Dale Fowler's Profile

Dale Fowler is a fifth generation Southern Illinoisan who learned the meaning of hard work from his father Wilbur on their family farm outside Eldorado. After graduating from Eldorado High School in 1975, Dale took the reins of the family business and was successful in expanding their business during changing economic times.

Dale gained valuable administrative experience and perspective serving as an office of operations supervisor for then Secretary of State Jim Edgar. Dale spent the next 22 years in the Illinois Department of Corrections, working at both Vienna Correctional Center and Shawnee Correctional Center.

Dale was appointed Mayor of Harrisburg in 2014. He also serves as the Business Development Officer for Peoples National Bank. He previously served as president of the United Way of Southern Illinois, before forming the Clothes for SI Kids program in 2002. He later co-founded the Fowler-Bonan Foundation — because of those efforts, over 600 underprivileged children across 17 Southern Illinois counties received new clothes for school last year.

Dale and his wife Jill live in Harrisburg, where they have raised two children, Hannah and Ben. The Fowlers are members of First Presbyterian Church in Harrisburg.