Harris Theater Welcomes New Board of Trustees Members

The Harris Theater for Music and Dance today announced that Sunny Chico, Kenneth R. Norgan,and Elliot S. Weissbluth were appointed as new members of the Harris Theater Board of Trustees this season. Biographies of Ms. Chico, Mr. Norgan, and Mr. Weissbluth are included below. 

New Harris Theater Board of Trustees Biographies 

Sunny Chico is president of SPC Consulting, providing consulting services to school systems and providers of educational services in the areas of diversity, reform, administrative innovation efficiency, staff development and training, and compliance with federal, state, and local education law. SPC works with clients to place their educational products or services in schools and school districts.  It undertakes strategic planning, education plan assessment and training projects.  It develops communications strategies for clients, facilitates the process of creating charter schools, and serves as education programmer in the design and construction of new or renovated school buildings.  SPC is experienced in working with public, private, parochial and alternative schools and districts. Her life has been shaped by two passions: family and education.  Born in Cuba, but forced to flee with her family, she was taught early that family is the foundation for life and education is the key to success.  Always a parent first, Sunny has been a teacher of special education, and a principal of public schools in Illinois. She also served as Executive Director of Institutional Advancement for Waubonsee Community College, and as the Assistant to the Lieutenant Governor for Education for the State of Illinois where she led the state's School-to-Work effort.  In that capacity, she worked with legislators to initiate educational reforms.  She created the Governor's Human Resource Investment Council and served as its co-director. She is the former Region V director for the U.S. Department of Education for Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, and Wisconsin. Throughout her career from teacher to federal director, she has explored ways to involve parents as partners in the education of their children.  This commitment has culminated in the creation of a series of booklets, You: Your Child’s First Teacher.  The three booklet series (preschool, elementary, and secondary) is geared towards engaging parents in the US education system, navigating them through the school system they choose, and maximizing their parental role/ involvement in the process.

Kenneth R. Norgan is president of Norco Ltd, a McDonald’s franchise organization which operates four restaurants in Chicago’s north suburbs of Deerfield, Lincolnshire, and Vernon Hills.  After receiving a B.A. in German in 1965 and an M.A. in linguistics in 1971 from the University of Michigan, Ken took over the family business that his parents started in 1958 with two of the earliest McDonald’s restaurants in the country.   He has received the Golden Arch Award and the Ronald Award from McDonald’s Corporation for outstanding operations and service in the community. As an original member of Ronald McDonald House Charities of Chicago and Northwest Indiana, he is currently co-chair of the capital campaign for the largest Ronald McDonald House in the world opening in 2012, and he served on the board of Ronald McDonald House Charities for many years. In addition to the McDonald’s business, Ken serves on the foundation boards of Swedish Covenant Hospital and the Bernadotte Foundation for Children’s Eye Care based in Stockholm, Sweden, the board of trustees of the Swedish American Museum in Andersonville, and the boards of the Lyric Opera of Chicago and Common Threads.

Elliot S. Weissbluth is co-founder and CEO of HighTower, the first national partnership of independent financial advisors in the U.S. Headquartered in Chicago, HighTower has 24 offices across the U.S. and approximately $20 billion in assets under management. As the driving force behind HighTower’s innovative open source business model, Mr. Weissbluth has disrupted and forever shifted the balance of power in the financial services industry away from big Wall Street firms and banks to advisors and their clients. As a result of Mr. Weissbluth’s vision, HighTower advisors are free to serve the best interests of their clients without the conflicts of interest found at most large banks and investment houses. Instead, these institutions now compete for the business of HighTower clients. Before joining the financial services industry, he was a practicing attorney in Chicago. Mr. Weissbluth’s commentary and analysis are often featured in the national media, including The Wall Street Journal, Forbes and Fortune. He also appears frequently on CNBC. Mr. Weissbluth is a Trustee and Co-Chair of the Investment Committee of the Interlochen Center for Performing Arts in Michigan, a Trustee of the Harris Theater in Chicago, and a member of the Anshe Emet Synagogue Investment Committee in Chicago. He is also a member of the Young Presidents’ Organization (YPO) and The Economic Club of Chicago.

Opened in 2003, the Harris Theater’s mission is to partner and collaborate with an array of Chicago’s emerging and mid-sized performing arts organizations to help them build the resources and infrastructure necessary to achieve artistic growth and long-term organizational sustainability. The Harris Theater for Music and Dance was the first multi-use performing arts venue to be built in the Chicago downtown area since 1929 and today the Theater continues to host the most diverse offerings of any venue in Chicago, featuring the city’s world-renowned music and dance institutions and the Harris Theater Presents series of acclaimed national and International Artists and ensembles.  To learn more about the season at the Harris Theater, visit www.harristheaterchicago.org or call the box office at 312-334-7777 to request a brochure. 

For additional information about the Harris Theater for Music and Dance, Chicago’s state-of-the art 1,470 seat performance venue, please visit www.harristheaterchicago.org.

 

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