Governor Quinn Names 10 Appointments to Pension Boards

CHICAGO - July 6, 2009. Governor Pat Quinn continued to fulfill his pledge to reform top state pension boards by naming four trustees to the State University Retirement System board and six trustees to the State Employees Retirement System board. Recently, the Governor signed legislation to reform the boards by implementing needed structural changes and ensuring they are more open and accountable to the people.

 

The State University Retirement System provides retirement pensions and other benefits for staff members and employees of state universities, community colleges and some state agencies. The State Employees' Retirement System provides retirement annuities and other benefits to retired or disabled state employees.

 

The appointments to the State University Retirement System board include:

 

Christine Boardman, Trustee - Boardman is a current member of the State University Retirement System board. She is President of the Service Employees International Union Local 73 and has a B.A. from Northeastern Illinois University and J.D. from Chicago-Kent College of Law.

 

Marva Williams, Ph.D., Trustee - Williams is a current member of the State University Retirement System board and a Senior Program Officer at the Local Initiatives Support Corporation, where she is responsible for programs to provide low-interest loans and grants for community development projects. Williams has a B.A. from John Carroll University, a Master of Urban and Regional Planning from the University of Pittsburgh and a Ph.D. in urban planning and public policy from Rutgers University.

 

Patricia Cassidy, Trustee - Cassidy is the President of Gottlieb Memorial Hospital in Melrose Park. She has worked for the non-profit Loyola University Health System since 1990, serving in capacities ranging from Vice President for Managed Care to Manager of Provider Contracting. Cassidy has a B.A. from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and an M.B.A. from Loyola University Chicago.

 

Steven Rogers, Trustee - Rogers is a professor in entrepreneurship and finance at the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University. Additionally, he serves on the advisory boards of a number of private equity firms and on the board of directors of companies that include SC Johnson Wax, SuperValu and Oakmark Mutual Funds. Rogers has a B.A. from Williams College and an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School.

 

Thomas Allison, Trustee - Allison is a founding shareholder in the law firm of Allison, Slutsky & Kennedy, P.C., concentrating in union-side labor law, employee benefits law, individual employment law and litigation. Additionally, he has taught labor education courses at DePaul University, Roosevelt University and the University of Illinois at Chicago. Allison has B.A. from Princeton University and a J.D. from Yale Law School.

 

Harold Sullivan Jr., Trustee - Sullivan is the Chairman of Insignis, Inc., a privately held firm that offers a number of services for the financial industry, including public and private pension plans. For the past 19 years he has served as an Adjunct Professor at the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University. Sullivan has a B.A./B.S. from Holy Cross College and an M.B.A. from the Kellogg School at Northwestern University. 

 

Renee Friedman, Trustee - Friedman is an attorney at Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP and focuses on public finance law. She has worked extensively on financing for health care, utilities, education and cultural facilities. Friedman has a B.A. from Northwestern University in 1977 and a J.D. from Washington University in St. Louis.

 

Michael Noser, Trustee - Noser is a Mortgage Banker/Loan Originator with Chicago Bancorp. He previously served in the United States Navy and as an Assistant Professor of Naval Sciences at the Illinois Institute of Technology. Noser has a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the U.S. Naval Academy and a M.A. in Social Justice from Loyola University Chicago.

 

Dan Silverthorn, Trustee - Silverthorn is the Executive Director of the West Central Building Trades Council in Peoria. He has 46 years of experience in the construction industry and is a board member at the Peoria Civic Center, chairperson of the Heart of Illinois Regional Port Authority and executive committee member for the Peoria Economic Development Council.

 

Maria Paelez Peterson, Trustee - Peterson is the owner of FitCore, Inc. and previously served as an attorney at the U.S. Department of Labor and in the Illinois State Treasurer's Office. She has a B.S. from Loyola University Chicago and a J.D. from John Marshall Law School.

 

For more information on Illinois Boards and Commissions, please visit Appointments.Illinois.gov.