Hoffman sports leader up to bat with Italian team
Hoffman Estates resident Peter M. Caliendo has made baseball his life. He was the director of baseball operations when the former Schaumburg Flyers started. He even travels the world as president of Schaumburg-based Caliendo Sports International, where he trains coaches and helps baseball teams play overseas. Now, he's tipping the hat to his heritage and has become the head of a baseball team in Grosseto, Italy.
But he didn't realize how hard it would be helping to manage a team overseas. He's still operating his business here and will travel to Rome next week for projects he's working on for the International Baseball Federation. Then he's preparing to work on the World Children's Baseball Fair in Japan in July.
It' doesn't help when the Grosseto team, part of Italy's major league, has a record of 4 wins and 13 losses so far this season.
"They're struggling now, but that's been anticipated," Caliendo said.
He said there were some financial issues with previous owners and they're trying to rebuild the team now. Also, the financial backers aim to Americanize the team with new marketing plans.
"They operated like a club before, not a business," he said.
A group of investors, including some of Caliendo's friends and colleagues, approached him last year about getting involved with the Grosseto team. Caliendo, who speaks fluent Italian, agreed. And by January, the team was acquired and the owners began rebuilding the team and considering a new log and team name.
Caliendo said he's determined to make the team a winner, judging by his enthusiasm for the sport and his own lengthy background with a number of worldwide baseball organizations and experience.
"It's hard when the players have other full-time jobs," Caliendo said of the Italian team. "They just play on the weekends. There are no weekday games. But we're working on changing that."
He said the Italian team plays about 35 games during the season, which ends in August.
Independent teams in the United States play about 90 games a season, including half the games at home, he added.
"We're hoping to bring that same concept to Italy," he said.
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Matt and Lori Thelander and John Barnes of Crystal Lake, founders of Yumz Gourmet Frozen Yogurt, are planning to add 25 locations in the Chicago and suburban area over the next two years. They're eyeing spots in McHenry County, Libertyville, South Elgin, Bollingbrook, and Plainfield. Their plans also include adding more stores nationwide. They opened their first stores at 5006 Northwest Highway in Crystal Lake in November 2010, and another at 277 Randall Road in Lake in the Hills in July 2011.
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<h3 class="briefHead">FastTrack</h3>
Richard E. Stiles, president of Schaumburg Bank & Trust, and Arly J. Guenther, CEO of Arlington Computer Products Inc., are new board members at Clearbrook in Arlington Heights. Both men are passionate about helping individuals with intellectual/developmental disabilities.
Libertyville resident Phillip Jensen is the new Chicago communications principal and practice leader for Chicago-based Buck Consultants, a global human resource and benefits consulting firm. ... Palatine resident and radiation oncologist Oh-Hoon Kwon of Fox Valley Radiation Oncology has joined the Edward Cancer Center in Naperville and is seeing patients for all diagnoses. ... Bobbi Erdmann of Aurora has been named director of marketing and Les Moryl of Buffalo Grove has been named a survey manager at Landmark Engineering Group Inc. in Naperville. ...
Scott F. Stephens has been appointed as the interim CEO effective immediately at Oak Brook-based A.M. Castle & Co., a global distributor of specialty metal and plastic products. He replaces Michael H. Goldberg, who resigned. Stephens also will retain his position as chief financial officer.
Patricia Cassidy of Elmhurst has been appointed to the newly created position of chief strategy officer for Alexian Brothers Health System in Arlington Heights. She was a 22-year veteran of Loyola University Health System, including as interim president of Loyola University Medical Center in Maywood.
A $1.5 million gift to the Rutgers University Foundation will help create a new faculty chair honoring one of the university's alumni - Greg Brown, chairman and chief executive officer of Motorola Solutions in Schaumburg. The Motorola Solutions' board of directors approved the gift to create the Gregory Q. Brown Endowed Chair in Rutgers University's Department of Cell Biology and Neuroscience in recognition of his leadership and impact at Motorola.
Crystal White joins Schaumburg-based The Rabine Group as director of national accounts. ... Izabela Cieplinska has joined the design team as a graphic design artist at St. Charles-based The Tradeshow Network Marketing Group, a trade show display design firm. ... Beverly Sugar Young of Waukegan has been appointed to the North Shore Sanitary District board of trustees. ... Nicole Schmutte of Chicago is the new field sales manager for Seasons 52, a fresh grill and wine bar restaurant set to open May 21 in Oakbrook Center in Oak Brook.
Lake Forest resident Brent Burden and senior vice president at Zifkin Real Estate Group in Chicago has been awarded the prestigious CCIM designation. The designation, or Certified Commercial Investment Member, is awarded to those who have completed a designation curriculum that covers skill sets including ethics, interest-based negotiation, financial analysis, market analysis, among others for commercial investment real estate.
Wallace L. Head of Lake Forest has joined Chicago-based wealth management firm Gresham Partners as vice chairman and principal of the firm. ... Frank Lonergan is CEO of Ancile Solutions, a company whose software helps organizations to improve employee productivity through training and development. Although he lives in Oak Park, he commutes to Baltimore, Md., to the company headquarters. Twenty five years ago, Lonergan began his career as a social studies teacher and has kept tabs on education ever since.
Robert G. Dolan of Medinah has been named head of the Illinois and Iowa product representatives, at LVD Strippit, a high-end metal fabricating machinery company. He'll be in charge of all product sales of lasers, press brakes and turret punch machines for the New York and Belgian based manufacturing firm.
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