Business Briefs | November 2016

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November 2016 View more

Appointments:

Michael J. HavalaMichael J. Havala has been named CEO and President of Loaves & Fishes Community Service, effective October 15, 2016. Havala, Chairman of the Board, has served as the Interim CEO since March 2016.He has been on the Board of Directors of Loaves & Fishes since 2009, and has been instrumental in many aspects of the organization’s progress over the past seven years. Havala brings more than 25 years of leadership in executive positions and has been a co-founder of both privately-held and publicly-traded companies. Through his current advisory business, he has been an advisor to a number of companies across the United States in the areas of strategic planning, business development, capital markets, operations and organizational structure. Throughout his career, he has raised over $13 billion of capital from many sources including domestic and international institutional and retail investors. Havala will continue to serve as Chairman of the Board of Loaves & Fishes until that role is transitioned to another member of the Board of Directors as stated by the organization’s bylaws.

NMAG1116_BusinessBriefs_Scott,Nicki_800pxNicki Scott became one of Vistage Worldwide’s newest Chairs in the Chicago market. Scott is launching a peer advisory group to include CEO’s and business owners that will meet monthly to resolve business issues, share expertise, and provide one another confidential help to achieve their goals. Scott is part of a community of more than 800 Chairs worldwide who lead local groups, which total more than 22,000 members in 16 countries. Scott is an entrepreneur, coach, and professional speaker with 30 years of experience in a variety of industries and leadership positions. Born in England, she started her career as a chartered accountant for KPMG Peat Marwick, moving quickly into corporate finance. After moving to the U.S. in 1993, she transitioned into change management consulting, and in 2002 was recruited by Profitability Business Simulations Ltd, a UK experiential learning firm as Managing Director, North America and was successful in launching their U.S. subsidiary. A volunteer leader for Rotary International, Scott served as District Governor 2014-15 and is now one of 34 Rotary Coordinators worldwide.

John Craig will become executive vice president of Batavia-based Tour Edge Golf in January. Craig has worked with Tour Edge, a growing golf club manufacturer, over the last 10 years as a distributor in Australia. He was an avid athlete as a young man playing Australian football, cricket, tennis and basketball. Golf was a part-time sport and evolved from his earlier caddying experience at Royal Melbourne. Craig became a partner in a consumer behavior-consulting firm, Klein, Craig & Associates, where he worked with General Motors, Telstra, Ogilvy & Mather, Leo Burnett and others. He also spent three years as CEO of what was Australia’s largest retail chain called House of Golf.

NMAG1116_BusinessBriefs_CarneyMichelle_800pxBoard-certified obstetrician and gynecologist Dr. Michele Carney joins DuPage Medical Group (DMG). Carney joins DMG with more than 14 years of experience and focuses on minimally invasive surgery using the da Vinci Surgical System, infertility, high-risk obstetrics, laser vaginal restoration and treatment of abnormal uterine bleeding. Carney earned her medical degree from Rush University, where she also completed her residency in obstetrics and gynecology. She is a member of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists as well as the American Medical Association. Carney describes her philosophy of care as a commitment to creating strong relationships and providing quality, patient-centered care. Affiliated with Edward Hospital, Carney is practicing at DMG’s Naperville facility, located at 608 S. Washington St., Suite 204.

NMAG116_BusinessBriefs_O'Connor,Martha_800pxIce Miller LLP attorney Martha O’Connor has joined the Illinois Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation Young Leadership Committee. The committee hosts numerous fundraising, networking and social events in Chicago to help create awareness of Type 1 Diabetes and fund research aimed at turning type One into Type None. O’Connor is an attorney in Ice Miller’s Litigation Group, and handles class actions, construction law and other matters. Through her experiences, she has developed skills to successfully deal with the frequent challenges in commercial litigation. She graduated cum laude from Northwestern Law in 2013 where she was on the staff of Northwestern’s Journal of International Law and Business. O’Connor is a graduate of Bowling Green State University. Prior to joining Ice Miller, she was an associate at the Chicago office of an international law firm, where she began her practice.

Peter Garnica of Batavia has been named as the top general manager at Wendy’s global restaurant system for 2016. A former crew member who started as a sandwich maker, Garnica now leads the team at the Wendy’s at 1905 W. Wilson Blvd. He was recognized during festivities at the first Top GM Conference at Wendy’s Restaurant Support Center in Dublin, Ohio.

Certified Public Accountant Timothy J. Gavin has been named partner at Klein Hall CPAs LLC in Aurora. He will oversee governmental audits for the firm, including cities, villages, park districts, school districts and special districts. Gavin specializes in performing audits, accounting services, financial reporting, agreed-upon procedures and other consulting engagements for over 50 units of local government in Illinois.

Awards:

Professional services firm Sikich LLP was recently named to the 2016 Inc. 5000 list. This is the fourth consecutive year the firm has appeared on the magazine’s annual ranking of the fastest-growing private companies in the United States. Sikich, which generated more than $116 million in revenue in 2015 and has grown revenue by 53 percent since 2012, ranks 4,613 on this year’s Inc. 5000 list. Earlier this year, the firm announced the acquisition of BCG & Co., an Akron, Ohio-based firm that offers audit and assurance, tax, technology and wealth management services. For more than 30 years, Inc. Magazine has published its list of the fastest-growing private companies in the country. Companies are ranked by revenue growth over three years. To qualify, a company must be headquartered in the United States, independent and for profit.

North Central College became a national partner in the Billion Dollar Green Challenge—another important step in its ongoing efforts to create an environmentally sustainable campus for its faculty, staff, students and the future of the school. The Challenge encourages colleges, universities and other nonprofit institutions to invest a combined total of $1 billion in self-managed revolving funds that finance energy efficiency and other sustainability project improvements. To date, 62 institutions have joined the Challenge and North Central is one of only two in Illinois. North Central created its own green revolving fund, the Cardinal Sustainability Fund, in 2014. It provides the financial means for investing in energy efficiency projects to reduce energy consumption on campus and reinvest the money saved in future projects. During fall 2016, the College will implement the largest project to date from the green revolving fund: a 538.56 kW solar array with a 250 kW energy storage system in the Residence Hall/Recreation Center. The solar panels will provide 22 percent of the electricity needed for the 201,439-square-foot building with energy storage capacity that can be sold to help support the project.

NMAG1116_BusinessBriefs_PinotsPalette_800pxPinot’s Palette, one of the fastest-growing paint and sip chains, recognized Pam Bartlett, owner of the Pinot’s Palette studio in Naperville, on September 22 for American Business Women’s Day. The company’s founders didn’t know they had a million-dollar idea when they started Pinot’s Palette, until they had to create a new award for “the Million Dollar studio” in honor of Bartlett’s business at the Pinot’s Palette’s national convention this year. Bartlett’s Naperville studio recorded the highest sales across a network that now includes more than 180 studios open and in development across the U.S. and Canada. A resident of Naperville for more than 25 years, Bartlett opened her studio in December of 2013, gave herself the title of Pinot’s Palette Owner and Director of Fun and began breaking company records on a regular basis. She is an example of the growing popularity of Pinot’s Palette with customers as well as women business owners. Pinot’s Palette now includes 159 female owners or co-owners across its system.

NMAG1116_BusinessBriefs_NapervilleHeritageSociety_800pxThe Naperville Heritage Society (NHS), administrator of Naper Settlement, is among the recipients of the Institute of Museum and Library Services 2016 Museums for America award. The museum has been awarded a $72,209 grant, which will enable Naper Settlement’s staff to engage the services of professional conservators who will clean, stabilize and conserve a 1912 threshing machine once used by area farmers. The thresher will be the centerpiece of an exhibit in the museum’s new Agricultural Interpretive Center which is currently under development. Additionally, Naper Settlement will hold a two-day field-study workshop for emerging museum professionals in collections care and conservation of macro artifacts. Naper Settlement’s Agricultural Interpretive Center will employ cutting-edge technology to relate the facets of the city’s farming past using a trio of themes and the preservation of key artifacts, like the grain thresher. Cleaning and conserving this agricultural artifact will help to share Naperville’s agricultural past with students and the public, while being a great asset in STEM education. More than 140,000 people visit Naper Settlement each year, including 33,000 school children and their teachers. Since its founding in 1969, over 3.6 million visitors have toured the 12-acre museum site and have visited its historic buildings and seen a variety of regional artifacts.

NMAG1116_BusinessBriefs_AuroraArtsCenter_800pxThe Illinois Housing Development Authority (IHDA) announced a tax credit award worth over $15 million toward the development of the Aurora Arts Center at the former Waubonsee Community College Building in downtown Aurora. The $35 million project will be developed by The Community Builders Inc. and consist of a first- class restaurant as well as a Paramount School for the Performing Arts to serve Aurora’s growing artistic community. In addition, the Joseph Corporation building at 32 S. Broadway would receive a major capital upgrade. The Waubonsee building has been vacant for about five years and is located next door to the Paramount Theatre at Galena Boulevard and Stolp Avenue. Invest Aurora purchased the building earlier this year for $350,000 in order to facilitate the development of the Arts Center. The Aurora Arts Center would also include artist–targeted loft apartments similar to the successful Cornerstone Apartments, another development by The Community Builders located in Chicago’s Bronzeville neighborhood. Within the new development, the Paramount’s Performing Arts School will occupy about 30,000 square feet of the large building.