The Elmhurst Chamber of Commerce and Industry Board of Directors elected three officers and approved one appointment for its six-member Executive Committee for 2022 at its regular monthly meeting held in the Hammersmith Community Room at Community Bank of Elmhurst on November 9.
Chairperson—Eva Sanchez, Real Estate Agent with See Your House Right Here @properties in downtown Elmhurst (130 West Park Avenue).
First Vice Chairperson—Rita Borzym, Financial Advisor at Edward Jones Investments (188 Industrial Drive, Suite 108).
Second Vice Chairperson—Gregg Markiewicz, Senior Account Executive at The Stevens Group (188 Industrial Drive, Suite 428).
Appointed to serve a one-year term on the Executive Committee was:
Treasurer—Ralph Pechanio, Chair of the City of Elmhurst’s Veterans Memorial Commission, former community banker and long-time Chamber volunteer.
Sanchez, Borzym, Markiewicz and Pechanio will be joined on the Executive Committee by Immediate Past Chair Desiree Chen, Senior Director, Communications and External Relations, at Elmhurst University (190 Prospect Avenue), and ex-officio member John R. Quigley, Chamber President and CEO since 1999.
Sanchez is the 11th female Board Chair in the Chamber’s 103-year history, all of them since 1982, and the ninth serving during John Quigley’s 22-year tenure as ECCI’s President and CEO.
Preceding Sanchez as Board Chairs were Virginia “Ginny” Harmon (1982) of Unique Travel Service, Nancy Phillips (1988) of York State Bank, Gloria Duarte (1999) of Café Las Belles Artes, Cathy Bajkowski (2003) of CB Health Insurance, Dare Messina (2006) of L.W. Reedy Real Estate, Debra Klosterman (2007) of then Guaranteed Rate (now Catalano & Associates), Jennifer Speaker (2012) of SMB Advantage Group, Julie Miller Sheehan (2014) of IRS Trouble Solvers, Dee Longfellow (2015) of The Elmhurst Independent and Chen.
Sanchez 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), as well special committees and task forces.
Borzym and Markiewicz will serve as Chairs of the Membership and Marketing committees, respectively, Pechanio will chair the Ways and Means Committee and Quigley chairs the Governmental Affairs Committee.
Sanchez has served on the Board since 2016 and on the 2021 Executive Committee as First Vice Chair and Chair of the Marketing Committee. She was elected to three-year Director terms in 2016 and again in 2019 after which her second term was extended for two years more due to the Coronavirus (COVID-19) Pandemic.
Sanchez also has been a member of the Marketing Committee since 2017 following one year as a Membership Committee member, and she also serves as a Chamber Ambassador.
Borzym joined the Ways and Means Committee in 2021 after serving four years on the Membership Committee following her election as a first-term Director in 2017.
Markiewicz has been a member of the Marketing Committee since his first-term Director election in 2018.
Pechanio will serve as Treasurer and Chair of the Ways and Means Committee for a seventh appointed term.
Completing his service on the Executive Committee was Past Chair Bill Korbel, Local Sales Manager at the Elmhurst Suburban Life/Shaw Media (2001 Butterfield Road, Suite 105, Downers Grove).
Established in 1918, the Elmhurst Chamber of Commerce & Industry is a voluntary organization of business and professional men and women who have joined together to promote the civic and commercial progress of the community. The mission of the Elmhurst Chamber is to promote an environment that creates success for local businesses and our 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.