Gov. Pritzker Announces Nearly Two Dozen Appointments to State Boards and Commissions

Building on a strong team of diverse experts in their fields, Governor JB Pritzker announced that his administration has nominated the following individuals to serve on a variety of state boards and commissions:

CAPITAL DEVELOPMENT BOARD

David Arenas will serve on the Illinois Capital Development Board.* Arenas serves as president of his namesake financial and leadership capital advisory firm which provides comprehensive strategic solutions to organizations seeking to grow, improve and transform financial, operational and leadership management performance. He founded David Arenas and Associates after decades leading global, private and high-growth companies on strategic, operations-turnaround, financial and leadership capital initiatives. He previously served in various leadership roles at N.B. Handy, Reilley Partners, Spencer Stuart, Blue Beacon Capital, Societe Generale, JP Morgan and Montoya and Sons Construction. He received his Master of Business Administration and Master of Engineering Management from Northwestern University and his Bachelor of Science in civil engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
 
Martesha Brown will serve on the Illinois Capital Development Board.* Brown currently serves as the director of advancement of the Rockford Area Convention & Visitors Bureau where she manages fundraising, advocacy and public affairs. From late 2016 to early 2019, she worked in the banking industry, as regional community development relationship manager of Midland States Bank and community outreach officer of Alpine Bank. Previously, she spent four years at the Rockford Park District as customer service/food & beverage manager and operations manager of ice facilities. Brown served on the boards of the Harkins Community Memorial Fund, Stateline Youth for Christ and Keeping Families and Communities Together. The Rockford resident received her Master of Business Administration from Rockford University and her Bachelor of Arts from Southern Illinois University-Carbondale.
 
Pamela McDonough will continue to serve on the Illinois Capital Development Board.* First named to the CDB in November 2015, McDonough brings more than 30 years of experience in both the public and private sectors. She currently serves as president of the DeAngelo McDonough Construction Management Company, where she's worked since 2003. She also serves as president of McDonough Enterprises, Ltd., a business development company that performs technical assistance and association management for non-profits. Prior, McDonough served as the first woman director of the Illinois Department of Commerce and Community Affairs. Under her leadership, Illinois ranked first in the nation for economic development in 2001 and 2002. She also served in many other state government leadership roles including serving as Deputy Director of the Capital Development Board from 1992 to 1995. McDonough received her Master's in Public Administration from Sangamon State University and her bachelor's degree from Northeastern Illinois University.
 
Glyn Ramage will continue to serve on the Illinois Capital Development Board.* Ramage has served on the board since 2002 and was appointed acting chairman of the CDB between February and April of 2004. The Millstadt resident has served as the business manager for the Twelve Counties Southwestern Illinois Laborers District Council since 2000. He is a 26-year member of the Laborers' Local No. 100 in East St. Louis and has served as business manager of the Local since 1993. Ramage serves as chairman of the Foundation for Fair Contracting of Southwestern Illinois, Inc. and is a director of the Labor Management Work Preservation & Construction Industry Promotional Trust of Southwestern Illinois.
 
Eileen Rhodes will serve on the Illinois Capital Development Board.* Since 1998, Rhodes has served as president of East Lake Management Group, Chicago's largest African American property management and development firm serving the city's underserved communities. Managing the 600-plus person company, she is responsible for overseeing all aspects of property management of 12,000 units of housing, including marketing, leasing, budgeting, staffing, repairs and regulatory compliance. Prior, she spent three years at the Chicago Housing Authority as a HOPE VI Program Manager and four years as the director of development of the Chicago Dwellings Association. She also serves as board president of the Bodhi Spiritual Center and board member of Personal PAC and Sacred Keepers Sustainability Lab. She received her Master of Arts from the Erikson Institute of Early Childhood Development and Bachelor of Science from Georgetown University.

CIVIL SERVICE COMMISSION

Vivian Robinson will serve as commissioner of the Illinois Civil Service Commission.* Robinson spent 36 years as a social worker at the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services. She was awarded a Congressional honor in 1999 for her life's work to protect vulnerable children in southern Illinois. Robinson also served as trustee, vice president and president of AFSCME Local 1048. The Harrisburg resident received her Master's degree in social work from Southern Illinois University-Carbondale.

EASTERN ILLINOIS UNIVERSITY

Joseph Dively will continue to serve on the Board of Trustees of Eastern Illinois University.* Dively was named to the EIU Board of Trustees in October 2011. He currently serves as chairman and CEO of First Mid-Illinois Bancshares Inc., based in Mattoon, Ill. Dively's business career includes service as a senior vice president for Consolidated Communications and in sales and management roles with IBM and Caterpillar. A Charleston native, Mr. Dively has served his alma mater as president of the Alumni Association, chair of the Business School Advisory Board, and as a member of both the EIU Foundation Board and the Panther Club. He has been an active member of the business community, serving as chair of the Illinois Chamber of Commerce, president of the Charleston Chamber of Commerce, chair of the Sarah Bush Lincoln Health System, and on the board of the Illinois Bankers Association. He received his bachelor of science degree in business from Eastern Illinois University in 1981 and was presented the Distinguished Alumnus Award in 2003.
 
Audrey Edwards will serve on the Board of Trustees of Eastern Illinois University.* Edwards has spent 37 years as an educator. After four years of public school teaching, she completed her doctorate and went on to teach English at Frostburg State University in Maryland for 11 years. There, she earned awards for innovative service to underprepared freshmen and students with disabilities. Joining EIU in 1989, Dr. Edwards became director of the Integrated Secondary Education Program, a unique cross-disciplinary teacher preparation plan. She served on several university-level committees, including the Council on Faculty Research, the Faculty Development Committee, and the Council on Teacher Education. Following retirement in 2010, Dr. Edwards has been an active member of the UPI Retirees Executive Board and its president since 2015.
 
Christopher Hicks will serve on the Board of Trustees of Eastern Illinois University.* Hicks is a banking and financial services professional with 15+ years of risk management and retail sales experience in Fortune 500 financial institutions. He currently serves as a Compliance Officer at Fifth-Third Bank and was in similar roles as Vice President at MB Financial Bank, JP Morgan Chase and Bank of America. Hicks began his career with eight years of service at LaSalle Bank in Chicago before its merger with Bank of America. The Homewood resident received his Master of Business Administration and Bachelor of Arts in finance from Eastern Illinois University. Hicks was a four-year letterman in football during his time at EIU. 

Joyce Madigan will serve on the Board of Trustees of Eastern Illinois University.* Since its inception in August 1995, Madigan has served as partner of Gilbert, Metzger & Madigan, LLP, a full-service CPA firm located in Charleston, Illinois. She founded the firm with the Charleston partners of Larsson, Woodyard & Henson, LLP, where she worked for 15 years prior. Madigan began as a staff accountant and eventually became a manager and then partner of the firm. She currently serves as Vice President of Coles Together, Coles County's economic development corporation.  She has previously served on the Eastern Illinois University Accounting Advisory Board and also the School of Business Advisory Board. In addition, she has served as past chair and former board member of Sarah Bush Lincoln Health System.  She received her Bachelor of Science in accounting and computer management from Eastern Illinois University.
 
Martin Ruhaak will serve on the Board of Trustees of Eastern Illinois University.* Ruhaak is a Corporate partner at Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP where his practice focuses primarily on mergers and acquisitions and corporate counseling in transactional situations. He has worked at the firm since 2011 and previously served as an associate in the business transactions practice of Schulte Roth & Zabel LLP in New York City. He received his Juris Doctor from Syracuse University College of Law and his Bachelor of Arts in history from Eastern Illinois University. 
 
Phillip Thompson Jr. will continue to serve on the Board of Trustees of Eastern Illinois University.* Thompson was appointed to the Board of Trustees in January 2017. He received his bachelor's degree in sociology from the Eastern Illinois University in 2003 before spending nearly five years as EIU's alumni events coordinator from 2008-12. He then used the skills he learned and honed at EIU to serve as associate director of alumni relations at Bradley University in Peoria. After that, Thompson moved on to become the director of alumni relations at McKendree University, a private liberal arts institution located in Lebanon, Illinois. Thompson is active with Associated College of Illinois (ACI) in addition to CASE V and has served on planning committees for both professional organizations. He is passionate about higher education due to the opportunities it has provided him and wants to use the skills and knowledge of the Illinois higher education system to serve his alma mater by "enhancing the wonderful things already being done at EIU." Thompson currently resides in Belleville and is pursuing a doctorate degree in Education.

LOCAL RECORDS COMMISSION

Pamela Davidson will serve as Chair of the Local Records Commission.* Davidson is a lifelong resident of Knox County and is active in a wide range of community and civic organizations. Her passion is serving the citizens of Galesburg to improve the quality of life in the community. Her service in public office began in 2009 when she was appointed to an open seat in District 3 of the Knox County Board. Elected in 2010 and subsequent elections, she was then elected Board Chairwoman in 2016 and reelected in 2018. Since 2004, Davidson is currently employed by John Deere Harvester Works in East Moline. Davidson is an active member of the United Automobile, Aerospace and Agricultural Implement Workers of America (UAW). Her union activism led to various elected positions at the local, regional and national levels. Davidson currently holds elected positions with UAW local 865 as Trustee, UAW Region 4 Civil & Human Rights Council as the President.

NORTHERN ILLINOIS UNIVERSITY

Rita Athas will serve on the Board of Trustees of Northern Illinois University.* Athas currently serves as a senior advisor of World Business Chicago after serving as president from 2007 to 2013. Under Athas' leadership, WBC was consistently ranked as one of the top economic development organizations in the country and always placed as one of the top three cities for the number of new businesses. Athas came to the economic development corporation after serving as Mayor Richard M. Daley's deputy chief of staff for external affairs for 10 years. In that capacity, she served as Mayor Daley's liaison to regional mayors, the U.S. Conference of Mayors, the business community and foundations. Athas has a long history with local government having served in various positions with a number of suburban municipalities and as the executive director of the Northwest Municipal Conference. Athas currently serves as the co-chair of the Chicago Manufacturing Renaissance Council and on the board of Metropolis Strategies, CEOs for Cities, and the Metropolitan Planning Council. She received her Master of Public Administration from Northern Illinois University and her Bachelor of Arts from Elmhurst College.
 
Dennis Barsema will continue to serve on the Board of Trustees of Northern Illinois University.* Barsema was first appointed to the NIU board in July 2017. He spent 10 years prior as an instructor at the Northern Illinois University College of Business where he created curriculum in social entrepreneurship for the college. Barsema spent over two decades in senior leadership roles in the tech industry — as Interim CEO of Blue Lane Technologies, CEO and president of Onetta and Redback Networks, senior vice president of Centigram Corporation and SoftSwitch Corporation, and vice president of sales of Primary Access and Paradyne Corporation. He began his career as a salesman for Burroughs Corporation and Storage Technology Corporation, both based in Rockford. He received his Bachelor of Science in management from Northern Illinois University.
 
John Butler will continue to serve on the Board of Trustees of Northern Illinois University.* Butler currently works as the Director of Communication and Strategy and Assistant Fund Administrator for the Painters District Council No. 30 (PDC 30), PDC 30 Health & Welfare and Pension Funds, and PDC 30 Labor Management Industry Development Fund. He began this role in 2012 after working as a strategic communication and organizational development consultant from 2005-2012. Butler is a two-time graduate of NIU (B.A., 1992; M.A., 1994) and served on the faculty at NIU from 1998 to 2005, where he directed NIU's speech and debate program and taught courses on issues management, political rhetoric, and public argumentation. John has severed as a member of the Board of Directors for the Chicago Center on Urban Life and Culture since 2013 and been a member of the Northern Illinois University Board of Trustees since December of 2007. He earned his Doctorate in 1998 from the University of Pittsburgh.
 
Montel Gayles will serve on the Board of Trustees of Northern Illinois University.* Gayles currently serves as vice president of business development and construction management at Electrical Resource Management. He began that role last month after spending four years at his namesake business and legal consulting firm. Previously, Gayles served as a partner in the government practice group at Hinshaw & Culbertson LLP from 2009 to 2015.  He spent 12 years in various roles at the City of Chicago, including time as the chief procurement officer, executive director of the Public Building Commission of Chicago, chief of staff of the Chicago Housing Authority and deputy commissioner of the Chicago Department of Buildings. From 1992 to 1996, Gayles served as an Assistant Cook County States Attorney. He began his career as an account marketing representative for IBM. He received his Juris Doctor from the Chicago-Kent College of Law at the Illinois Institute of Technology and his Bachelor of Science in communications from Northern Illinois University, where he was the first African-American to be elected NIU Student Association President in 1982 and the first NIU African-American student to serve as NIU's student representative to the Board of Regents in 1983.
 
Veronica Herrero will continue to serve on the Board of Trustees of Northern Illinois University.* Herrero is currently the Chief Program Officer for One Million Degrees. Before taking on this role in 2013, she was the Vice President of Operations for Progressus Therapy, LLC. Herrero spent four years with Chicago Public Schools as a Deputy Officer of Student Support an Engagement where she executed the vision and strategy for district-wide enrichment programs that served over 100,000 students. She successfully built, grew and managed a small business from 1997 to 2006, when the business was profitably sold. In 2006, Herrero graduated from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business with an MBA in strategic management and entrepreneurship.
 
Robert Pritchard will continue to serve on the Board of Trustees of Northern Illinois University.* Pritchard has served on the NIU board since July 2018 when he retired from the Illinois House of Representatives. The Republican lawmaker served since 2003. Pritchard and his family continue to operate the family farms, now in its 7th generation. He began his career as a radio and TV broadcaster for a regional station in Iowa. He then went on to work for two universities, operated the family farm for five years and then worked for over 23 years in public relations, marketing, community relation and industry affairs for DeKalb Genetics Corporation/ Monsanto. Prior to joining the legislature, he served as Executive Director of the Illinois Agricultural Leadership Foundation. Pritchard received his master's and bachelor's degrees from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
 
Eric Wasowicz will continue to serve on the Board of Trustees of Northern Illinois University.* After over three decades founding and growing companies, Wasowicz has served as an entrepreneurship instructor at the NIU College of Business from 2012 to 2017. He also currently serves as the founding partner of Greenbrier Group where he advises several technology related companies. His business experience includes founding IT services company Greenbrier & Russel where he spent over two decades of his career as co-CEO  deal of the day online retailing holding company RJE Group. Wasowicz also served as regional vice president for Fujitsu Consulting North America, a $42 billion IT services organization. He is a board member of the Illinois Technology Association and the NIU College of Business as well as the chapter chairman of YPO Gold Chicago. Wasowicz received his Bachelor of Science in computer science from Northern Illinois University.

POLLUTION CONTROL BOARD

Barbara Flynn Currie will serve on the Illinois Pollution Control Board.* After forty years of service, Currie recently retired from the Illinois House of Representatives after serving as the first female House Majority Leader in state history. She sponsored the state's first Freedom of Information Act and the Illinois Earned Income Tax Credit. Currie was a champion for clean air and water, and she spearheaded reforms in state funding for public education and in the juvenile justice system. She's been honored by many organizations including the Illinois ACLU, Planned Parenthood, Illinois AFL-CIO, Illinois Environmental Council, Friends of the Parks, the Illinois Council Against Handgun Violence and the Illinois Campaign for Political Reform. Barbara earned her Master of Arts and Bachelor of Arts from the University of Chicago.
 
Anastasia Palivos will serve on the Illinois Pollution Control Board.* Palivos was an Acting Commissioner of the Illinois Commerce Commission from Jan. 2018 to Feb. 2019. An Illinois native, Palivos was the first Greek-American woman appointed to the Commission and, at 28, the youngest-ever appointed commissioner. Prior to her appointment, Palivos was a legal and policy advisor to the chairman of the Illinois Commerce Commission. She previously worked as a business development strategy analyst for a Chicago-based health intelligence firm. She received her Juris Doctor and Bachelor of Arts in political science from DePaul University.
 
* Appointments pending confirmation by the Illinois Senate.