BLOOMINGTON - Business and civic leader Howard R. Fricke told the graduating class of Illinois Wesleyan University on Sunday that greed is a root of many of society's ills.

Fricke, who graduated from IWU with a degree in insurance, addressed the graduating class of 500 at Eckley Quadrangle.

He told the graduates that society places too much value on individuals' wealth.

People seem to think that "getting rich by any means is the goal everyone should aspire to," he told the audience.

In addition to affecting the business world, greed and the "lust for power" have affected the nonprofit organizations and government officials, he said.

Fricke suggested greed is one of the reasons for the current economic turbulence.

"Historians are going to look back on the economic crisis we're experiencing and they'll say it is greed that is the root cause of all this," he said. "It began when we began to value how much we take more than what we give" to society.

Fricke's suggestion to the graduates for dealing with the mercenary society was to listen to what he called their "internal voice."

"If your emphasis is on what the world thinks of you you're going to end up living your life doing what others think you should do," he said.

Fricke was a 2008 inductee into the Kansas Business Hall of Fame. He has been Chairman of the board, president and CEO of Security Benefit Group of Companies, a nationwide financial services, asset management and retirement planning organization. He served as Secretary of the Kansas Department of Administration from 2003 to 2005 and as Secretary of Commerce from 2005 to 2007.

Fricke commended the IWU faculty as "outstanding." He also noted the diversity of the university. Officials at IWU don't just talk about the university, but students live diversity, he said, being exposed to others of different backgrounds, interests, and goals.