Itโs named for a former Indiana governor from Evansville โ Robert Orr, who was in office 1981-89. But the Orr Fellowship program, created in 2001 to help new college graduates prepare for leadership roles in the workplace, always has been exclusive to Central Indiana.
Until now, that is. Orr Fellowship has established a Southwest Indiana chapter, opening the door for Evansville-area companies to have fellows. Applications for the two-year programย are being accepted, and the Evansville region will welcome its first class in June 2025.
Local companies long had wanted a fellowship program, says Tad Dickel, a leadership and strategy consultant for businesses and nonprofits. Dickel was asked a few years ago to research whether the Indianapolis-based Orr Fellowship would have interest in expanding, or if the Southwest Indiana region should kickstart its own program.
โWe decided Orr Fellowship has such a great reputation that it would be great to partner with them rather than create something new,โ says Dickel, owner of T.A. Dickel Group, LLC.
Orr Fellowship officials, in turn, โwere forward-thinking and realized there was a way for them to have a greater impact on the state,โ Dickel adds.
The Evansville Regional Business Committee and Evansville Regional Economic Partnership partnered with Orr Fellowship to create the local chapter. Fellows in the first Southwest Indiana class will work at Anu, Berry Global, CenterPoint Energy, Deaconess Health System, Heritage Federal Credit Union, Koch Enterprises, Liberty Federal Credit Union, Morley, Old National Bank, Robert Dietrick Company, Toyota Indiana, United Companies, Welborn Baptist Foundation, and Warehouse Services Inc.
The process is competitive. Dickel says the Indianapolis chapter typically receives around 1,000 applications for Orr Fellowships and awards around 80. The Southwest Indiana chapter anticipates having about 15 fellows in its first cohort.
College graduates who are selected for fellowships most often majored in fields like business, economics, or marketing, but other fields are represented, too.
โThey are what we would categorize as high-achieving students,โ Dickel says of those selected for fellowships. โThey have involvement beyond class. Weโre looking for people with demonstrated leadership experience.โ
While on their two-year job, fellows receive leadership training and executive coaching. They also participate in regular social activities, projects with nonprofits, case competitions, and a business leader speaker series.
Now that the Southwest Indiana chapter is lifting off, Dickel says applicants may apply to join companies in Indianapolis, Evansville, or both locations.
The reputation of Orr Fellowships extends beyond the Hoosier State โ Dickel says roughly 30 percent of applications come from outside Indiana.
Those who complete the two-year fellowships are making a splash.
According to Orr Fellowship, graduates of the program are working across 73 industries and 273 companies. They earn 2.5 times more than their peers in entry-level positions, 84 percent of them remain in Indiana, and with 624 alumni and 120 current fellows, Orr Fellowship has partnered with 41 companies, adding 13 new partners in 2024 alone.
Dickel says Evansville area companies are excited to see such impact extend to Southwest Indiana, and local universities are on board, as well.
โWeโve been really pleased with the response from the business community, and they see it has an opportunity to bring in and retain talent,โ he says.
Orr Fellowship President Steven Emch says the organization is โthrilledโ to expand its presence to the Evansville area.
โWeโve been focused on recruiting and developing the next generation of business leaders and entrepreneurs since 2001 and we now have the opportunity to broaden that impact, by starting our first chapter outside of the Indianapolis area,โ Emch says in a news release. โA chapter in the Evansville region never would have been possible without the great partnership of ERBC and E-REP.โ
E-REP CEO Lloyd Winnecke in a news release describes the Orr Fellowship program as โthe premier post-undergraduate experience in the nationโ and says it aligns with E-REPโs goal to attract and retain talent in the region.
Old National Bank Chairman and CEO Jim Ryan, vice chair of ERBC, says in the same release that expanding the program to Southwest Indiana โwill certainly help shape the future leaders of the region.โ
