Allan Gilmour ’52 Receives the John Phillips Award

Allan D. Gilmour, former vice chairman and CFO of Ford Motor Co. and activist for the LGBTQ+ community was awarded the John Phillips Award by the Academy Trustees and the General Alumni Association (GAA). The Academy recognized Gilmour last Friday in an assembly that earned him a standing ovation.

The John Phillips Award is the highest award given by the Academy. Interim Principal Bill Rawson explained the purpose of the prize. “[The John Phillips Award is designed to] promote the fundamental purpose of the Academy by recognizing an Exonian whose contributions to humanity exemplify the nobility of character and usefulness to society that John and Elizabeth Phillips sought to promote when establishing the Academy,” Rawson said in Friday’s assembly.

“In every post you’ve held, you’ve done the hard work to bring people together towards a common cause,” Baysah said. “Allan, you are truly a Renaissance man.”

Rawson then announced that next year onward, the John Phillips Award would be renamed the John and Elizabeth Phillips Award.

President of the Trustees Tony Downer ’75 elaborated on Rawson’s message. “We recognize the award winner with a sense of profound gratitude for living as worthy a life as she or he has, with a sense of pride for being part of the same community which shaped that alum’s values, decisions and aspirations and a sense of awe of just how positively impactful a single individual can be in her or his community,” Downer said.

Gilmour has certainly accomplished much in his years after graduating from Exeter. President of the GAA Ciatta Baysah ’97 introduced Gilmour, illustrating his robust career as CFO and later Vice Chairman of Ford and President and LGBTQ Advocate of Wayne State University. “In every post you’ve held, you’ve done the hard work to bring people together towards a common cause,” Baysah said. “Allan, you are truly a Renaissance man.”

Gilmour began his career in law but later transferred to business school. “Law to me had a narrower range of interests, but business was worldwide,” he said. “This dynamic nature of business can be seen in young companies. Look at the progress of young companies like Amazon, Apple, Microsoft and Netflix in a relatively short number of years. And then try to compare their progress with government progress on about any level.”

After business school, Gilmour worked at the Ford Motor Company. He started as an analyst and worked for 35 years, ending with the second highest position in the enterprise.

Not long after his retirement in 1995, Gilmour became Chairman of the Henry Ford Health System, a non-profit health care organisation in Detroit, and advised at more than half a dozen Fortune 500 companies.

This was when his activism emerged as he openly acknowledged his relationship with partner Eric Jirgens—coming out as one of the nation’s few openly gay corporate executives. “It was a courageous public statement for the 1990s—a time of don’t ask, don’t tell, when the AIDS epidemic [had given rise to] commonplace discrimination and harassment of gay people,” Baysah said.

Gilmour leveraged the attention he was receiving to raise awareness for change. He lectured at dozens of academic institutions and corporations and advocated for nondiscrimination policies and domestic partner benefits before the Michigan House of Representatives, founded a technical assistance program that strengthened organizations that served the LGBTQ+ community (the HOPE Fund) and funded a new community center in Detroit where “people of all cultures, sexual orientations and gender identities [could] find support and unconditional acceptance.”

Upper Ayush Noori expressed his admiration for Gilmour. “He always stuck up for what he believed in. He has strong ideals, he’s such a powerful activist for issues that directly impacted him. He’s using the privilege that he had, not entitlement, but privilege, that he earned for himself, and he’s using that to better the world around him in a very powerful way,” he said.

Members of the Gender Sexuality Alliance (GSA) attended a lunch with Gilmour and his husband, where they discussed the intersection between sexuality and business. Upper Justin Li enjoyed the discussion. “That was quite relevant to me since I’m gay myself, and so it was cool to meet someone like me, who can provide advice,” he said.

English Instructor and GSA Adviser Alex Myers ’96 added that Gilmour’s charisma made him relatable and approachable to students. “He answered questions thoroughly and from a young person’s perspective. He offered anecdotes about business that I thought were personal and humorous,” Myers said. “I think that his ability to be an openly gay man at a time when that was not common, particularly in the automotive business is quite courageous. I also think his ability to be modest, relatable and funny is quite unique.”

Downer concluded that Gilmour’s achievements exhibit the essence of the John Phillips Award. “The world is a far better place for the life Mr. Gilmour has led, and in bestowing upon him the John Phillips Award, we are honoring him for that life and providing our community with an inspiring model for us to strive for,” Downer said.

Rawson remembered the beginnings of Gilmour’s Exeter experience and remarked on how far he had come. “In the September of 1950, Allan sat in this room as a new upper with no greater certainty about the future and no greater confidence than what you probably felt when you sat in this room for the first time as a new student,” he said in Friday’s assembly. “Now 68 years later, Allan is here to receive the Academy’s highest honor, an example of what one person can do to make an impact on the world.”