2011 Riley-Wilkins Dinner Event Honoring Sen. Wes Hayes, Minor Shaw
February 3, 2011
South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley Spoke at Jan. 25 Event Honoring Sen. Wes Hayes, Minor Shaw
David H. Wilkins awards event sponsored by Riley Institute at Furman
Click here to see all the photos.
Photo credit: Charlie Register/Furman.
COLUMBIA, SC – January 25, 2011 – South Carolina Governor Nikki Haleyhad an early opportunity to address the state legislature Tuesday,January 25 when she spoke at a Columbia dinner honoring the recipientsof the David Wilkins awards for Excellence in Legislative and CivicLeadership. The sixth annual event, sponsored by the Riley Institute atFurman University and held in conjunction with the beginning of theSouth Carolina legislative session, took place at the ColumbiaMetropolitan Convention Center.
This year’s Wilkins Award for Excellence in Legislative Leadershipwinner was South Carolina Senator Wes Hayes, who represents York CountyDistrict 15. The award recognizes a state legislator who embodies thehighest principles of leadership.
For the first time, the event recognized a civic leader in addition to alegislative leader. The inaugural David H. Wilkins Excellence in CivicLeadership Award, which honors a community leader whose work hasimproved the lives of South Carolinians, was presented to Greenvillebusinesswoman Minor Mickel Shaw.
Hayes is a Republican South Carolina Senator representing York CountyDistrict 15. He has served in the Senate since 1991 and is chairman ofthe Senate Ethics Committee. Prior to that, he was a member of the S.C.House of Representatives from 1985 to 1991. A 1975 graduate of theUnited States Military Academy, he earned his law degree from theUniversity of South Carolina School of Law.
Shaw is president of Micco Corp., a family investment corporation. Sheserves as vice-chair of the Greenville-Spartanburg Airport Commission,and is a board member of the S.C. Governors School for the Arts andHumanities Foundation, Hollingsworth Funds, Greenville Chamber ofCommerce, and United Way of Greenville County. A graduate of TheUniversity of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, she is a recipient of SouthCarolina’s Order of the Palmetto.
Haley, a Republican, was elected South Carolina’s first femaleGovernor on Nov. 2. A native of Bamberg and a graduate of ClemsonUniversity, she was elected in 2004 to the South Carolina House ofRepresentatives from District 87 in Lexington County, and was re-electedto that position in 2008.
Previous winners of the Wilkins Award for Excellence in LegislativeLeadership are Dan Cooper, Gilda Cobb-Hunter, John Drummond, BobbyHarrell and Hugh K. Leatherman.
The Riley Institute is named for Furman graduate and former SouthCarolina governor and U.S. Secretary of Education Richard W. Riley. Itoffers a broad array of programs designed to engage students andcitizens across South Carolina in the various arenas of politics, publicpolicy and public leadership.
The institute created the David H. Wilkins Legislative LeadershipProgram in honor of the South Carolina politician who served as Speakerof the South Carolina House of Representatives and U.S. ambassador toCanada.
Click here to see all the photos. Photo credit: Charlie Register/Furman.
