This award is given annually to an outstanding man or woman who has achieved distinction after many years in management in the public or nonprofit sector. This individual has personal and professional qualities which are recognized and honored by peers and which we expect for our MPA graduates. We honor the administrator’s dedication to exemplary ethical and moral commitments as well as his or her years of untiring public service.
| Year | Recipient | Title | Speech |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | Jonathan T.M. Reckford | Chief Executive Officer – Habitat for Humanity International | Text |
| 2023 | Debby Tucker | President, Board of Directors – National Center on Domestic and Sexual Violence | Text |
| 2022 | Gene Dodaro | U.S. Comptroller General and Head of the Government Accountability Office | Text |
| 2021 | – | Not awarded due to COVID-19 | – |
| 2020 | – | Not awarded due to COVID-19 | – |
| 2019 | Kathy Calvin | President and CEO, United Nations Foundation | Text |
| 2018 | Sheryl Scully | City Manager of San Antonio, Texas | Text |
| 2017 | David Williams | President and CEO, Make-A-Wish Foundation | Text |
| 2016 | Robert J. O’Neill | International City/County Management Association Executive Director | Text |
| 2015 | Gail J. McGovern | President and CEO, American Red Cross | Text |
| 2014 | Not Awarded | ||
| 2013 | Robert F. Bennett | Former Senator, State of Utah | Video |
| 2012 | Sheila Bair | Former Chairman, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation | Text |
| 2011 | John W. Keys, III | Former Commissioner, United States Bureau of Reclamation (posthumous) | Text |
| 2010 | Rulon Stacey | President and CEO, Poudre Valley Health System | Video |
| 2009 | Bill Thomson | Deputy Auditor General, State of Arizona | Text |
| 2008 | Carolyn Grow Dailey | President/CEO of ASCEND; A Humanitarian Alliance | Text |
| 2007 | Thomas R. Hardy | City Manager, Bountiful, Utah | Text |
| 2006 | David M. Walker | U.S. Comptroller General | Text |
| 2005 | Olene S. Walker | Former Governor, State of Utah | Text |
| 2004 | Charles Johnson | CFO, Environmental Protection Agency | Text |
| 2003 | Edward T. Alter | Treasurer, State of Utah | Text |
| 2002 | William H. Hansell | Executive Director, ICMA | Text |
| 2001 | Alexander B. Morrison | Deputy Minister, Canadian National Health and Welfare | Text |
| 2000 | Rebecca Buchanan Salti | Founding Director, Save the Children in Jordan, 1984–94 | |
| 1999 | Byron D. Jorgenson | Chief Administrative Officer, Sandy, Utah | |
| 1998 | Carolyn B. Lewis | President, CBL Group and Chair-Elect, American Hospital Association | Text |
| 1997 | Edward D. Thatcher | City Manager, Greenville, Texas | |
| 1996 | George W. Romney | Governor, State of Michigan (posthumous) | Text |
| 1995 | Lea Dunn | City Manager, Bellaire, Texas | Text |
| 1994 | Manuel F. Acosta | Senior Foreign Service, U.S. Department of State | |
| 1993 | W. Rolfe Kerr | Commissioner of Higher Education, State of Utah | Text |
| 1992 | L. Ralph Mecham | Director of the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts | Text |
| 1991 | Donald E. Stokes | Dean, Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, Princeton University | |
| 1990 | Grant Brimhall | City Manager, Thousand Oaks, California | |
| 1989 | Roger Porter | Advisor for Domestic Policy to the President of the USA | |
| 1988 | Paul Yost | Commandant, U.S. Coast Guard | |
| 1987 | Arlo Woolery | Executive Director, Lincoln Institute of Land Policy | |
| 1986 | Albert Haines | Chief Administrative Officer, Salt Lake City, Utah | |
| 1985 | Patricia Keyes | Regional Director, U.S. Department of Transportation | |
| 1984 | W. Lynn Dredge | City Manager, Tulare, California | Text |
| 1983 | Scott Matheson | Governor, State of Utah | |
| 1982 | Elmer B. Staats | Retired Comptroller General, United States | |
| 1981 | Elliot Richardson | Ambassador of the Sea at Large, Former U.S. Attorney General | |
| 1980 | James O. Mason | Director of the Center for Disease Control | |
| 1979 | Robert Christopherson | City Manager, Salina, California | |
| 1978 | Dwight Ink | President of the American Society of Public Administration | |
| 1977 | Richard Larsen | City Manager, Ogden, Utah | |
| 1976 | Robert Terry | Assistant Commissioner, Internal Revenue Service | |
| 1975 | Mark Cannon | Administrative Assistant to the Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court | |
| 1974 | Gale Wilson | City Manager, Fairfield, California | |
| 1973 | Neal A. Maxwell | Commissioner of Church Education and Former Chairman of Utah’s Constitutional Revision Commission | |
| 1972 | Calvin Rampton | Governor, State of Utah |