Jim Turmo, 35

By Mary Erpenbach

Jim Turmo almost became a veterinarian, and he has a degree in veterinary medicine from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign as proof. But his dedication as a business instructor at Rockford College, along with his passion for the strategy and science of managing complex projects, and his impressive ascent at Thermo Fisher Scientific, all mark him as a man destined for the world of industry.

A Rockford native, Turmo realized at vet school that he was more interested in business than he was in giving distemper vaccinations. So he returned home, took a job with Pierce Chemical Company (soon to become Thermo Fisher Scientific), and rose through the ranks to his present position as global demand manager.

He worked quickly at Rockford College, too – earning his MBA in 2003, proposing a new graduate-level course in project management in 2004, signing on to teach that same course since 2005, and serving currently as acting chair of the college’s MBA advisory board.

“Rockford College gave me the tools I needed to succeed,” Turmo explained. “And volunteering, for me, is giving back to places that have given me a lot.”

Turmo also volunteers with The ARC and serves on the council of Tabor Lutheran Church. And he inspires his students to their own remarkable heights of community service by assigning them to develop fundraising projects for non-profit organizations. To date, the students who have cycled through Turmo’s class have helped raise more than $100,000 for worthy causes in Rockford and beyond.