ELMHURST CHAMBER ELECTS OFFICERS FOR 2007
ELMHURST, Ill., November 16, 2006 – The Elmhurst Chamber of Commerce & Industry Board of Directors elected four officers to its six-member Executive Committee for 2007 during their regular monthly meeting held Tuesday (November 14) 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— Dare Messina, Real Estate Agent and Team Leader with Elmhurst’s first Keller Williams Realty Results office (112 South York Street);
First Vice Chairperson— Debra Klosterman, Partner with the Catalano Mortgage Team of American Home Mortgage (105 South York Street, Suite 200);
Second Vice Chairperson—Jason Janes, Investment Representative with Edward Jones Investments (115 West Vallette Street); and
Treasurer—Scott Levin, Partner, Executive Committee member and Attorney-at-Law with Defrees & Fiske LLC (200 South Michigan Avenue, Suite 1100, Chicago);
Messina, Klosterman, Janes and Levin will be joined on the Executive Committee by Immediate Past Chairman Jim Dinkle, Principal with The Jim Dinkle Company (14210 Augusta Court, Dubuque, Iowa), and Chamber President and CEO John Quigley, an ex-officio member.
Messina 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.
Dare Messina
Dare Messina becomes only the fifth female Board Chair in the Chamber’s 86-year history, all of them since 1982, but third since 1999. Preceding Messina as Board Chairs were Virginia “Ginny” Harmon (1982) of Unique Travel Service, Nancy Phillips (1988) of York State Bank, Gloria Duarte (1999) of Cafй Las Belles Artes and Cathy Bajkowski (2003) of CB Health Insurance.
A second-term Director (elected in 2002 and re-elected in 2005) and a Chamber member since 1997, Messina 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 third year as a member of the Chamber’s Executive Committee, serving as First Vice Chairperson this year. She is a fourth-year member and Chair of the Membership Committee, and has served as a green-coated Chamber Ambassador for four 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 36-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.
Debra Klosterman
Debra Klosterman, a first-term Director (elected in 2004) and fourth-year Chamber Ambassador, is a Partner in Catalano Mortgage Group with her husband, Frank Catalano Jr., Chairman of the Board in 1999, and an 11-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.
Jason Janes
Jason Janes, a Chamber member since 2001, was first elected to the Chamber Board in 2003 and has served on the Membership Committee since 2002. He has served as Chair of the York & Vallette Business Association for the past two years.
In 2003, Janes was nominated for The Business Ledger’s 2003 Young Businesspeople Awards, and served as a Chairman of the Elmhurst Chapter of the American Cancer Society’s Relay for Life.
Janes is licensed by both federal (Series 7) and state (Series 63) agencies in the field of investments. He serves as a mentor of college students at Elmhurst College’s Center for Professional Excellence, and is a college classroom lecturer.
As a member of the Elmhurst Jaycees, Janes has served on the not-for-profit organization’s Board of Directors is currently the Vice President of Individual Development.
A resident of Elmhurst, Janes earned his bachelor’s degree from North Central College in Naperville, where he and his wife serve on the Alumni Board.
Scott Levin
Scott Levin, a first-term Director and a Chamber member since 2003, became a Partner at Defrees & Fiske three years ago. His practice involves the areas of business and commercial law, litigation and intellectual property.
Prior to Defrees & Fiske, Levin was the Co-Founder and Managing Partner at Levin, McParland & Minetz LLC (1993-03) and a Partner in the Business Litigation Department at Hinshaw & Culbertson (1986-93).
His resume includes state governmental service as Deputy Executive Director of the Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority (1983-86) and Executive Assistant with the Illinois Law Enforcement Commission (1977-82).
An Elmhurst resident, Levin has served as President and Legal Counsel for his neighborhood association for three year, Chair of the Edison Elementary School Parent Teacher Association’s Legislative and Bylaws Committee and Chief in the Indian Guides Program. He also has worked on election committees for local public officials and provided legal advice to several not-for-profit organizations.
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.
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