Appointee brings alum, parent, financial perspectives to District 203
Naperville Unit District 203's newest school board member already knows the district as a student and a parent and now says she's ready to serve it as a leader.
Janet Yang Rohr, a 1999 graduate of Naperville North High School, joined the board Monday to fill a vacancy created by the resignation last month of former board member Mike Jaensch. The rest of the panel unanimously approved her appointment.
Board President Kristin Fitzgerald said the group is thrilled to welcome Yang Rohr, who was chosen after careful consideration of 28 candidates to fill the nearly two-year vacancy.
Superintendent Dan Bridges said in a written statement the district will benefit from Yang Rohr's firsthand experience with Naperville education and from her professional experience in the financial world as an investment analyst.
Yang Rohr, a mother of three whose husband is a 1998 Naperville Central High School graduate, is director of manager research at Morningstar Inc., an investment research firm in Chicago. She covers multi-asset and alternative investments, which means she studies these types of investments and writes reports about them.
She thanks her English teachers at Naperville North for instilling in her a love of language that makes her well-qualified for the writing component of her job.
"My family and I have deep ties to District 203. My husband and I both graduated from high school from District 203 schools and we both got great educations," she said. "That's a big part of why we moved back to Naperville, so that our kids could have the same experience."
Yang Rohr's kids are an incoming second-grader, a kindergartner and a 2-year-old. They will attend Prairie Elementary, Washington Junior High, and their mother's alma mater, Naperville North.
Yang Rohr's appointed term on the school board will last until the April 2, 2019, election. If she wants a 4-year term, she would need to run for the office.
"I really just wanted to give back and do my part," she said, "and see that the district remains the best it can be and continue that legacy that has served my family so well."