(left to right): Father Joe Carroll, Betty J. Mohlenbrock, Ronne Froman, Hugo Eduardo Torres, Richard Atkinson
2012 Visionary Award Recipients Announced
Recognizing and celebrating extraordinary regional leadership is one of LEAD San Diego's four pillars of excellence, LEAD San Diego proudly announces the 2012 Visionary Awards recipients:
The 2012 Neil Morgan Award
Father Joe Carroll, President Emeritus, Father Joe's Villages
Father Joe Carroll was ordained a Catholic priest in 1974 and devoted himself to parish work, building a strong group of supporters who found his charisma and gregarious personality hard to resist. As his congregation grew, so did another group of San Diegans: the homeless. In 1982, Father Joe was appointed to head St. Vincent de Paul, which at the time was just a lunch line and thrift store.
Father Joe realized a meal was only the first step; there needed to be a more substantial collection of programs and services in place to positively impact the lives of San Diego’s homeless. Father Joe developed a "one-stop-shopping" approach to rehabilitation that profoundly impacted the entire country’s philosophy of care by placing clients in a respectful and dignified environment, while facilitating easy access to a comprehensive list of services.
In addition to shattering the status quo of second-rate buildings and scattered services, Father Joe and his team developed what has become known as the Continuum of Care, a unique approach to human service assistance combining all of the elements of rehabilitation in one location. This innovative formula for programs and services has been endorsed by the Department of Housing and Urban Development as a prototype homeless rehabilitation facility.
First awarded in 1993, the Morgan Lifetime Achievement Award is named in recognition for retired San Diego Union-Tribune newspaper editor and columnist Neil Morgan, and is presented in honor of a lifetime of dedicated community service in our region.
The 2012 LEAD Graduate of the Year
Betty J. Mohlenbrock, M.Ed. ('93), Founder & President, Reading Legacies
Betty J. Mohlenbrock M. Ed., is an educator, reading specialist, Founder/Chair Emeritus of United Through Reading, and President & Founder of Reading Legacies. Reading Legacies recently launched a new program that benefits children and youth who are experiencing a stressful lack of connection to a parent or other family member due to incarceration. In her many years of service in nonprofit organizations, she has provided various community outreach programs benefiting over one million children, young adults and parents.
Betty’s numerous awards include Traditional Home publication’s “The Classic Woman Award,” the 2008 University of Illinois Alumni Humanitarian Award, and the 2006 Peter Drucker Award for Non-Profit Innovation. Betty has extensive experience in the areas of management, fundraising, and program strategies based on her experience with international programs as well as her integrity and wise stewardship of over 10 million dollars.
The 2012 Ronald Kendrick Memorial Award for Regional Collaboration
Ronne Froman RADM, USN (ret.), CEO & Chair, National Veterans Transition Services, Inc. & President, Monarch School Board
Ronne Froman is a retired two-star Admiral who served in the United States Navy for 31 years, commanding naval installations around the world. She was San Diego’s first female “Navy Mayor,” first woman Admiral to be in charge of naval bases around the world, and first woman to serve on two assignments on the Joint Chief of Staff.
After retirement, she took on several daunting civilian roles.
These included serving as chief of business operations for the San Diego Unified School District and as CEO of the San Diego and Imperial Counties Chapter of the American Red Cross, where she is credited with restoring confidence in the organization as well as guiding the organization through the devastating fires of 2002.
In 2005, Froman became the first chief operating officer for the City of San Diego at a time when the city faced significant financial and executive leadership challenges.
Most recently, Froman co-founded an innovative veterans program named REBOOT, which provides success training for those transitioning from military to civilian life.
Froman is also active with the leadership group established by the San Diego Downtown Partnership for the purpose of implementing innovative programs to end homelessness. In July 2011 she was named CEO of the Monarch School Project and she serves on the USS Midway Museum Board of Directors.
The 2012 Economic Opportunity Award
Richard C. Atkinson, Chancellor Emeritus, UC San Diego & President Emeritus, University of California
Richard Atkinson is president emeritus of the University of California and professor emeritus of cognitive science and psychology at the University of California San Diego (UCSD). He served as president of the UC system from 1995 to 2003 and chancellor of UC San Diego from 1980 to 1995. He is a former director of the National Science Foundation and was a long-term member of the faculty at Stanford University.
An internationally respected scholar and scientist, his tenure as president was marked by innovative approaches to admissions and outreach, research initiatives to accelerate the University’s contributions to the state’s economy, and a challenge to the country’s most widely used admissions examination—the SAT—that paved the way to major changes in the way millions of America’s youth are tested for college admissions.
Atkinson was appointed deputy director of the National Science Foundation by President Gerald Ford in 1975. Later, President Jimmy Carter promoted him to director. Atkinson’s scientific contributions have resulted in election to the National Academy of Sciences, the Institute of Medicine, the National Academy of Education, and the American Philosophical Society.
Atkinson led the UC San Diego campus’ emergence as one of the leading research universities in the nation. A principal achievement of his tenure was to foster the transfer of university research into the private sector, and thereby help establish the San Diego region as one of the nation’s leading high-tech centers.
The 2012 Charles Nathanson Memorial Award for Cross-Border Regional Building Award
Hugo Eduardo Torres, Two-time Mayor of Rosarito, Baja California
For more than40 years, Mr. Hugo Eduardo Torres has been one of the leading promoters for the Baja California-San Diego binational region – as a business leader, a community advocate and as an elected representative.
While perhaps best known as the owner of the famous Rosarito Beach Hotel, Mr. Torres has been active in bi-national and regional issues since the late-1960s.
His efforts include the founding of a variety of tourism and civic organizations including Rosarito’s Tourism and Convention Committee (for which he was President for three years), the Grupo Madrugadores de Rosarito citizens group, and in 1983, the Comité Pro-Municipio de Rosarito – a civic group that over the course of 12 years advocated for and fostered the eventual independent incorporation of the City of Rosarito, separating it from Tijuana.
Over three different decades, Mr. Torres has also represented the people of Rosarito: first, as a delegate (Delegado Municipal) to the City of Tijuana in the 1980s; then, as Rosarito’s first Mayor from 1995-1998. Public support and concerns also encouraged him to run for (and win) an unprecedented second-term as Mayor from 2007-2010.
During this time, Don Hugo led efforts to revamp the Rosarito Police Department with a new Chief, replace 60% of the force, establish higher training standards, and dramatically improve the City’s security to its highest levels in ten years.
His leadership has not only been focused on Baja California, but also in promoting stronger cross-border relationships, investments, and planning to groups in the U.S. and internationally. Mr. Torres has also led efforts to work with Rosarito’s 14,000+ expatriate community members; expanded the City’s Foreign Residents Assistance Office; and hosted the 5th Bi-national Mayor’s Forum, working closely with the San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce and the San Diego Association of Governments.
In 2002, he was selected as one of 40 bi-national leaders in San Diego Magazine’s 20/20 Regional Leaders Award; and more recently was recognized by the award-winning, Tijuana-based newspaper Zeta, as 2007’s “Man of the Year”
Rosarito and the Baja California-San Diego region have long been his home, having come to Rosarito at the age of seven. He attended high school at the prestigious Universidad Militar Latino Americana in Mexico City, studied business administration at San Diego State College (later SDSU), and graduated with honors from Instituto Tecnológico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey (Monterrey Tec).
He is married, and has five children.
The Herbert G. Klein Award for Exemplary Leadership and the Community Spotlight Award will be announced the evening of May 24.
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