BOWLING GREEN, OHIO — Kellen Brown, DEPAUL 2023, accepted the 2023 International Balfour Award during the closing ceremony of the Krach Transformational Leaders Workshop held Aug. 1 to 5 at Bowling Green State University in Bowling Green, Ohio.
Given annually to Sigma Chi’s most outstanding graduating senior, the International Balfour Award has been presented since 1930 when Significant Sig Paul Hagemann, WASHINGTON (ST. LOUIS) 1930, was honored following the 1929 to 1930 academic year.
Brown graduated from DePaul University in Chicago with a degree in political science and minors in history and Russian language. He is a member of the Army ROTC and will commission into the Army as an active-duty military intelligence officer after graduating. While in the Army ROTC, he serves as the program’s battalion commander and is the first DePaul cadet to be appointed to this position in a large battalion of cadets from five different Chicago-area schools. Brown has held several leadership positions on campus. He was elected Consul of his chapter his junior year and has held various student government positions, including serving as chief of staff, where he led multiple critical student initiatives.
Brown will join the previous year’s honoree, Grant Franko, R.I.T. 2022, and undergraduate representatives Ethan Parker, TROY 2024, and Joseph Gassensmith, BALL STATE 2024, to serve on the Fraternity’s Executive Committee. He will be on the committee for two years as an advocate for undergraduates.
Runners-up to the award are Ethan Hunt, CALIFORNIA-DAVIS 2023, and Ryan Jeffries, OKLAHOMA STATE 2023. Brown and the runners-up will receive a scholarship from Sigma Chi for their postgraduate education thanks to support from In Hoc Napa Valley and Significant Sig Brandon Chaney, INDIANA 1993.
Notable IBA winners include the late Huntsman Cancer Institute founder Jon Huntsman Sr., PENNSYLVANIA 1959, as well as Krach Transformational Leaders Workshop namesake, 64th Grand Consul and former Under Secretary for Economic Growth, Energy and the Environment Keith Krach, PURDUE 1979. Both men also are recipients of the Significant Sig Award and inductees into the Order of Constantine.
