Oct. 20, 2026
Contact Anthony Slaby at 608-796-3042 or aaslaby@viterbo.edu
VITERBO UNIVERSITY FACULTY MEMBER TOM THIBODEAU TO BE INDUCTED INTO THE ROBERT K. GREENLEAF CENTER FOR SERVANT LEADERSHIP HALL OF FAME OCT. 28
LA CROSSE, Wis. – Viterbo University Distinguished Professor of Servant Leadership Tom Thibodeau has been named to the Robert K. Greenleaf Center for Servant Leadership Hall of Fame. The induction ceremony will take place at Seton Hall University in South Orange, New Jersey Wednesday, Oct. 28.
The Robert K. Greenleaf Center for Servant Leadership Hall of Fame honors individuals and organizations who have demonstrated a longstanding commitment to placing a primary focus on the well-being of others, resulting in measurable impact on individuals, communities, organizations, and society more broadly.
“It is a gift to be able to serve and lead,” Thibodeau said. “I believe service is love made visible and it is good work, hard work, noble work, sacred work. Each of us is invited to do what we can for a greater good. Servant led communities insure the God dignity of each person. This is what I have been given as a gift at Viterbo and in the La Crosse Community.”
A faculty member at Viterbo since 1984, Thibodeau is the founder of the university’s Master of Arts in Servant Leadership, the only master’s degree program of its kind in the nation. Thibodeau is also a prominent local and regional speaker, sharing the virtues of servant leadership with a wide variety of business, education, and other audiences. He is the co-author of the book, Servant Leadership Works.
Thibodeau’s good works have been recognized with numerous awards and accolades over the years, including the Viterbo University Teacher of the Year and Servant Leadership Awards, the Iverson Freking Ecumenical Recognition Award, the Franciscan Skemp Foundation Spheres of Influence Award, and induction onto the Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater La Crosse Wall of Fame.
“Tom is tremendously deserving of induction into the Robert Greenleaf Servant Leadership Hall of Fame,” said Viterbo University President Rick Trietley. “His lifetime of selfless service to family, Viterbo, and the greater community is admirable and a true testament of his impeccable character. Generations of Viterbo students are positively impacting the world because of the principles of servant leadership that Tom taught them and personally modeled."
"We are grateful to the selection committee for bestowing this recognition on him and thankful to his family members for their untiring support throughout Tom’s higher education career," Trietley said.
Located at Seton Hall University, The Greenleaf Center for Servant Leadership is a nonprofit organization whose mission is “to advance the awareness, understanding, and practice of servant leadership by individuals and organizations.” Robert K. Greenleaf wrote the acclaimed essay The Servant as Leader in 1970, launching the modern servant leadership movement.
