Harry and Ada Lamon Fund Distinguished Speaker Series

Embry-Riddle was experiencing significant challenges concerning distance learning issues with the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS), he recalls. Lamon was former counsel for SACS, so Dr. John Morris, a Daytona Beach radiologist who was an old high school friend of Lamon’s wife and a member of the Embry-Riddle Board, contacted him about joining the board.

“Embry-Riddle to me is a real success story,” Lamon says. “I really believe that through the years, working with members of the board, we have all been able to contribute to the university and its development.”

Today, he continues to help the university, but is focused on developing its students’ leadership, faith and commitment to making a difference in their communities.

“Harry Lamon has spent the past 30 years supporting Embry-Riddle and he continues to encourage our students to be the best they can be with the speakers series he created,” says Christopher Lambert, Embry-Riddle’s senior executive director of development.

Harry and his wife Ada created the Harry and Ada Lamon Distinguished Speaker Series at the Daytona Beach Campus, which covers topics of leadership and spiritual growth. They work closely with the Rev. David Keck, who is the campus chaplain.

“We saw an opportunity at Embry-Riddle that we didn't see anywhere else,” Lamon says. “We saw a technical school growing very rapidly, but it needed to have additional emphasis put on the liberal arts and faith-based leadership.”

Lamon’s tax law knowledge helped him settle on the best way to support the speaker series, which is funded using an IRA rollover. The IRA rollover provides a smart and easy way for donors who want to support the university to give back and get a tax benefit at the same time.

"This is a good tax-planning vehicle for most folks,” Lamon says.

One of the reasons he and his wife created the speakers series is because faith and community service are such important parts of their lives, says Lamon, who is a life member of the Metro Atlanta Salvation Army Advisory Board and the National Advisory Board for the Salvation Army, of which he is a charter member and past chairman.

"I hope that our funding of the distinguished speakers program will bring people to the Embry-Riddle campus who will help build leadership in our society by providing them with real insight into their faith and skills.” he says.