2025 John D. Nichols Impact Award Presented to T. Bondurant French
Bon is the Chairman of the Board of Directors and has been with Adams Street Partners and its predecessor organizations since 1980. He was instrumental in the development of Adams Street's private equity investment strategies, fund management, and investor relations. He is sought out by private equity firms, consultants, and Investors for advice and recommendations on a variety or private equity topics.
Throughout his career, bon has been a guest lecturer to business schools, wall Street Firms, private equity conferences, and industry trade associations about various investment topics and strategies. He was a member of the CFA Institute Committee (formerly AIMR - the Association for Investment Management and Research), which made recommendations concerning standards for reporting performance in private equity. Bon was a contributor to the ICFA's first book on the subject of private market investments, Investing in Venture Capital (1988).
He also sits on the advisory boards of New Enterprise Associates and Madison Dearborn Partners.
Bon is Chairman of the Adams Street Partners Board of Directors. He is a member of the Board of Trustees, and former Chairman and current member of the Investment Committee at Northwestern University. He is also a member of the Kellogg Graduate School of Management Dean's Advisory Council. Bon is a member of the CFA Institute, the CFA Society of Chicago Leadership Council, and Chairman of the Board of the Center for Railroad Photography and Art. Bon is former Director of the National Venture Capital Association, and former Chairman of
the Board of the Chicago History Museum, where he remains as a Trustee
2025 Civic Engagement Award Presented to Lieutenant Governor Juliana Stratton
Juliana Stratton is serving all of Illinois as the 48th Lieutenant Governor. She is dedicated and highly qualified, committed to showing that the way we move forward is together.
In this role, she leans on empathy and expertise to open doors and expand pathways uplifting communities statewide. She brings her visionary leadership to more than a dozen councils, commissions, boards, and agencies as Chair or executive liaison. These span the Illinois Council on Women and Girls; the Governor’s Rural Affairs Council; the Military Economic Development Committee; and the Rivers of Illinois Coordinating Council.
Among several responsibilities, Stratton’s portfolio includes overseeing the administration’s Justice, Equity, and Opportunity Initiative; chairing the board of the Restore, Reinvest, and Renew Program; and leading office initiatives that address the needs of Illinoisans—ranging from efforts to build a strong diverse teacher pipeline, to helping create pathways to economic empowerment for women, to establishing the Ag Connects Us All Agricultural Equity and Food Insecurity Initiative.
The Lt. Governor is the immediate past Chair of the National Lieutenant Governor’s Association, is a White House appointed member of the federal Route 66 Centennial Commission and is actively engaged in The Chicago Network; Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated; and The Links, Incorporated. In her free time, she enjoys running, cooking, and spending time with her husband Bryan and four daughters.
Stratton loves the state of Illinois, the people of Illinois, and doing the work that will uplift the next generation in Illinois and beyond.