Capt. Bonnie Hensley Webb '82 Receives ROSE Award

April 5, 2002

April 5, 2002, Greencastle, Ind. - Bonnie Hensley Webb, ---- and a 1982 graduate of DePauw University, has been presented with a ROSE Award by the Indianapolis Convention & Visitors Association. ROSE is an acronym that stands for Recognition Of Service Excellence. The ROSE Awards honor employees who positively influence a visitors' experience in Indianapolis, whether through one-on-one contact or behind the scenes actions. (Pictured left to right: Indianapolis Mayor Bart Peterson; Robert Turner, Deputy Director of Public Safety; Lt. Michael Rinehart, Indianapolis Police Department; Captain Bonnie Webb, Indianapolis Fire Department; Chief Louis Dezelan, Indianapolis Fire Department; Bill McGowan, Vice Chairman, Indianapolis Convention & Visitors Association. Photo by: Rob Banayote/Banayote Photograpy.)

Special recognition was paid this year to the Indianapolis Police and Fire Departments. Captain Webb (IFD) and Lt. Michael Rinehart (IPD) accepted ROSE Awards from the hospitality industry on behalf of all their fellow police officers and firefighters in appreciation for the public safety attention given to visitors.

Bonnie Webb has been a member of IFD since 1983. She served 17 years as a firefighter on the front line and has, for the past two years, served as the director of the Survive Alive program. Survive Alive, which teaches kids, and sometimes adults, about fire safety, accident prevention and how to react to other types of emergencies such as chemical spills. With a staff of five individuals, Captain Webb's work affects more than 18,000 children in Marion County each year. Since it was established in 1996, Indianapolis Survive Alive has trained almost 100,000 children and adults. She's also orchestrating the annual Fire Department Instructors Conference (FDIC), which convenes in Indianapolis next week (April 8-13) and will bring together more than 25,000 firefighters from around the nation for the first time since 9/11.

"Bonnie Webb is a quality person," says Indianapolis Fire Chief Louis Dezelan. "She is extremely bright and dedicated to her fire department, her community and the safety of the citizens who live here. She does an excellent job of supervising the personnel assigned to Survive Alive and the group has a great working relationship. Captain Webb is very well respected in IFD and in the community in general. We are very lucky to have someone of her caliber on our fire department."

Supervisors nominated ROSE honorees based on their courteous attitude, knowledge of the workplace and the city, ability to meet and exceed customer expectations and problem solving skills. These individuals have one-on-one contact with convention delegates, tourists, business travelers and meeting planners, or are behind-the-scenes people who positively influence a visitor's experience. They represent their companies and city as true ambassadors of good will.