Jerry Kane, Distinguished Service Award recipient.
The Southern Illinois University Board of Trustees will present the Distinguished Service Award to Jerry and Mary Kane at the May 2013 Southern Illinois University Edwardsville commencement. Graduation exercises at the Vadalabene Center on the SIUE campus are scheduled for Friday and Saturday, May 3-4.
“Mary and Jerry Kane continue to be staunch supporters of SIUE and southwestern Illinois,” SIUE Chancellor Julie Furst-Bowe said. “They are truly deserving of this honor. I look forward to working collaboratively with them in the future to enhance SIUE’s standing in the region and throughout the country.”
“Our lasting impression of SIUE is the amazing quality of its leadership,” Mary Kane said. “SIUE has benefited from people of vision who are intelligent, politically wise in a good sense and single-mindedly focused on SIUE’s future success.
“SIUE educators and administrators have taken SIUE to a new level: a nationally recognized institution. The best part is that these talented, committed individuals are active not only within the University, but also in the communities in which they live.”
Mary Kane serves as senior vice president, public finance, for Stifel, Nicolaus & Company, Inc. Her service to the region includes:
• Serving as executive director for the Southwestern Illinois Development Authority, an agency formed in 1988 by the Illinois legislature to promote economic development in Madison and St. Clair counties, and prior to that as county administrator for Madison County.
• Membership on the SIUE Foundation Board of Directors since 1995, serving at various points as treasurer, chairman of the board, vice president and president. She also serves on the SIUE “Defining Excellence” Campaign steering committee.
• Membership in the Leadership Council Southwestern Illinois Board of Directors and the Illinois Public Affairs Committee of the St. Louis Regional Chamber and Growth Association.
• Selection as a St Louis Area Woman of Achievement.
• Recipient of the Edwardsville/Glen Carbon Chamber of Commerce’s Albert Cassens Award for Outstanding Community Achievement.
“I initially got involved with the SIUE Foundation as an opportunity to contribute to something I felt was worthwhile,” Mary Kane said. “But like many situations, where you think you are the giver, the foundation gave back much more to me; not only friends, but also the opportunity to enhance my understanding, knowledge and expertise in my own career field of investment banking.”
Jerry Kane currently serves as executive director of the Agency for Community Transit (ACT), which he founded with the assistance of senior SIUE faculty. The organization provides transportation for the elderly and disabled residents of Madison County. He also serves as managing director of the Madison County Mass Transit District (MCT).
One of his first acts as managing director of MCT in 1986 was to initiate public transit to the campus through a contract with the Bi-State Development Agency. Later in the mid-90’s MCT assumed the campus service directly and began operating the Cougar Shuttle under contract with the University.
MCT provides bus service to more than two million riders each year, including many members of the SIUE community. MCT facilitates ride share options through its RideFinders program and owns and operates the 120 mile Madison County Transit trail system. In 1993, Kane was responsible for including the SIUE campus in the trail system
In March 2013, Mr. Kane and the MCT Board were named by Focus St Louis as one of 20 outstanding organizations and initiatives as part of the 16th annual What’s Right with the Region awards. The award recognizes area innovative leaders and services to the community that showcase outstanding efforts to make St. Louis a better region in which to live, work and enjoy life. Mr. Kane is a member of the Leadership Council Southwestern Illinois’ (LCSWI) Board of Directors. In 2007, LCSWI honored his efforts to expand MCT and enhance the lives of citizens throughout Madison County.
“The University’s Foundation has made a difference in SIUE students’ lives, and our relationship with the foundation board has been truly special to us,” Jerry Kane said. “There are not many public universities that have a growing, thriving foundation, but SIUE is one that does. Without the foundation, a significant part of the momentum and money to develop educational programs, building projects and scholarships, would never have been realized.”