Press Release from the Greater Indianapolis Progress Committee
Mayor Joe Hogsett, GIPC leaders presented CICP’s CEO with the 2022 Charles L. Whistler Award at annual breakfast ceremony at Ivy Tech.
INDIANAPOLIS – The Greater Indianapolis Progress Committee (GIPC) and Mayor Joe Hogsett presented the 2022 Charles L. Whistler Award to David Johnson, CEO of the Central Indiana Corporate Partnership (CICP), at a breakfast ceremony this morning at Ivy Tech Community College Culinary and Conference Center. The annual award recognizes individuals who, outside the regular duties of their chosen professions, have brought together the public and private sectors for civic improvement in Indianapolis.
“The Charles L. Whistler Award honors an individual committed to going above and beyond to make a lasting positive impact on our city. David Johnson is a shining example of this commitment,” said Indianapolis Mayor Joe Hogsett. “Over the past three decades, David has shown an amazing ability to marshal the resources of the private, public, academic, and philanthropic sectors in support of the city he loves.”
Long before he took the helm as CEO of CICP in 2012, David Johnson worked as a volunteer to help launch BioCrossroads, Indiana’s initiative to grow, advance, and invest in the life sciences. During his tenure at BioCrossroads, Johnson raised nearly $650 million for the state’s life sciences opportunities.
Prior to his work with BioCrossroads, and while working as a finance attorney in 1999, Johnson was instrumental in bringing the NCAA headquarters to Indianapolis, solidifying the city as the amateur sports capital of the world. Since then, he has served on numerous boards, including Indiana Biosciences Research Institute, Indiana Health Information Exchange, and 16 Tech. In addition, he was co-chair for the Regional Center 2020 Plan Commission for the City of Indianapolis.
Most recently, when Indianapolis and the world were hit by a global pandemic, Johnson took initiative and stepped in to coordinate and convene top leaders from the public and private sectors to work together to share information and devise solutions to the public health crisis. The calls he moderated during the height of the pandemic were crucial to the region’s and state’s COVID response efforts.
“David has been repeatedly described as a mentor by many of his peers and up-and-coming leaders in the community,” said GIPC Board Chair Heather Wilson. “His thoughtful, visionary leadership inspires us all, and it is my pleasure to join Mayor Hogsett in giving him this honor.”
The 2022 Charles L. Whistler Award Ceremony and Breakfast was made possible by the generosity of its many sponsors. Faegre Drinker continued as Title Sponsor, and Eli Lilly and CICP/16 Tech were the event’s Legacy Sponsors. Visionary Sponsors included Indiana University Health, Citizens Energy Group, Key Bank, and The Shaheen Foundation, and Progress Sponsors were Cummins, Inc., Old National Bank, Frost Brown Todd, LLC., and Ivy Tech Community College.
Photos of the awards ceremony can be downloaded HERE.
About the Charles L. Whistler Award:
Charles L. Whistler understood working for the future. To ensure Whistler’s legacy lives on, GIPC instituted The Charles L. Whistler Award—the most prestigious award given annually to a community volunteer. The Whistler Award continues to honor the legacy of its namesake, a lawyer and community leader in the grand tradition, who gave his time and extraordinary abilities to the Indianapolis community without asking for power or position in return. At the time of his death in 1981, Whistler was a senior partner at Faegre Drinker (then Baker and Daniels) and chair of both GIPC’s Urban Growth and Revitalization Task Force and the White River State Park Citizen’s Advisory Committee.
David Johnson’s name will be added to a limestone and granite monument containing past award recipients’ names located in the Charles L. Whistler Memorial Plaza at the City Market in downtown Indianapolis.
