'We need to listen and engage with everybody': Trustee Mike Jenny ready to serve as Glenview village president
Mike Jenny has an important new responsibility.
He'll be an assistant coach for one of the Glenview Patriots youth baseball teams this spring.
"I'm really good at standing at third base with my glove on and telling the kids to run home as fast as they can," Jenny said.
He's apparently good at a lot of stuff like that. In addition to his church community and being part of the Make Life Better (MLB) nonprofit charity, over the years Jenny has followed his two children through Indian Guides, Boy Scouts, American Youth Soccer, Glenview Stars hockey, girls crew.
There are few more important jobs for a father than to do those things.
However, for the incoming president-elect of the Village of Glenview board of trustees, Jenny's 47,000 neighbors may have different priorities.
After a decade as a trustee, appointed in 2011 and twice reelected, he's somewhat reticent to talk about being elevated to the village presidency, where he'll succeed two-term President Jim Patterson.
First of all, it's not a done deal until results are certified on April 27 - even though, having run unopposed, the position will be his.
Mainly, Jenny sees himself as a collaborator who would prefer to stay out of the limelight.
"I love sharing the credit for a job well-done," he said. "That's one of my favorite parts of doing this."
Since 2016, he's been an investment banker and partner in the Chicago office of Livingstone Partners, where he orchestrates industrial mergers and acquisitions. Moving northeast from Glendale, Missouri, since July 2004 Jenny has lived in Glenview with his wife of 21 years, Laura, a former salesperson who is now "CEO of the house," Mike Jenny said.
A month after arriving in Glenview, the oldest of their children was born. The couple's second child came around the time Mike was appointed to the village board of trustees in 2011.
"We saw Glenview as being perfect for its schools and its easy access to downtown," said Jenny, who worked in the Chicago office of investment banking firm Houlihan Lokey for a dozen years before joining Livingstone.
A graduate of Ladue Horton Watkins High School in the suburbs due west of St. Louis, Jenny studied political science and philosophy at Vanderbilt, and earned an MBA in finance at prestigious Washington University in St. Louis.
His time at Vanderbilt, in the "Music City" of Nashville, Tennessee, honed a sharp ear. He'll listen to everything from the Beastie Boys to Kenny Wayne Shepherd, from Chris Stapleton to Led Zeppelin and The Who.
"The first album I heard on vinyl was (Fleetwood Mac's) 'Rumours,'" he said.
Yet to be sworn in, it's nonetheless hard to stop thinking about tomorrow in the wake of the election, even one as respectfully executed as Glenview's. Transparency and civic engagement were at the forefront for all six trustee candidates. It's been on the mind of the voters, too.
The incoming village president said it will be crucial to him as well.
"We need to listen and engage with everybody, not just those who voted for us, but everybody in the community that participated in the process," Jenny said.
"I want to express my gratitude for all the residents who got involved in the election, and now I want to make sure the board gets back to work representing all the resident while taking into consideration what we've learned through all of the discussions through the election cycle. Importantly, we need to redouble our efforts to engage, listen and make sure people feel heard," he said.