity and leadership in postindustrial Rust Belt cities near Chicago.

Mamon Powers Jr.

Mamon Powers Jr. is Co-Chairman of Powers & Sons Construction, a second-generation, Gary-rooted construction firm his family built into one of the region's most significant Black-owned businesses. He led the alliance responsible for building the Obama Presidential Center, one of the most closely watched construction projects in Chicago in recent memory, giving his story a direct and timely tie to the city just across the state line. In 2019, the Indiana Society of Professional Engineers named him Engineer of the Year, recognizing his standing among the state's top engineering professionals. He holds a B.S. in Civil Engineering from Purdue University and has been recognized as a Purdue Engineering Trailblazer. Powers will be honored at the Gala alongside his late father, Mamon Powers Sr., making his story one of generational legacy as much as individual achievement, a natural human-interest hook for Chicago-area press already familiar with the Presidential Center project.

Joseph Stiglitz

Joseph Stiglitz, born and raised in Gary, went on to win the Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences and become one of the most influential economists in the world. He served as Chairman of the U.S. Council of Economic Advisers under President Clinton and later as Chief Economist of the World Bank, shaping economic policy at the highest levels of government and global finance. He holds a position as University Professor at Columbia University, where he continues to publish influential work on inequality, globalization, and economic policy. His journey, from a Gary steel town to the world stage of economics, is a striking contrast that speaks directly to Gary's often-overlooked capacity to produce global leaders. Gary, a city better known for economic hardship than international acclaim, produced one of the most influential economists in the world.

Ronald Sullivan Jr.

Ronald Sullivan Jr. is a Harvard Law School professor and one of the most prominent criminal defense attorneys in the country. In 2014, he was tasked with designing and implementing Brooklyn's Conviction Review Unit, which quickly became regarded as the model conviction integrity program in the nation, and media reports have credited him with winning the release of more wrongfully incarcerated persons, over 6,000, than anyone else in U.S. history. He also became the first African American ever appointed Faculty Dean of Winthrop House in Harvard's history, a role he held from 2009 to 2019. His work has taken him well beyond the courtroom, including designing an emergency indigent defense system after Hurricane Katrina that freed thousands of incarcerated New Orleans residents whose records had been destroyed. Sullivan's path from Gary to the top of American legal academia and criminal justice reform is a powerful example of the caliber of talent the city has produced.

Steven E. LaBroi

Steven E. LaBroi founded the LaBroi Insurance Group and built a career helping clients build lasting financial security across generations. He is also a bestselling author, having written "Build Your Human Equity Line of Credit" and "Levels of Liquidity: The Net Worth Bible," both aimed at demystifying wealth-building for everyday readers. A Morehouse College graduate with a B.A. in Finance, LaBroi has combined an entrepreneurial insurance practice with a broader mission of financial education. He serves GAPCL as Board Regent Emeritus, reflecting his long-standing commitment to the organization beyond his own honoree status. His story combines financial expertise, published thought leadership, and deep Gary roots into a natural feature for outlets covering business, personal finance, or community wealth-building.

Ardell Hanley (Posthumous)

Ardell Hanley was born April 7, 1925, and lived to the age of 96, passing away on December 10, 2021, after building a lifelong legacy in Gary as an entrepreneur and community matriarch. She spent seventy years as a member of First A.M.E. Church, the same church that would later host her Celebration of Life. She served as a fair housing tester in Davis v. Mansards, a landmark 1984 federal civil rights case that exposed systematic racial discrimination in housing access in Northwest Indiana. Her participation in that case helped secure a legal finding that a local apartment complex had violated the Fair Housing Act and the Civil Rights Act of 1866. Decades before "fair housing testing" became a widely recognized civil rights tool, Hanley was doing that work directly in her own community.

Google Sites

Report abuse