New Year: New Faces at Illinois Policy Institute
The Board of Directors of Illinois Policy Institute has elected three new board members and named Andy McKenna Chairman of the Board.
Chairman of the Board to the Board of Directors
The Board of Directors of Illinois Policy Institute has elected three new board members and named Andy McKenna Chairman of the Board.
I am very pleased to announce that Andy McKenna, Beth Christie, and Dick Weiss have been elected to our board of directors, joining Terry Campo, Bill Becker, Steve Brown, and me, said John Tillman, CEO and member of the Board of Directors of Illinois Policy Institute.
McKenna is the founding partner of Central Street Ventures, LLC. We worked closely with Andy during our work with Rev. Sen. James Meeks (D-Chicago) and his voucher bill. Andy was a key leader in building a strong coalition in support of the bill. He brings to this role a passion for free markets and decades of private sector leadership as well as political experience as a candidate for office. This bi-partisan breadth of experience will help us continue to grow our outreach efforts to advance pro free market policies that will help turn Illinois around, said Tillman.
Christie is a commercial sector and non-profit entrepreneur and the co-founder of the Foundation for Scientific Advancement, a non-profit organization based in Sierra Vista, Arizona. Beth has a demonstrated entrepreneurial success, having started and grown a company with operations worldwide and taken it through two transactions. She has a keen appreciation for what it takes to overcome so many of the obstacles to the free market system and has seen first hand how a successful business improves peoples lives by serving customers well. Her strategic thinking and leadership are welcome assets to the board, said Tillman.
Weiss is a Core Equity senior portfolio manager at Wells Capital Management. Throughout his career he has earned several distinctions and awards including, among others, Barrons Top 100 Fund Managers and Money Magazines Manager of the Decade. Dicks experience in financial markets along with his deep engagement in policy and political activism provide him with a unique perspective as we develop the policy solutions needed to put Illinois and the country back on sound fiscal and economic footing, said Tillman.
To read full bios of the Board of Directors, click here.
J. Chad Shaffer, Director of Budget and Tax Policy and Diana Rickert, Manager of Media Relations.
J. Chad Shaffer, Director of Budget and Tax Policy, joined the Illinois Policy Institute in January of 2011. Prior to joining the Institute, Chad served as legislative staff to the Illinois Senate Republican Caucus, where he worked on several legislative committees and advised members on matters of public policy.
During his time in the Illinois State Senate, Chad also worked on budgetary issues for his caucus completing analyses and review of appropriations request from various state agencies. In addition to legislative and budgetary work, Chad has also managed two top tier senate campaigns during the 2008 and 2010 election cycles, respectively.
Chad completed his Masters degree in Political Studies from the University of Illinois at Springfield. Chad graduated magna cum laude from Illinois State University with a B.S. in Political Science and History. Chad and his wife live in Springfield, Illinois.
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Diana Rickert serves as the Manager of Media Relations for the Illinois Policy Institute, and leads the Institute’s media strategy and outreach efforts which spread the message of free markets through newspapers, radio, TV and other mediums.
Diana brings with her an extensive media background. Most recently, Diana was an investigative/enterprise reporter for the Northwest Herald newspaper in northwest suburban Chicago. In her years at the Northwest Herald she won numerous awards for her work from the Illinois Press Association and Illinois State Bar Association. She also has worked for the Daily Herald, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and Associated Press, among other news organizations.
Diana is a graduate of Marquette University, where she studied journalism and political science. During college she founded a free market, student-run newspaper, The Warrior, which still publishes today. She currently serves as vice president on the Board of Directors for Warrior Media Inc., the non-profit parent company for the newspaper.