Selected Heroes will be honored at our Heroes Breakfast in 2025.
Candidates are honored in 12 categories. See descriptions here.
Candidates must live or work in the following Illinois counties:
Cook, DeKalb, DuPage, Grundy, Kane, Kankakee, Kendall, LaSalle, Lake, McHenry, or Will.
Heroic act must have occurred within the 2024 calendar year or be ongoing.
For the past 23 years, at our annual Heroes Breakfast, the American Red Cross of Greater Chicago has honored individuals and groups for acts of immense bravery, dedication and service to the community. Incredible heroes walk among us delivering kindness and making a difference every day.
Blood Services Hero | Community Impact Hero | Disaster Relief Hero
Education Hero | Firefighter Hero
Global Citizenship Hero | Healthcare Hero | Law Enforcement Hero
Lifesaving Rescue Hero | Military Hero | Social Justice Impact Hero | Youth Hero
In addition to recognizing the exemplary 2025 Class of Heroes, the Red Cross of Illinois presents the prestigious Heritage Award, annually as part of its Heroes Breakfast event.
The Heritage Award recognizes the consummate spirit of heroism and humanitarianism at a distinguished level. It acknowledges the demonstration of long-term commitment to improvement of the lives of others through actions, deeds, and philanthropic works in the corporate and civic communities.
Jon Farney is President and Chief Executive Officer of State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company. He has more than 30 years of experience with State Farm and within the insurance and financial services industry.
Farney joined State Farm® in 1993 and has served in a variety of executive leadership positions including assistant vice president – securities products, assistant vice president – planning & analysis, vice president – financial operations and operations vice president – underwriting. He served as senior vice president, treasurer and chief financial officer for eight years before being elected President of State Farm Mutual in January 2024. He assumed the role of Chief Executive Officer in June 2024.
He received a bachelor’s degree in accounting from Illinois State University, Normal and earned his MBA from the University of Michigan. He is a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) and has earned the Chartered Property Casualty Underwriter® (CPCU), Chartered Life Underwriter® (CLU), Chartered Financial Consultant® (ChFC) and Fellow, Life Management Institute® (FLMI) designations.
He is a member of the Business Roundtable.
Jennifer F. Scanlon is president and CEO of UL Solutions and a member of the board of directors, roles she has held since 2019. With her deep commitment to science and technology and her extensive experience leading industrial companies, Scanlon leads UL Solutions in its mission of working for a safer world. Under Scanlon’s leadership, UL Solutions completed a successful initial public offering on the New York Stock Exchange in April 2024.
Before joining UL Solutions, Scanlon served from November 2016 to April 2019 as president and CEO of USG Corporation, a then publicly traded manufacturer of building products. Scanlon spent a total of 16 years at USG and steered the company through a major international expansion, digital transformation and sustainable products evolution.
Scanlon advocates fiercely for science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) education. She dedicates herself to promoting increased diversity in STEM fields, fostering greater diversity in the workforce and improving organizations’ ability to meet the needs of a global customer base.
Scanlon currently serves in key roles for numerous organizations: the Commercial Club of Chicago (Chair of the Civic Committee), the Chicago Council on Global Affairs (Vice Chair of the Board), the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago (Class C Director, Chair), the TIC Council (Vice President of the Global Board) and the University of Notre Dame (board of trustees member). Scanlon is the Secretary-Treasurer of the board of the US-China Business Council and was appointed to the U.S.-India CEO Forum. She previously served as a member of the board of directors of USG, from September 2016 to April 2019.
Scanlon earned a Master of Business Administration from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business and a Bachelor of Arts in Government and International Relations and Computer Applications from the University of Notre Dame.
