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VP runs the extra mile

Frank Warren
The Commuter

Thursday, September 3, 2009

Thallemer trains for a marathon in Seattle Photo by Frank Warren.


Life is a marathon — just ask LBCC Vice President Bill Thallemer.

Thallemer, who is dressed in a yellow tank top, black running shorts, and a GPS wrist-watch, is at the LBCC activity center preparing for a six-mile run. Thallamer is getting ready for an upcoming marathon.

“Today it is six-miles, tomorrow it’ll be 17 miles, “ Thallemer said

Thallamer has a zeal for running and staying active. On an average day, he arises in the morning and runs anywhere from eight to 13 miles. He has run in 34 marathons in 24 states and weight trains on a regular basis.

Thallemer, who has been the vice-president of LBCC since June 2, 2008, holds a schedule that is as grueling as the marathons that he runs. While performing his duties here at LBCC, Thallemer teaches 10 classes a year for the Doctoral Leadership Program at the University of Phoenix, works with the Governance Affairs Council for the city of Albany, and owns his own business as a process improvement specialist.

“Mr. Thallemer is a multi-tasker, with high energy,”said Marilyn Hale, Thallemer’s secretary.

Thallamer, who grew up in South Bend, Indiana, the home of Notre Dame University, says there were two big influences in his life. One was his grandfather, who wrote the alma mater for Notre Dame and the other was his membership with the Bud Light Daredevils, a group of young acrobats that performed half-time shows for professional and college basketball games as well as the music group Miami Sound Machine.

Thallamer believes that education is about helping people and says it is his driving force. As a dean at a college in Alabama, Thallamer heard of a local family whose baby was having some health problems. He put together a 50-mile running event that would raise over 30 thousand dollars for the child.

“It’s your job to make a positive difference in people’s lives every day and people don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care,” Thallamer said.

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