Chamber Elects New Officers and Directors

The Effingham County Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors seated new directors and elected new officers at its annual meeting.

Elected to serve on the Board for three years are Jeff Speer, Broker/Owner, RE/MAX Key Advantage; Dr. Josh Bullock, President, Lake Land College; Cory Niebrugge, Contractor Sales & Design Specialist, Niebrugge Lumber Company; Kevin Dust, Sales Manager, Dust and Son and Matt Cekander, Partner, Doehring, Winders & Co.

(NEW CHAMBER BOARD MEMBERS MATT CEKANDER, CORY NIEBRUGGE AND KEVIN DUST...not pictured: Jeff Speer and Dr. John Bullock)

Retiring Chairman of the Board Joe Forbes, Co-Owner, Versatech, LLC, welcomed Jeff Fritchtnitch, Superintendent, Altamont Community Unit #10 Schools, as incoming 2016 Chairman. 

(JOE FORBES AND JEFF FRITCHTNITCH)

Joining Fritchtnitch on the Executive Committee are Vice President Community Development Dan Patton, Owner, Patton Printing & Graphics; Vice President Business Development Tzena Tucker, Effingham Community President, First Mid-Illinois Bank & Trust; Vice President Membership Development Diane Rieck, Franchise Owner, Express Employment Professionals; Vice President Workforce Development Alex Hagler, Director of Manufacturing, Hitachi Metals Automotive Components; Chair-Elect Mel Stock, Market President, Midland States Bank; Board Secretary Jenny Walden, Sales Manager, Consolidated Communications and Treasurer Matt Cekander, Partner, Doehring, Winders & Co.

Other Board Directors currently serving are Ed Deters, Partner, McDevitt, Osteen, Chojnicki & Deters, LLC; Marv Phillips, Marketing Manager, Cromwell Radio Group; Joan Thies, Human Resource Manager, Stevens Industries Inc.; and Kelly Roepke, President, Y Yard Auto and Truck, Inc.  Ex-Officio Board members include Jim Arndt, City Administrator, City of Effingham; Jim Niemann, Chairman, Effingham County Board; Greg Bushue, President, Effingham YBNext; Jamie Sayne, Co-Chair, Effingham Central Business Group; Dan Woods, President, Effingham Regional Growth Alliance and Rich Hartke, President, Teutopolis Community for Progress.

(CHAMBER DIRECTORS {front row left to right}: Jenny Walden, Tzena Tucker, Matt Cekander, Joe Forbes, Dan Patton, Joan Thies, Diane Rieck and Norma Lansing {back row left to right}: Jeff Fritchtnitch, Alex Hagler, Ed Deters, Cory Niebrugge, Kevin Dust and Rich Hartke)

Honored for service on the Chamber Board were retiring directors Lisa Kingery, Payroll Processor, Heartland Dental; Kris Zerrusen, Energy Management Specialist, South Central FS; Kary Jansen, Owner, Jansen’s Auto Sales; Dr. Ryan Jennings, Chief Medical Officer, HSHS St. Anthony’s Memorial Hospital; Dean Kremer, Chief Financial Officer, Koerner Distributor, Inc and Mark Probst, Owner, Probst Auto Body. Forbes will remain on the Board as Immediate Past Chairman. 

(RETIRING CHAMBER BOARD DIRECTORS {left to right}: Kris Zerrusen, Dr. Ryan Jennings, Mark Probst, Joe Forbes and Lisa Kingery)