New operations head in D214

Ted Birren, central maintenance supervisor for Northwest Suburban High School District 214, has been promoted to Director of Operations, and Kevin Liebe, the director of buildings and grounds at Warren Township High School in Gurnee, has been hired as assistant director of operations. Lopez and Birren are succeeding Rosemary Gonzalez-Pinnick and Brian Lichtenberger, respectively, who both retire at the end of the school year. The positions are effective July 1. Since joining District 214 in 1993 Birren has served in multiple roles: district delivery, Buffalo Grove High School custodian, assistant central maintenance, systems specialist, and master maintenance systems specialist. In 2004, he became the building and grounds supervisor at BGHS, and seven years later was appointed to central maintenance supervisor. He has a bachelor’s degree in social science from Northeastern Illinois University. Liebe worked in the private sector before joining Warren Twp. High School, and has a bachelor’s degree in architectural design from Buffalo State College in Buffalo, N.Y.