Lake Zurich transportation owner honored for work in field, with kids
Carolyn Gable didn't realize that waitressing would one day lead to owning her own transportation industry company called New Age Transportation, Distribution & Warehousing Inc. in Lake Zurich. And fitting in comfortably in the male-dominated field has turned into a blessing for her as well as thousands of youngsters, who now benefit from a foundation her company has created.
“Things haven't changed all that much in 30 years,” she said since she was a single mom raising two children. “Single mothers today say it's as difficult today as it was for me 30 years ago.”
Her Expect a Miracle Foundation has helped about 7,000 youngsters of a single parent since 2001 so they can obtain grants to pay for extra curricular activities.
Her career and charitable work have led her to being honored on Sept. 26 with the 27th annual Entrepreneurial Woman of the Year Award from the Women's Business Development Center
Gable's business actually started to take form while she was a waitress for about 12 years and a single mother trying desperately to make ends meet.
“I didn't want to be a secretary or a nurse,” she said.
She had an interest in sales. But every place she applied, she was rejected due to no experience in the field. When she was temporarily laid off after the restaurant needed to do repairs and renovate for three months, she sought a job through a temp agency.
While the agency initially wasn't hopeful for her, they did call her later with a tip leading to a customer service job at a trucking company. When she interviewed for the job, everything clicked. But her boss at the time warned her not to ask about any future job in sales. It just wasn't going to happen, he apparently said.
A few months later, she asked anyway. Again, nothing. Yet when a vice president from the parent company arrived for a tour, she went directly to the executive and asked.
“It was that magic moment,” she recalled. “I introduced myself and asked to be put into a sales position. I thought my boss would be upset.” It didn't lead to anything, and in fact, the company went out of business a few months later.
Gable went to another company and began her career as a broker, helping owners and other executives in shipping to connect to other transportation companies that could ship their products.
That led her to start her own company, New Age Transportaion, in 1989 because “it was a new age in trucking with deregulation,” she said.
She started the business in her home and worked with a few companies. Now she handles arrangements for thousands of carriers. She now has 45 employees in Lake Zurich, she said.
She has since moved from Barrington to Kildeer. Her two sons from a previous marriage are now grown. She remarried and had five more children. Still, she remembered those days as a single mom and created the Expect a Miracle Foundation so kids of single parents can get money to pay for extra curricular activities, such as sports or dance lessons. She also wants to be active in securing better future for such kids.
“It's my goal to help change the laws and make parents responsible for their children, because children suffer when one parent leaves and there's no money to do things,” she said. “That's why I hope to change some laws and some lives.”
Sharing the experience
Alex Sheck, a 19-year-old from Buffalo Grove, is behind the organization, Experience the Game, which hosted its first group of underprivileged kids at the Chicago Sky game last Friday. Experience the Game is a nonprofit organization that gives kids who come from lower-income families the opportunity to experience professional sporting events. Forming relationships and partnerships with various professional athletes, sports franchises as well as various fortune 500 companies, the participants get to attend the events and have other opportunities. He enjoyed going to games with his father, Michael Sheck and wanted to give back to the community.
New manager on tap
Steve Skinner, chief executive officer of KemperSports in Northbrook, said his firm has been selected to manage Bull Valley Golf Club, a private golf club in Woodstock, about 60 miles northwest of downtown Chicago. Built in 1988, Bull Valley hosted the 2010 Chicago District Golf Association Amateur Championship and was a host site for the 2010 U.S. Open Qualifier.
Fellow to work in France
Jeannette R. Jakus has received the 2013 American Academy of Dermatology Translational Biotechnology Fellowship, a partnership of the Schaumburg-based American Academy of Dermatology and Galderma Research & Development SNC. As part of the fellowship, Jakus will work in drug development and translational medical research at Galderma's research-and-development facility in Sophia Antipolis, France, beginning in fall 2013.
FastTrack
Congrats to Jimmy Bannos, owner of Heaven on Seven restaurants in Chicago and Naperville whop said on Facebook that his son, Jimmy, and wife, Marianna, had their first child, Gianna Maria, born on Sept. 7. ... Karen May of Highland Park and former spokeswoman for Itasca-based Jewel-Osco, is part of the Great Lakes Commission and attended the group's annual meeting in Milwaukee. She's working with the states and provinces to protect our water resource and continue public service.
Karen L. Schmidt was named executive director of Grayslake-based College of Lake County Foundation, replacing William Devore, who served 17 years as executive director and retired in June. ... Michael Parent, vice president of operations for Burnet Title's Chicago Region, is the new president of the Downers Grove-based Mainstreet Organization of Realtors' board of directors. Parent, a Wheaton resident, also holds an active real estate license with Coldwell Banker in Wheaton.
Carl Torstenson, the former owner of Stan's Lumber, will manage the new Edward Hines Lumber center and design showroom that opens on Route 83 in Grayslake. ... Condolences to the family of Phil Kola, who passed away in July at age 92. He was past director of the Addison Industrial Association who also served as vice president in 1966 and president in 1967, a long time member of the AIA and the Addison Association of Industry & Commerce and member of the Addison Rotary Club. A memorial visitation will start at 10 a.m. on Sept. 21 at St. Raymond Parish, 301 S. Ioka Ave. in Mount Prospect
Larry Spence, a visual communications expert at FastSigns of Naperville, was recognized with the Bronze Sales Award at the 2013 FastSigns Outside Sales Summit held in Dallas. The award is presented to outside sales consultants who achieved a sales total between $200,000 and $399,000 from July 1, 2012 to June 30, 2013. With more than 500 FastSigns centers in the United States and Canada, 47 such consultants received this award.
Michael A. Segreti of Wheaton is the new president at REX Electric & Technologies LLC, an electrical and technology solutions providers in the Midwest. ... Denise Dersin has been hired as editor-in-chief at Arlington Heights-based Professional Builder magazine with its parent company SGC Horizon LLC/Scranton Gillette Communications. Dersin will be responsible for the publication's content, its related websites, ProBuilder.com and HousingZone.com, and the brand's leading events.
Carol Bauer, executive coordinator for Lombard, was named the “Most Dedicated” blood drive coordinator in Illinois this year by the Illinois Coalition of Community Blood Centers. Bauer, who has worked for the village for 47 years, has collected more than 10,981 units of blood for Heartland Blood Centers since 1988. ... Spring Hill Mall General Manager Amy Prew said the West Dundee mall welcomed Flaming Grill restaurant. ... Rajeev Malhotra, a geriatric psychiatrist, is the new medical director at Arden Courts of Geneva.
Entrepreneur Ralph Shayne is the new CEO at Oasis Legal Finance LLC in Northbrook. ... Michael M. Larsen is the new senior vice president and chief financial officer at Glenview-based Illinois Tool Works Inc. ... Brian R. Mann has joined Morton Grove-based Northwest Community Credit Union as vice president/controller. He previously held finance and accounting positions at Mid-States Corporate FCU and Abri Credit Union. ... Arthur F. O'Neil, founder and president of O'Neil Building Corp., said the general contracting and construction management company has found its home in a new 2,400-square-foot office in off Pyott Road and Imoff Drive in Lake in the Hills.
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