TROY, Ala. – Alabama Attorney General Troy King will be honored Saturday, March 11, with Troy University’s seventh annual Distinguished Leadership Award.

King, a 1990 TROY graduate, will receive the award from Dr. Jack Hawkins, Jr., chancellor, at an awards banquet to be held in the Trojan Center ballrooms beginning at 5:30 p.m. The banquet is held in conjunction with the annual Alumni, Parents and Friends Reunion/Irish Week celebration at Troy University. For more information on the banquet, contact the Office of Alumni Affairs at 334-670-3318.

The Distinguished Leadership Award was created to recognize the achievements of TROY alumni and friends who have distinguished themselves through exemplary work, philanthropy, leadership and service to their profession, community and alma mater.

“We are thrilled to honor Attorney General Troy King as our 2006 Distinguished Leadership award winner,” said Faith Ward, Troy University’s director of alumni affairs.  “Troy is certainly very deserving of this award, exemplifying his leadership skills daily as a leader in the State of Alabama. We are pleased that he will be back on campus to accept his award on Spring Reunion weekend.”

King was appointed to the Alabama attorney general’s post in March 2004 by Gov. Bob Riley. At the time of his appointment, he was serving as legal advisor to Gov. Riley, a position he had held since 2003. King also previously served as assistant attorney general, as well as deputy legal advisor and deputy executive secretary in Gov. Fob James’ administration.

As attorney general, King created the Family Protection Unit that focuses on the problems and solutions in the fight against abuse and exploitation of children and the elderly. He has been actively involved in the passage of Alabama’s new Open Meetings Law, a new law to fight the spread of methamphetamines and the Alabama Community Notification Act that toughens the punishment of sex offenders and provides improved sex offender tracking procedures.

In addition to his degree from TROY, King is a graduate of the University of Alabama School of Law.

He is married to the former Paige Pinson of Montgomery, and the couple has a son, Briggs, and two daughters, Colden and Asher.

Past winners of the Distinguished Leadership Award are: former Congressman Earl Hutto; McDowell Lee, secretary of the Alabama Senate; Bob Howell, longtime television reporter and anchor; the late Earl Watson, former TROY athletic director; Harrel McKinney, founder of Alabama Reference Laboratories and sponsor of the McKinney Medical Technology Scholarship at Troy University; and, Earl Johnson, former Andalusia mayor and the driving force behind the Bibb Graves Quadrangle renovation project.