Carol Stream restauranteur on par with dream
Glen Ellyn resident Chad Johnson opened Checker Barbeque in Carol Stream just months after fulfilling another dream — becoming a golf pro.
Johnson spent the last five years in Naples, Fla., working as a golf pro, participating in small tournaments, providing lessons and working in a pro shop. He said he's a scratch golfer, doing par on the courses.
“I always loved golf, but had never played competitively before, so that's why I wanted to do this to fulfill my dream,” he said.
While he enjoyed the weather and the courses, he still yearned to return to the restaurant business.
“Even though it was a great job, and I had fun meeting people, I couldn't make any money there,” Johnson said of the golf career. “I just feel like I was born to be in the restaurant business.”
Johnson grew up working in his father Gary Johnson's restaurants, including Brooster's in Darien and Lombard. He also later ran Aca Pollo in Glen Ellyn, but it was later sold.
But his blood also includes the restaurant business from his grandfather, the late Wayne Johnson of Flint, Mich., and Batavia. Wayne had a Checker Barbeque in Flint that had opened in 1945. Chad has retained many of those recipes, he said.
So when Chad returned here from Florida, he decided to search for a location. He then leased a former Taco Fresca site in Carol Stream last August. He remodeled it and re-christened it Checker Barbeque, in honor of his grandfather.
While the hours have been long, he enjoys his re-entry into the restaurant business. But now that's its January, he does drift back to his former dream.
“Now that the weather is getting colder, I miss golf,” he joked.
International flavor for new exec
Paul Ashworth is the new president of Bernina of America in Aurora. He has worked for Moet Hennessy in Argentina as well as Paterson Zochonis Cussons in England and opened offices for them in Russia and Ukraine. He also had positions with Seagram Spirits and Wine Group in London and Argentina.
New game store manager
Bob Murphy is the new manager of Naperville Games Workshop Hobby Center. He'll host a public meet-n-greet starting at noon on Jan. 14 at 2863 W. 95th Street, Suite 107, Naperville. The business involves collecting, creating, painting and building toy soldiers or miniatures for tabletop chess-like games.
Gogo plans to expand
Itasca-based Gogo, a provider of wireless in-flight entertainment, appointed David Russell as senior vice president and general manager of Europe and the Middle East for commercial aviation. He'll need to grow and manage Gogo's distribution of Inmarsat's Global Xpress satellite connectivity service and expand Gogo's wireless solution worldwide.
FastTrack
Dave Parulo, president of the Woodfield Chicago Northwest Convention Bureau, said his organization has once again earned the prestigious Destination Marketing Accreditation Program designation through 2014. ... Lincolnshire-based Acco Brands Corp. CEO Robert J. Keller will travel to New York to speak at the CJS Securities 12th annual New Ideas for the New Year investors conference. ... Lombard-based RECI has promoted two brokers: Frank R. Bedo to senior vice president, and Jason R. Harvey to vice president. ... Kenneth R. Pickett of Naperville Dental Group has earned fellowship status in the International Congress of Oral Implantologists.
James E. Rudnicki is now a certified turnaround profession, provided by the Turnaround Management Association. He's the founder and president of Sugar Grove-based Rudnicki & Associates LLC, which offers consulting to help revitalize businesses and not-for-profits experiencing financial difficulties.
Paul Green, a political analyst and director of the Institute for Politics and Arthur Rubloff professor of Policy Studies at Roosevelt University, will speak at the Building Owners and Managers Association of Suburban Chicago's lunch on Jan. 19 at The Rosewood Restaurant, 9421 W. Higgins Road, Rosemont. ... Evanston resident Bob Weissbourd, president of RV Ventures LLC in Chicago, will speak at a University of Chicago and The Delta Institute forum on Jan. 26 at the University of Chicago Gleacher Center in downtown Chicago.
And for those thinking about getting engaged in the Chicago suburban area, a former celebrity photographer, James Ambler, is interested in photographing the proposal. The New York photographer is starting up a business in Chicago and plans to do the photos paparazzi-style. Submit how you plan to propose to your significant other and the winning entry could get photographed for free. Contact him via www.papthequestion.com. After all, Valentine's Day is coming up.
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