Mackinac Center President Honored for Leadership

OKLAHOMA CITY — Mackinac Center for Public Policy President Joseph G. Lehman was honored as the 2013 Roe Award winner Thursday night by the State Policy Network.

Lehman's leadership on education choice for children as well as the push for the state’s freedom to work law, which went into effect this year, made him deserving of the award, said Betsy DeVos, who presented the award to Lehman.

“For Joe Lehman, his work is much more than a job,” DeVos said. “Joe’s work is a calling. … He does so with the confidence of his convictions and with deep humility.”

The award is named after Thomas A. Roe Jr., founder of the State Policy Network, and “pays tribute to those in the state public policy movement whose achievements have greatly advanced the free market philosophy.” It also “recognizes leadership, innovation and accomplishment in public policy.”

“I’m deeply grateful,” Lehman said in a release. “The Roe Award created an occasion to focus attention on the Mackinac Center’s influence on better policies for Michigan, such as freedom to work. I accept the award on behalf of our team and dedicate it to them.”

The Mackinac Center was recognized Wednesday by SPN for its 25-year commitment to worker freedom and the passage of a right-to-work law in Michigan. Mackinac Center Board Chairman Clifford W. Taylor gave opening remarks at the luncheon and then introduced Dick DeVos, who was recognized for his leadership role in helping Michigan become the 24th right-to-work state in the nation.

A video chronicling the history of right-to-work in the state also was played. 

The Mackinac Center is the first state-based think tank to have three individual Roe Award winners. With the award, Lehman joins President Emeritus Lawrence W. Reed, who won the award in 1996, and the late Senior Vice President Joseph P. Overton, who won the award in 1998.

SPN is a network of more than 60 state-based think tanks that promote liberty and free-market public policy solutions.

(Editor's note: This story has been expanded since its original posting.)