Spurgeon inducted as ISBA president

Kightlinger & Gray partner J. Todd Spurgeon has taken the helm of the Indiana State Bar Association after being officially inducted as president Friday morning during the final day of the ISBA Annual Meeting.

The New Albany attorney – whose practice consists of state and federal insurance matters – told Indiana Lawyer last month that his involvement with the state bar began early in his career, beginning with service on the Young Lawyers Council and working his way up to leadership roles on the Board of Governors and the Membership and Member Benefits Committee. Now in the role of president, Spurgeon told the Indiana Lawyer he thinks his charge is to continue pushing the ISBA ship forward.

According to a news release announcing Spurgeon’s induction, the new president’s primary goals will be to expand bar services by strengthening ISBA relationships with Indiana law schools and by offering health insurance to ISBA members.

“My aim for this year is relatively simple,” Spurgeon said in a Friday statement. “The ISBA will continue to strive to serve our members’ varying needs and serve as the independent voice of the Indiana legal profession, and we will continue to work tirelessly to improve the administration of justice and promote the public understanding of the legal system. However, we will work to evolve to do those things better, more effectively, and even differently than they have been done in the past.”

Spurgeon succeeds Taft Stettinius & Hollister partner Andi M. Metzel, who prioritized the building of beneficial relationships with Indiana’s legal institutions during her year as president. During her presidency, Metzel incorporated external and internal changes to the organization in an attempt to include more statewide participation, redesigned the annual meeting to encourage networking and led the bar through a transitional period as new executive director Joe Skeel joined the ISBA team.  

“I’m so proud of the work we’ve accomplished at the Indiana State Bar Association, and I can’t wait to see where Todd takes us from here,” Metzel said in a statement.

Metzel will remain on the ISBA Board of Governors as immediate past president. Leslie C. Henderzahs, a partner at Church Church Hittle and Antrim in Noblesville, assumed the role of ISBA president-elect in Spurgeon’s place, while Michael E. Tolbert of Tolbert & Tolbert LLC in Gary was elected vice president during the member assembly breakfast.