Great Southern’s Bill Turner earns Excellence in Business honor

A seven-person committee recently selected Turner to receive the annual award, which was first given to Springfield hotelier John Q. Hammons in 2005. The 2006 award went to the Irish immigrant family behind O’Reilly Automotive Inc. and SRC Holdings Corp. founder Jack Stack was last year’s recipient.

“Our award recipients are a good cross-section of different personalities and ways of running organizations, but the one thing that is the same about all of them is they operate their business with integrity,” said committee member Harry Staley, who is president of the Students in Free Enterprise team at OTC. “And they have a commitment to giving back to the community.”

Turner’s philanthropic endeavors as well as his business acumen and commitment to education propelled him past the competition this year, according to committee members.

Staley said he was particularly impressed with Turner’s involvement in The Clothesline Project – an event coordinated by SIFE last fall to raise awareness about victims of domestic violence.

Turner, Great Southern president from 1974–99, will be honored at 1:30 p.m. April 11 at OTC’s Information Commons West 100, 1001 E. Chestnut Expressway. Following the award presentation, Turner will participate in an on-stage interview entitled “A Conversation with Bill Turner.” Springfield Area Chamber of Commerce President Jim Anderson will moderate the candid question-and-answer session.

Tickets are $10 and are available by calling (417) 447-8888. Event sponsors are SIFE, Springfield Area Chamber of Commerce, Springfield Business Journal and OnMedia/Mediacom.

See SBJ’s March 17 issue to read about Bill Turner’s thoughts on receiving the award.