The Elmhurst Chamber of Commerce & Industry Board of Directors elected two officers and approved one appointment for its six-member Executive Committee for 2020 at its regular monthly meeting held November 12 in the Hammersmith Community Room at Community Bank of Elmhurst (330 West Butterfield Road).
Elected to serve one-year terms on the Executive Committee were:
Chairperson—Bill Korbel, Local Sales Manager with Shaw Media/Elmhurst Suburban Life (2001 Butterfield Road, Suite 105, Downers Grove).
First Vice Chairperson—Desiree Chen, Senior Director, Communications and External Relations, at Elmhurst College (190 Prospect Avenue).
The Second Vice Chairperson position will be voted on at the Board’s December 10 meeting.
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.
Korbel, Chen and Pechanio will be joined on the Executive Committee by Immediate Past Chair Kevin Kost, Financial Adviser with Edward Jones Investments (340 West Butterfield Road, Suite 4E), and ex-officio member John R. Quigley, Chamber President and CEO since 1999.
Korbel 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.
Chen and Pechanio will serve as Chairs of the Marketing and Ways and Means committees, respectively, while Quigley chairs the Governmental Affairs Committee. The Second Vice Chair will Chair the Membership Committee.
In 2019, Korbel stepped into the role of both First Vice Chair and Chair of the Membership Committee, while Chen chaired the Marketing Committee as Second Vice Chair and Pechanio served as Treasurer and Chair of the Ways and Means Committee for a fifth appointed term.
Completing his service on the Executive Committee was Past Chair Ken Bartels, Senior Vice President and Director at Community Bank of Elmhurst (330 West Butterfield Road and 133 North York Street) and Principal and Owner at Ken Bartels Consulting (Elmhurst).
Bartels served as Board Chair for our Chamber’s Centennial Celebration year in 2018.
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.