ELMHURST CHAMBER ELECTS OFFICERS FOR 2006
ELMHURST, Ill., November 10, 2005 – The Elmhurst Chamber of Commerce & Industry Board of Directors elected three officers and approved one appointment to its six-member Executive Committee for 2006 during their regular monthly meeting held November 8 in the Community Room at Community Bank of Elmhurst (330 West Butterfield Road).
Elected by the Board of Directors to one-year Executive Committee terms were:
Chairperson—Jim Dinkle, Principal with The Jim Dinkle Company (14210 Augusta Court, Dubuque, Iowa), which he founded in 2005;
First Vice Chairperson—Dare Messina, Real Estate Agent with Elmhurst’s first Keller Williams Realty office (112 South York Street);
Second Vice Chairperson—Joe Skibbie, Marketing Coordinator at Community Bank of Elmhurst (330 West Butterfield Road) since 2000; and
Treasurer—Debra Klosterman, Partner with the Catalano Mortgage Team of American Home Mortgage (112 South York Street).
Dinkle, Messina, Skibbie and Klosterman will be joined on the Executive Committee by Immediate Past Chairman Tom Cathcart, Senior Benefits Manager at Motorola since 2003, and Chamber President John Quigley, an ex-officio member.
Dinkle will work closely with the Chamber staff and oversee the policy-making work of the Chamber Board and its four standing committees: Marketing, Membership, Ways and Means, and Governmental Affairs.
Jim Dinkle
Jim Dinkle, a second-term Director (elected 2002 and re-elected 2005) and a Chamber member since 2000, founded The Jim Dinkle Company following five years with the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad as Manager of Economic Development.
Dinkle is in his second year as a member of the Chamber’s Executive Committee, serving as First Vice Chairperson and Chair of the Marketing Committee this year. He was the Treasurer and Chair of the Ways and Means Committee in 2004, and served as the Chamber’s Interim President in 1999.
In addition, Dinkle was the Executive Director of the former Elmhurst Economic Development Corporation (EEDC) from its inception in 1993 through 1997, and was an Ex-Officio member of the Chamber Board from 1994-97. He also served on the Elmhurst City Centre’s Board of Directors as an Ex-Officio member and is a former member of the Elmhurst Family YMCA Board of Directors.
His resume includes governmental service as Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley’s Special Projects Manager (1997-98) and Deputy Chief of Staff for former Kentucky Governor Wallace Wilkinson.
A 12-year member of our community, Dinkle joined the Kiwanis Club of Elmhurst in 2003, and three of his 10 years as a Rotarian were spent in Elmhurst.
Dare Messina
Dare Messina, a second-term Director (elected in 2002 and re-elected in 2005) and a Chamber member since 1997, spent 20 years with RE/MAX East-West before becoming a real estate agent at the first Keller Williams office in Elmhurst.
Messina is in her second year as a member of the Chamber’s Executive Committee, serving as Second Vice Chairperson this year. She is a third-year member and Chair of the Membership Committee, and has served as a green-coated Chamber Ambassador for three years.
As a realtor, Messina has represented the Chamber with an Elmhurst Community Unit School District 205 study and was a member of the College of DuPage Real Estate Advisory Committee (1998-01).
A 35-year Elmhurst resident, Messina has served on the Elmhurst Atrium Townhouse Association’s Board of Directors (including Secretary and Treasurer) since 1970, and is a member of Visitation Catholic Church and the Kiwanis Club of Elmhurst, chairing the Membership Growth and Retention Committee.
Messina is a Past Co-Director for United Way Campaign at United Airlines, where she worked as a flight attendant for 35 years until 2001, and a former member of the Elmhurst Jaycees.
Joe Skibbie
Joe Skibbie, a first-term elected Director (elected in 2004) who was first appointed to the Board in 2003, joined the Executive Committee this year as Treasurer. He also chaired the Ways and Means Committee and has served on the Chamber’s Marketing Committee for four years.
Skibbie worked for the Chamber as a student intern during his senior year at Elmhurst College before being hired by Community Bank of Elmhurst.
In 2003, Skibbie became a certified member of the Illinois Bankers Association.
Skibbie is a 2000 EC graduate, with a Bachelor of Science degree in marketing (philosophy minor), and has completed non-degree courses at the College of DuPage.
Active in the Elmhurst Community, Skibbie is a four-year member of the Elmhurst Jaycees, a leadership organization chartered as the Junior Chamber of Commerce, serving as Financial Vice President in 2003 and Membership Vice President in 2004. He is a three-year member of the Elmhurst City Centre’s “Cool Kiddie Cars” Committee benefiting the Elmhurst Children’s Assistance Foundation (ECAF).
Skibbie resides Glen Ellyn.
Debra Klosterman
Debra Klosterman, a first-term Director (elected in 2004) and third-year Chamber Ambassador, is a Partner in Catalano Mortgage Group with her husband, Frank Catalano Jr., Chairman of the Board in 1999, and a 10-year Mortgage Broker.
Klosterman has served on Boards for Elmhurst Memorial Healthcare, the Elmhurst Family YMCA and Rotary Club of Elmhurst, and chaired numerous fundraising and special event committees.
She is a 1977 graduate of the University of South Carolina-Columbia with a Bachelor of Arts degree in business/marketing.
A 20-year Elmhurst resident, Klosterman resides in Oak Brook.
Established in 1918, the Elmhurst Chamber of Commerce is a voluntary organization of business and professional men and women who have joined together for the purpose of promoting the civic and commercial progress of the community.
The Chamber also serves the needs of its members through services, programs and events that provide opportunities for networking and referral, business education, development and promotion, governmental representation and community involvement.