ELMHURST, Ill., November 13, 2009 – The Elmhurst Chamber of Commerce & Industry Board of Directors elected four officers to its six-member Executive Committee for 2010 during their regular monthly meeting held November 10 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— Scott Levin, Attorney and Counselor with Howard & Howard (200 South Michigan Avenue, Chicago);
First Vice Chairperson— Kevin O’Keeffe, Owner of Fontano’s Subs (113 West First Street);
Second Vice Chairperson—Jennifer Speaker, President of CompUcoach, Inc. (188 Industrial Drive, Suite 120) and a Partner with Chicago Avon Lady; and
Treasurer—Kelly Walker (nee Bradford), Staff Accountant with Porte Brown, LLC (845 Oakton Street, Elk Grove Village).
Levin, O’Keeffe, Speaker and Walker will be joined on the Executive Committee by Immediate Past Chairman Jason Janes, Investment Representative with Edward Jones Investments (115 West Vallette Street), and Chamber President and CEO John Quigley, an ex-officio member.
Levin 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.
Scott Levin
Scott Levin is a second-term elected Chamber Director and fourth-year Executive Committee member who served as First Vice Chair and Chair of the Marketing Committee in 2009. He also served as Second Vice Chair and chaired the Membership Committee in 2008, and was Treasurer and Ways and Means Committee Chair in 2007.
Levin was a Partner, Executive Committee member and Attorney-at-Law with Defrees & Fiske LLC, for the past six years before the Chicago law firm, a Chamber member since 2003, recently merged with Howard & Howard.
His legal 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).
Levin has served as President and Legal Counsel for his neighborhood association for three years, Chair of the Edison Elementary School Parent Teacher Association’s Legislative and Bylaws Committee and Chief in the Indian Guides Program.
Levin also has worked on election committees for local public officials and provided legal advice to several not-for-profit organizations.
Most recently, Levin co-chaired the Financial Task Force (with Kevin Diamond) appointed by Elmhurst Mayor Peter DiCianni.
Kevin O’Keeffe
Kevin O’Keeffe, a Chamber member since 2005, when he purchased Fontano’s Subs, is newly elected as a second-term Chamber Director after serving on the 2009 Executive Committee as Second Vice Chair and Chair of the Membership Committee.
He previously served two years on the Marketing Committee and ran the Brown Bag Lunch & Learns in 2008.
O’Keeffe also is a third-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 an 18-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 and a second-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 has served on the Ways and Means Committee for the past two years.
Walker interned at the CPA firm Porte Brown as an Honors Program senior at Elmhurst College and joined the firm’s staff after her graduation in 2008.
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 recently moved to Bartlett after 24 years as a Bolingbrook resident.
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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