ELMHURST CHAMBER ELECTS OFFICERS FOR 2011
ELMHURST, Ill., November 10, 2010 – The Elmhurst Chamber of Commerce & Industry Board of Directors elected four officers to its six-member Executive Committee for 2011 during their regular monthly meeting held November 9 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— Kevin O’Keeffe, Owner of Fontano’s Subs (113 West First Street);
First Vice Chairperson— Jennifer Speaker, President of CompUcoach, Inc. (188 Industrial Drive, Suite 120) and a Partner with Chicago Avon Lady;
Second Vice Chairperson— Kelly Walker, Staff Accountant with Porte Brown, LLC (845 Oakton Street, Elk Grove Village); and
Treasurer—Charity Ahlgrim, Vice President and Business Development Officer at Community Bank of Elmhurst.
O’Keeffe, Speaker, Walker and Ahlgrim will be joined on the Executive Committee by Immediate Past Chairman Scott Levin, Attorney and Counselor with Howard & Howard (200 South Michigan Avenue, Chicago), and Chamber President and CEO John Quigley, an ex-officio member.
O’Keeffe 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.
Kevin O’Keeffe
Kevin O’Keeffe, a Chamber member since 2005, when he purchased Fontano’s Subs, is a second-term elected Chamber Director who served on the Executive Committee as First Vice Chair and Chair of the Marketing Committee in 2010, and Second Vice Chair and Chair of the Membership Committee in 2009.
He previously served two years on the Marketing Committee and ran the Brown Bag Lunch & Learns in 2008.
O’Keeffe also is a fourth-year member of the Board of Directors of Elmhurst City Centre, which manages the two Special Service Areas (SSA 6 and SSA 7) serving businesses, commercial property owners and residential property owners in the city’s Central Business District.
Prior to Fontano’s Subs, O’Keeffe held sales positions in different fields for 18 years and then taught at Elmhurst’s Immaculate Conception Grade School for two years.
During his 11 years as a member of the Elmhurst Jaycees, O’Keeffe held the offices of Director, Treasurer and Vice President, and oversaw the Spectacular Midways Carnival fundraiser at Elmfest and many other events.
O’Keeffe also is a 19-year member of the Knights of Columbus and has served on Parent Teacher Associations for more than five years.
O’Keeffe is a graduate (B.A.) of the College of St. Francis.
Jennifer Speaker
Jennifer Speaker is a first-term elected Chamber Director who served on the Executive Committee as Second Vice Chair and Chair of the Membership Committee in 2010, and is a third-year member on the Business-to-Business Expo Subcommittee.
A Chamber member since 2001, Speaker founded CompUcoach in 1999 and became an Avon Lady in 2009. CompUcoach is an IT, training and virtual assistance service firm.
Speaker is a member in the Windy City Chapter of the Young Professional’s Organization (since 2004), Oak Brook Chapter of LEADS Club (since 2007), serving as an officer and Director, and International Virtual Assistants Association.
Active in Elmhurst’s Cool Cities Coalition, Speaker has served on the Marketing Committee for Elmhurst Green Fest.
A 1995 University of Illinois graduate with a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science and Statistics, Speaker is an IBM Certified Developer and a Certified QuickBooks Pro Advisor.
She is a nine-year resident of Villa Park and former Elmhurst resident.
Kelly Walker
Kelly Walker is a first-term elected Chamber Director who served on the Executive Committee as Treasurer and Chair of the Ways and Means Committee in 2010. Prior to that, she was a two-year member of the Ways and Means Committee.
Walker interned at the CPA firm of Porte Brown as an Honors Program senior at Elmhurst College and joined the firm’s staff after her graduation in 2008. This summer, she passed the state exams to become a Certified Public Accountant (CPA).
Walker also is a former ECCI Blueprint for Success student who interned at Chamber member E.L. Foust while attending Elmhurst’s Timothy Christian High School, where she has mentored accounting students since graduating in 2003.
Walker graduated Summa Cum Laude from EC with a Bachelor of Science degree in Accounting and was named Outstanding Accounting Student for 2008.
She now resides in Bartlett after 24 years as a Bolingbrook resident.
Charity Ahlgrim
Charity Ahlgrim, Vice President and Business Development Officer at Community Bank of Elmhurst since 2005, is a second-term elected Director who has served on the Marketing Committee since 2006, when she was first appointed to the Board in 2006 to fill a vacancy.
A longtime volunteer at the Steak Fry and Elmfest, Ahlgrim also served as a Chamber Director in the 1990s and is a former member of the Chamber Ambassadors.
Community Bank of Elmhurst annually hosts the Chamber’s Mayoral “State of Our City” Membership Breakfast and holiday Business After Hours.
Ahlgrim has more than a quarter-century of community-based banking experience in Elmhurst and was elected to serve as Treasurer for the City of Elmhurst from 2005-09.
During her years in community banking, she has been active in the Spring Road Business Association, co-founded the Elmhurst St. Patrick’s Day Parade and partners with The Silverado Grill on both a State of Illinois award-winning business education program for youths and the American Cancer Society’s Elmhurst Relay for Life.
Ahlgrim also is a Trustee for the Elmhurst Memorial Hospital Foundation and a member of League of Women Voters of Elmhurst.
She is an 18-year resident of Elmhurst.
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.
— 30 —