Lance Roberts was born in Chicago and lived in Palos Park, IL. While at Carl Sandburg,
as a freshman he was 6th man on the Varsity Basketball team, which was undefeated in the
conference. He made the winning shot at the conference championship with seconds left
on the clock. The team was also undefeated in the conference his senior year. Lance lettered
in track, cross country, and golf. He was the Senior Class President.
Lance graduated from Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, where he played
basketball and rugby. He attended the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern
University until he was drafted into the Army. After completing Officers Candidate School
and Military Intelligence School, he was assigned to the General’s Staff for the 25th
Division at Schofield Barracks, Hawaii.
He was assigned to Military Assistance Command in Vietnam where he was awarded the
Bronze Star for combat services during an ARVN invasion of Laos. The next year he was
assigned to the Defense Intelligence Agency in Washington, DC, where he evaluated high
altitude photography of the bombing in North Vietnam.
Upon discharge from the Army he worked in the Group and Pension Insurance field with
Lincoln National and was assigned to create a new Eastern Regional office in Boston, MA.
In 1980, he created his own business, the largest pension administration office in northern
New England, which operated out of Manchester, New Hampshire. Following its sale in
1996, he was a consultant in the defined benefit and 401(k) markets until his retirement in
2022.
Noteworthy in his career were developing investments for the small plan retirement market
that rivaled the high-performing, low-cost investments formerly only available to the large
plan pension market. He was an entrepreneur and thought-leader in the retirement industry
for more than 50 years and a noted speaker at national industry events. Lance is a founding
member of the Columbus, Ohio region of the Dartmouth Entrepreneurship Organization.
Lance has six children: Robert, Kerry, Stephanie, Eric, Tom, and Walker. His children live
all over the country from California to Florida. He and his wife live in Charleston, WV,
where they are very involved in training and showing American Saddlebred horses. Lance
has rescued more than 15 Dalmatians, and owned his first Dalmatian in Palos Park.
He is accompanied tonight by his wife, Jackie, brother, Joel and cousin Deeks Carroll (also
graduates of Carl Sandburg), children Walker, Eric, Tom and family, and nephews Brad
Ehle and Trey Muhlhauser and families.