• Jae Ha, an independent financial adviser affiliated with Commonwealth Financial Network and financial planner of Chicago Oakbrook Financial Group in Oak Brook, has achieved Commonwealth Vista Club status for 2017. The distinction recognizes success based on a ranking of annual production among Commonwealth's network of 1,710 financial advisers. Commonwealth is the nation's largest privately held independent broker/dealer-RIA and the broker/dealer of choice for Jae. In earning this distinction, he qualified to join his peers at the Commonwealth Vista Club conference in March. The conference offered attendees an array of educational opportunities geared toward discovering fresh perspectives and ideas for reaching new levels of success and service excellence.
• Signature Bank recently hired David Duxbury as a senior member of their commercial lending team. Duxbury has nearly 30 years of commercial banking experience in Chicago, working with privately-held and middle-market companies. Duxbury joins Signature's commercial team as senior vice president. Prior to Signature Bank, Duxbury was with American Chartered Bank and MB Financial. "Signature Bank is fortunate to hire a true Chicago banker like Dave Duxbury," said Mick O'Rourke, president and CEO of Signature Bank. "Signature is committed to being Chicago's business bank and we're fortunate to have a senior lender like Dave who is dedicated to working with privately-held businesses in Chicago." Rosemont-based Signature Bank is a full-service commercial bank focused exclusively on serving the needs of privately owned businesses and their owners.
• The Board of Regents of the American College of Chest Physicians named Stephen J. Welch executive vice president and chief executive officer for the Glenview-based organization. Welch had been serving as the interim executive vice president and CEO since May 2016. Prior to this appointment, he served in a senior staff role at CHEST for 22 years, most recently as publisher and senior vice president of Publications and Digital Content, which includes managing the organization's flagship scientific journal, CHEST. The appointment comes in advance of the spring meeting of CHEST's Board of Regents.
• BKD LLP, a national CPA and advisory firm in Oakbrook Terrace, has named Gregory W. Wetzel, CPA, senior manager. Wetzel is a member of BKD National Construction & Real Estate Group with more than seven years of public accounting experience.
He performs audits and reviews of annual financial reports for closely held businesses and employee benefit plan sponsors.
He has worked with a variety of construction and real estate, retail and professional services organizations, including contractors and franchising, leasing and manufacturing entities.
Wetzel's employee benefit plan experience includes 401(k), 403(b), defined benefit and health and welfare plans. He has worked with single- and multiple-employer plans. He is a member of the American Institute of CPAs, Illinois CPA Society, Construction Financial Management Association and Fox Valley Associated General Contractors. He is a 2009 graduate of the University of Dayton, Ohio, with a B.S. degree in accounting and an M.B.A. degree.
• The Moorings of Arlington Heights announced Marie Lanza, a sales veteran with more than 20 years of experience, is the community's new head of sales and marketing. Lanza will oversee all sales and marketing, manage a staff of sales counselors, and work with community leadership to welcome new residents following the completion of its $70 million expansion project. Lanza, who has been on the sales team at The Moorings for five years and is a veteran of the senior living, medical, hospitality and other industries, has worked in sales for more than 20 years.
Prior to joining The Moorings, she was a sales counselor at The Park at Olympia Fields, a Horizon Bay/Brookdale Senior Living community. Before that, she worked in patient services for Central DuPage Hospital and in guest services at The Marriott in Hoffman Estates, and spent many years successfully selling B2B and B2C graphics solutions for Canon, Minolta and others. Lanza, a resident of Bloomingdale, has completed business and marketing courses at William Rainey Harper College in Palatine.
• Metrom Rail, a Crystal Lake-based developer and integrator of rail safety technology, has hired Tom Harding as the company's vice president of engineering. Harding will lead the company's engineering operations and expand its product development capabilities. He brings nearly 30 years of engineering experience to the company. Most recently, he worked for Wi-Tronix, a railroad telemetry provider. He also has extensive experience in the telecommunications industry with Nokia and Motorola. He earned his bachelor's degree in electrical engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
• Design Resource Center in Naperville has hired Chris Ertel as director of brand strategy. He brings more than 15 years of experience working with global CPG brands, service brands, retail companies and B2B suppliers. Before joining DRC, Ertel worked at Bluedog Design as a senior brand consultant and strategist. He also spent time at Kaleidoscope and Landor, where he helped brands of various sizes across an array of sectors find their voice and grow their influence.
"Chris is passionately consumer-centric; using all available methods to develop understanding, empathy and intuition into the consumer and brand. His ability to translate strategy into the creative product will provide new opportunities for our clients branding and innovation efforts," says DRC Partner John Norman.
• US Foods Holding Corp. in Rosemont announced Ty Gent has joined the company as chief supply chain officer, reporting to President and Chief Executive Officer Pietro Satriano. Gent will oversee all warehousing, transportation and supply chain strategy and operations on behalf of the company, as well as safety programs and real estate. Prior to joining US Foods, Gent served as Senior Vice President of Operations for PepsiCo Central and South America regions. Gent is a graduate of Kent State University where he received both his undergraduate degree in Economics as well as his Master of Business Administration.
• Greg Weider, of Lake Zurich has been elected chairman of the board of directors of the Northeastern Illinois Agency on Aging. Weider is the executive director of Fox Valley Hands of Hope in Geneva and has extensive experience in social services and nonprofit management. He is also active in a variety of professional and civic organizations. He has been a board member since 2012, and for the past two years has been first vice chairman of the board and chairman of its planning committee. He also serves on the board's executive and agency operations committee. The Northeastern Illinois Area Agency on Aging is a nonprofit organization responsible for developing and coordinating a network of services for older persons throughout an eight-county area in northeastern Illinois. The agency informs and advises public and private agencies and the general public of the needs of older persons living in the area and acts as an advocate on their behalf. The Agency serves DuPage, Grundy, Kane, Kankakee, Kendall, Lake, McHenry, and Will counties. Other information about the agency and other topics of interest to the elderly and links to other resources are available at the agency's website: www.ageguide.org.
• Inland Securities Corp. in Oak Brook announced that Robert Burke and Chad Whatley have joined the company as vice presidents - external wholesalers. Both Burke and Whatley will serve as external wholesalers working to build relationships with current and new financial advisers. Burke is responsible for building networks in New York and New Jersey. Whatley will oversee relationships in Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Alabama.
Burke comes to Inland Securities from Avian Capital Markets LLC, where he served as executive vice president and founding partner. He co-founded Avian Capital Markets LLC to create a more liquid and competitive secondary marketplace for non-listed REITs, BDCs and LPs. Prior to Avian Capital Markets LLC, Burke was executive vice president - national sales for a new sponsor in the alternative investment space.
Whatley brings more than 15 years of experience to his new position with Inland Securities. Prior to joining Inland Securities, he served as regional sales director of Highland Capital Management, where he was responsible for increasing their selling group and raising capital across multiple product platforms.
Whatley received a bachelor of business administration degree in marketing management from Georgia State University.
He also holds Series 7 and 63 securities licenses.