Elgin financial planner reaches new heights for kids
A chance meeting in a limo to the airport led Jack Teboda to the summit of Mount Rainier.
The founder of Elgin-based Teboda & Associates, who also has radio shows on WIND AM 560 and WYLL AM 1160, never climbed a mountain before. But it was for a good cause, he said. He and three others reached the summit and also raised $35,000 for Merry Hearts, a nonprofit that helps orphans in Guatemala.
“When you reach the peak, you think you're going to hear music,” joked the financial planner. “But we took a picture and all I could think about was, 'How did I get myself into this?'”
After attending a continuing education program, Teboda met a man while sharing a ride in a limo to the airport. So they struck up a conversation. The other man sought to adopt a child, but the process was stopped and it saddened him and his wife. Then the man talked about a fundraiser he planned for Merry Hearts. Within the 45-minute drive to the airport, Teboda was hooked.
The men stayed in touch and last year, Teboda began his training for the mountain climb, losing 25 pounds in the process. His daughter, a personal trainer, gave him guidance.
The former high school wrestler was now 63 and realized that this wouldn't be an easy adventure come July.
“But I just thought that with every step up, it was for those kids,” Teboda said.
When he arrived in Washington, he first wanted to see some of the sites. Then he did 4 hours of training with his 40 pounds of gear, he said.
When he was told about a transponder that he would carry so he could be located in case he fell and couldn't immediately be located, he stopped.
“Yes, this is getting pretty serious now,” he said.
But with every step up the mountain, he took a breath. Eventually, he developed altitude sickness. So he was advised to hydrate and also ate a candy bar.
He reached the camp at about 10,200 feet and spent the night in a hut. The next morning, they continued. They reached the base camp at about 12,000 feet. The next night, they continued, despite 50 mile-per-hour winds and 32-degree temperatures. They reached the top at about 14,000 feet.
But going back down, that was the difficult part. He lost 4 toe nails.
“That hurt my feet so bad,” he said. “Even though I had fitted boots, it was just all that pounding and it was very steep going down.”
He lost the toenails due to blood blisters, but they are slowly recovering, he said. Otherwise, he had no other problems and may even do it again next year, he said.
“I haven't pushed myself that much since college,” he said.
A concierge's concierge
Bobbi Chiodo has been chosen as the North American Concierge of the Year for 2013 by IHG, the parent company of InterContinental Hotel & Resorts and its InterContinental Chicago O'Hare Hotel in Rosemont. This latest accolade follows Chiodo's induction into the Chicago Concierge Hall of Fame last year. Chiodo has been a concierge for more than 20 years.
Heading to China
Naperville Area Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Mike Evans will lead a group of local business people on a trip to China in April. The chamber is already making the arrangements for the group to visit four cities in China.
Supporting small businesses
John Venhuizen, president and CEO of Oak Brook-based Ace Hardware, told business executives last week that small businesses continue to be the backbone of the U.S. economy because they drive the success of larger companies. He was the keynoter of the Executives' Club of Chicago breakfast program at the Palmer House Hilton in downtown Chicago.
FastTrack
Molly C. Kinney has been appointed as president of Department 56, a subsidiary of Itasca-based Enesco, which is a designer, producer and marketer of giftware, toys and home decor. ... Don Wallace, RV Hall of Famer, co-founder and former CEO of Lazydays RV Super Center, joins their management team at Lincolnshire-based Camping World, a national RV and outdoor retailer. Wallace will oversee the company's efforts in the Tampa market. ... Susan Malekpour of Naperville has been appointed as national dean of the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences at Downers Grove-based DeVry University. She will be responsible for leading the college's direction, growth and programs
Jim Barr, executive vice president and chief digital officer at Naperville-based OfficeMax Inc., has been elected to the board of directors of Shop.org where he will serve a two-year term. ... John Frank is the new vice president of operations at McCloud Services, a pest management company in South Elgin.
Prasad Ravi, CEO of INOC LLC, a network operations center and provider of monitoring, reporting and support services in Northbrook, was in Washington, D.C. last week, to speak at the Northeast DAS & Small Cell Association's Educational Summit. ... Todd Smith, executive vice president and chief commercial officer of Deerfield-based Horizon Pharma Inc., is expected to be in San Francisco on Wednesday to talk about the company at the 12th annual BIO Investor Forum.
Raju Malhotra of Kenilworth is the new senior vice president of products for Centro, a provider of software and services for media agencies. ... Cory Stern has been appointed national director of operations for Skokie-based Covenant Retirement Communities Inc. He will oversees operations for the company's 14 communities nationwide.
ŸThere's more to business than just the bottom line. We want to tell you about the people that make business work. Send news about people in business to akukec@dailyherald.com. Follow [URL]Anna Marie Kukec on LinkedIn;http://www.linkedin.com/in/amkukec[URL] and [/URL]Facebook;https://www.facebook.com/anna.kukec[URL] and as [/URL]AMKukec on Twitter;http://twitter.com/amkukec[URL].
[/URL]