We’ve received the following notice from John T. Michell of Mitchell, Vaught & Taylor, Inc:
Taking Next Major Step Toward Pension Consolidation, Gov. Pritzker Appoints 18 Members to Interim Police and Fire Investment Fund Boards
Taking the next major step toward consolidating the patchwork of 650 first responder pension plans across the state, Governor JB Pritzker named 18 members to two interim boards that will manage the new statewide investment funds.
“One of the most critical long-term challenges we face in Illinois is our underfunded local pension liabilities and the surging property tax burdens they create, which is why Republicans and Democrats alike supported this consolidation,” said Governor JB Pritzker. “Moving forward, I’ve tasked these board members with moving quickly to begin this consolidation so that taxpayers and retirees can reap improved returns.”
After more than 70 years of failed attempts, Gov. Pritzker signed the landmark bipartisan legislation into law in December 2019. The consolidation is estimated to produce improved returns of $820 million to $2.5 billion over the next five years alone, and billions more over the next 20 years.
The transition board trustees will oversee the consolidation of local funds over the next year, when permanent board trustees will be elected. The fund boards consist of five members drawn from employees and retirees and four members representing employers.
The following members will serve on the Firefighters’ Pension Investment Fund and Police Officers’ Pension Investment Fund:
FIREFIGHTERS’ PENSION INVESTMENT FUND
Kevin Bramwell will serve on the Firefighters’ Pension Investment Fund.* Bramwell is a 23-year first responder who currently serves as a firefighter in the Village of Bolingbrook and as president of the Bolingbrook Firefighters Pension Fund, the Bolingbrook Firefighters Retiree Healthcare Funding Trust and IAFF Local 3005. He previously worked as a paramedic in the Village of Forest Park and for Elmhurst-based Superior Air-Ground Ambulance Service. Bramwell is a member and former president of the Bolingbrook Rotary Club. Bramwell currently studies Fire Administration at Columbia Southern University.
Steve Chirico will serve on the Firefighters’ Pension Investment Fund.* Chirico was elected mayor of Naperville in 2015 after serving one term as alderman. Mayor Chirico has been active in the community and region for many years. This includes his term as a City Council member from 2011-2015, his work with 360 Youth and Family Services, Naperville Responds For Our Veterans, the Downtown Naperville Alliance (DNA), City of Naperville Advisory Cultural Commission, the Naperville Area Chamber of Commerce Legislative Steering Committee and the DuPage Mayors & Managers Conference, which he served as president of for the 2019 fiscal year. After graduating from Naperville Central, Chirico went on to attend Northern Illinois University.
Brad Cole will serve on the Firefighters’ Pension Investment Fund.* Cole has served as executive director of the Illinois Municipal League since 2014. Most recently, Cole was Senior Vice President of Pepsi MidAmerica. Prior to entering the private sector, he worked as Downstate Director for U.S. Senator Mark Kirk, served as Mayor of the City of Carbondale for two four-year terms, which followed one four-year term on the city council, and was Deputy Chief of Staff to Governor George Ryan. He is Chairman Emeritus of Sister Cities International, having served two years as chairman of its global board of directors. Separate from the League, Cole serves as Managing Director of the IML Risk Management Association. Cole is a graduate of Southern Illinois University at Carbondale with a bachelor’s degree in a double major of political science and biological sciences, and a master’s degree in legal studies from the SIU School of Law.
Russ Hunt will serve on the Firefighters’ Pension Investment Fund.* Hunt currently serves as Battalion Chief for the Bolingbrook Fire Department. Hunt previously served as vice president of the Associated Firefighters of Illinois from 2006 to 2018, president of Bolingbrook Local 3005 from 1985 to 2001 and president of the Bolingbrook firefighters pension fund from 1987 to 2002.
Matthew Kink will serve on the Firefighters’ Pension Investment Fund.* Kink currently works as a firefighter for the Springfield Fire Department, in addition to owning and working as a tax consultant at his namesake firm Matt Kink Tax Advisory Solutions. He is also an attorney at the Edwards Group LLC in Springfield. Previously, Kink worked at Levi, Ray and Shoup as senior counsel. He is a trustee of both the Springfield Firefighters Pension Fund and Foreign Fire Insurance Fund. Kink earned his Bachelor of Science in finance from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and both his Master of Business Administration and Juris Doctor from Creighton University.
Patrick Nichting will serve on the Firefighters’ Pension Investment Fund.* Nichting has served as City Treasurer for the City of Peoria and tax collector for the Township of the City of Peoria since 2009. Previously, Nichting was a Peoria City Councilman and Chief Economic Officer for the Panco Food Service Equipment Corporation. He has served as a trustee on both the firefighter and police pension funds in the City of Peoria. Nichting is the Co-Chairman of the Central Illinois Federal Weed and Seed Committee. He earned his bachelor’s degree and Master of Business Administration from Bradley University.
Jeff Rowitz will serve on the Firefighters’ Pension Investment Fund.* Rowitz currently serves as Deputy Village Manager and Chief Financial Officer for the Village of Northbrook. Previously, Rowitz served as Director of Finance for the Village of Willowbrook and Assistant Finance Director for the City of Park Ridge. He is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, the Government Finance Officers Association and the Illinois Government Finance Officers Association. In addition, Rowitz serves as an appointed trustee and treasurer to the village’s police and firefighter pension funds. He earned his Bachelor of Science in accounting and business administration from Illinois State University.
George Schick will serve on the Firefighters’ Pension Investment Fund.* Schick currently serves as Lieutenant for the Orland Park Fire Protection District, which he has worked for since 1995. He also serves on the district’s pension board. For eight years prior, Schick worked as an engineer and EMT for the North Palos Fire Protection District. He earned his bachelor’s degree in management from Benedictine University.
Chuck Sullivan will serve on the Firefighters’ Pension Investment Fund.* Sullivan currently serves as Fire Captain at the City of Champaign Fire Department. He was appointed as the President of the AFFI in January of 2020 and has previously served as the Central District Legislative Representative since 2008. Sullivan has served in various Executive Board offices within his own Champaign Local 1260 and was also the AFFI 2nd District Political Education Committee Coordinator from 2004 to 2008. He was hired by CFD in 1995 and is a Captain. Sullivan joined the Air Force in 1987 and was honorably discharged in 1991. He earned his undergraduate degree from Eastern Illinois University.
POLICE OFFICERS’ PENSION INVESTMENT FUND
Brad Cole will serve on the Police Officers’ Pension Investment Fund.* Cole has served as executive director of the Illinois Municipal League since 2014. Most recently, Cole was Senior Vice President of Pepsi MidAmerica. Prior to entering the private sector, he worked as Downstate Director for U.S. Senator Mark Kirk, served as Mayor of the City of Carbondale for two four-year terms, which followed one four-year term on the city council, and was Deputy Chief of Staff to Governor George Ryan. He is Chairman Emeritus of Sister Cities International, having served two years as chairman of its global board of directors. Separate from the League, Cole serves as Managing Director of the IML Risk Management Association. Cole is a graduate of Southern Illinois University at Carbondale with a bachelor’s degree in a double major of political science and biological sciences, and a master’s degree in legal studies from the SIU School of Law.
Shawn Curry will serve on the Police Officers’ Pension Investment Fund.* Curry has served as a sergeant at the City of Peoria Police Department since 2004 and also serves as the president of the Peoria Pension Fund. Prior, he was a deputy sheriff at the Woodford County Sheriff’s Office, which is where he began his career in 1996. Curry has held various positions ranging in work as a certified correctional officer, police officer, arson investigator, elderly service officer and lead homicide investigator. He received his associate degree in law enforcement from Illinois Central College.
Andrea DiGiacinto will serve on the Police Officers’ Pension Investment Fund.* DiGiacinto has served as a law enforcement officer in the Libertyville Police Department since 1998. She has held positions including field training officer, evidence technician, juvenile officer, bike officer and public education/DARE officer. In addition, she has worked as a Federally Certified Gang Task Force Member in Lake County, and she has served on Libertyville Fraternal Order of Police Board, Negotiation Team and Grievance committees. DiGiacinto earned her undergraduate degree from Marian College.
Elizabeth Holleb will serve on the Police Officers’ Pension Investment Fund.* Holleb is a Certified Public Accountant and has over 20 years of work experience in municipal finance, including the Government Finance Officers Association, the Village of Northbrook, the Village of Oak Park and the City of Highland Park. Elizabeth oversees the Finance and Information Technology activities for the City of Lake Forest, including development of the annual budget, coordination of the annual independent financial audit, serving as staff liaison to the Finance Committee and the Audit Committee, and administration of a five-year IT Master Plan which guides the City’s technology initiatives. She has a Bachelor of Science in Accounting from Ball State University where she was a Cum Laude graduate of the Honors College.
Dan Hopkins will serve on the Police Officers’ Pension Investment Fund.* Hopkins is a retired police officer who previously served the O’Fallon Police Department, Shiloh Police Department and the St. Clair County Sheriff’s Department. In 1987, he started work as a police officer in Collinsville and was elected to the pension board in 1988. He retired from Collinsville Police Department in 2006. Hopkins then continued on the pension board as the retired officer for the Collinsville Police Pension Fund and was elected President in 1998. He was elected a Collinsville Township Trustee in 2017.
Michael Inman will serve on the Police Officers’ Pension Investment Fund.* Inman has served as Mayor of the City of Macomb since 2011. Previously, he was a Master Sergeant in the Illinois State Police, Deputy Sheriff of McDonough County Sheriff’s Department and a security officer at McDonough District Hospital. Inman was also a member of the Macomb Library Board of Trustees and the McDonough County Board of Supervisors. He is a past president of the Illinois Municipal League. He studied mass communication and law enforcement administration at Western Illinois University.
Mark Poulos will serve on the Police Officers’ Pension Investment Fund.* Poulos currently serves as an alderman in the City of Rock Island and most recently worked as Chief of Police in Coal Valley after 33 years of service as a lieutenant at the Rock Island Police Department. For over 30 years, Poulos was a board member of the Rock Island Police Pension Fund. He served in the United States Marine Corps from 1973 until 1977 when he was honorably discharged.
Brian Prochaska will serve on the Police Officers’ Pension Investment Fund.* Prochaska is a 19-year veteran of the Joliet Police Department, currently assigned as a detective in their Investigations Division. He also serves as board president at the Joliet Police Pension Fund. Prochaska attended Eastern Illinois University and Moraine Valley Community College.
Phil Suess will serve on the Police Officers’ Pension Investment Fund.* Suess was elected as the Mayor of Wheaton in May 2019 after serving on city council for 14 years. He previously worked as a partner and senior investment consultant at Mercer Reinvestment for 31 years. Prior to joining Mercer, Suess was an account executive with the Equitable Life Assurance Association of the United States in the pensions operations field. His also previously served as a commissioner on the DuPage Water Commission, where he chaired the finance committee. Suess earned his Bachelor of Arts in economics from Northwestern University and his Master of Business Administration from Loyola University of Chicago.
* Appointments pending confirmation by the Illinois Senate.
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