Jeanne Heaton Ascends to President of ACLEA
Jeanne Bigham Heaton, ISBA’s Director of CLE, became the president of ACLEA last Tuesday at the association’s annual meeting in Montreal. The gavel was ceremoniously passed to Heaton after she previously served terms as ACLEA’s treasurer and secretary. She will serve as president until August of 2018. Heaton is the first ISBA staff member to rise to the presidency of this preeminent association for continuing legal education professionals.
Heaton joined the ISBA as the director of continuing legal education in November 2006. As director, she supervises and coordinates the planning, implementation, and delivery of CLE programs for the association. Before joining the ISBA, she worked as an environmental law attorney with the firm of Hodge Dwyer Zeman in Springfield, where she specialized in regulatory and administrative law issues.
Prior to private practice, Heaton served as assistant counsel and then acting chief counsel for the Illinois Emergency Management Agency. She graduated, cum laude, from Indiana University School of Law-Bloomington, completing her last year of law school as a visiting student at the American University Washington College of Law.
ACLEA, which was established in 1964, is an international association for CLE professionals. While its members are primarily from the United States and Canada, they also hail from the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Africa, and Mexico. CLE administrators, trainers, managers, educators, publishers, programmers, and meeting professionals make up the membership of ACLEA.
Member Comments (2)
Having had the honor of serving as Chair of the Standing Committee of Continuing Legal Education when Jeanne started as CLE Director, I can tell you first hand how truly fortunate ACLEA is in its new leadership, not to mention the ISBA. Jeanne's competence, energy and invariable follow-through as CLE Director has literally elevated the ISBA CLE program to the premier level it has reached. Her ability to deal with the demands of constantly evolving CLE requirements, technology and changing member demographics is amazing, and always with a smile. All ISBA members should be as proud of Jeanne's accomplishments as are those of us who have had the true pleasure of working with her. Congratulations Jeanne!
I strongly echo Frank's comments. I too served on the ISBA CLE committee for quite a few years and I can assure any one that asks that there is no one more qualified and deserving of this honor in the country.
Congratulations Jeanne!