www.peoriachamber.orgA publication of the

Peoria Area Chamber of Commerce

Chamber Report

March 2015

Vol. 23 Issue 3

Inside:The 2015 State of the City Address

Caterpillar Stays In Peoria

Member Feature:

Page

2

Midwest Uniform Supply (A)3441 N. University St., Peoria, IL 61401P: 309.344.8520www.midwestuniformsupply.comArea’s largest selection of medical uniforms, shoes, and accessories.

The Avenue Kitchens & Baths (A)100 Detroit Ave., Ste. D, Morton, IL 61550P: 309.266.8126www.theavenuekitchens.comThe Avenue brings team expertise, flexible customization, transparency and trust to every room in your home. This happens using our DesignPaths Process, a path of collaborative discussion designed to ensure that you feel comfortable and confident, and that your space will be fashioned exactly as you’ve imagined. We invite you to learn more about our team and to visit our showroom.

Data Power Technology (A)8105 N. University Ave., Peoria, IL 61615P: 309.692.2685www.datapowertech.comData Power Technology is a manufacturer’s representative providing premium products and excellent engineering support. We specifically serve commercial HVAC, data center cooling and electrical needs. Data Power Technology has provided innovative solutions for the technical and dynamic marketplace since 1981. We strive to offer products focused on sustainability, energy efficiency, emerging green technologies, and LEED certification for buildings.

Ace Sign Co. (C)925 N. Sheridan Rd., Peoria, IL 61606P: 309.657.5663www.acesignco.comAce Sign Co. is a fourth generation family owned sign company providing all aspects of signage from small lettering jobs to custom message centers for over 75 years.

On Point Print & Promotion (A)233 Kickapoo Ct., Hopewell, IL 61565P: 309.339.5884www.onpointprints.comOn Point delivers concise solutions from the simple business card through multi-market direct mail campaigns. On Point offers innovative creative solutions coupled with efficient production, providing your company with solid results.

Welcome!New Chamber Members

Employee Size Code - (number of full-time equivalent employees in the tri-county area): (A) 1-10 (B) 11-25 (C) 26-75 (D) 76-150 (E) 151-300 (F) 300+

Pinnacle Security Services LLC (A)201 East Whipp Ave., Bartonville, IL 61607P: 309.981.4987www.facebook.com/PinnacleSIOur goal is to change the way the clients think about safety and security by going ‘’above and beyond’’ everyday, basing all decisions on our guiding principles: honesty, integrity and trust. Pinnacle accomplishes this mission by growing strategically and organically while cultivating a reputation for exceeding our clients’ needs and expectations.

Paycom (A)2 City Place, St. 370, Creve Coeur, MO 63141P: 314.578.2345www.paycom.comBusiness consultant.

Black Business Alliance Peoria Chapter, Inc. (A)919 S. Matthew St., Peoria, IL 61605P: 309.966.3989www.bbapeoria.orgBlack Business Alliance Peoria Chapter was formed to assist fledgling minority businesses in the Peoria community. Research has shown the lack of assistance has slowed the growth of economic development in the minority community. Thus, we provide educational leadership and are the point of contact for those wishing to engage these businesses. Our vision is to provide educational assistance in the area of business and workforce development, while facilitating networking opportunities for business owners and professionals. Our mission is to provide awareness, education and contacts that will facilitate B2B and professional service to the community.

Congratulations to the Heart of Illinois United Way for rais-ing over $11.3 million for their 2014 Campaign. Each year, more than 300 local companies and organizations partici-pate in the campaign. In 2014, 67 organizations increased their contributions by 10% or more.

Member FeatureWalking Through Our Doors for 149 Years

The Children’s Home Association of Illinois is proud of our rich heritage and the tens of thousands of people who have walked through our doors since 1866. Operating from six locations in the Peoria area, our profession-als are committed to community-based, family-focused programs that provide counseling, education and support to more than 1,100 children and families each month. Programs for children and youth include: residential care, group homes, foster care and adoption, supervised independent living, private school, crisis intervention, mental health assessment, homeless services, in-home counseling and family preservation. In 2016, we celebrate our sesquicentennial anniversary, 150 years of giv-ing children a childhood and future by protecting them, teaching them and healing them, and by building strong communities and loving families. Our work has earned us a reputation as a leader in our field and we look forward to sharing with you our vision moving forward and celebrating this milestone with our community supporters. Our doors are open, won’t you come in and be a part of our legacy. For more information visit www.chail.org or call us at 309.685.1047.

Cover photo: Children’s Home Knoxville campus front door

Experts In:  

A Commercial Division of Bix Basement Systems

Bowed/Cracked Walls * Settling Foundations * Wet Basements/Crawl Spaces* Sinking Floors * Concrete Lifting & Leveling

www.bixbasementsystems.com

Experts In:  

A Commercial Division of Bix Basement Systems

Bowed/Cracked Walls * Settling Foundations * Wet Basements/Crawl Spaces* Sinking Floors * Concrete Lifting & Leveling

www.bixbasementsystems.com

Business BriefsAdvanced Correctional Health-care is pleased to announce the addition of four new cor-porate employees; Elizabeth Fuller as Administrative Assis-tant to Compliance, Maddie Bevitt as Human Resources Generalist, Erika Wilson as Administrative Assistant, and Celia Araya as Payroll Coordi-nator.

ALIPRO welcomes their new-est Project Management Consultant, Meri McIntire. Meri will be implementing Caterpillar GIS projects in East Peoria.

business movesArtsPartners of Central Il-linois, Inc. is pleased to an-nounce that the jury members have been selected for Sculp-ture Walk Peoria 2015.

CIAN, Inc. is offering a free Risk Assessment, determining vulnerability of computer data and network to organizations who qualify.

Eureka College received a $46,250 grant from the Network for Vocation in Undergraduate Education to fund programs to assist faculty and staff with ad-vising students on discovering their talents and life callings.

news

awards & recognition

Better Banks is proud to an-nounce the promotion of Amanda Miller to Vice Presi-dent.

CIAN, Inc. is pleased to an-nounce that Eric Fisher has been promoted to Vice Presi-dent of Operations, and is also pleased to welcome Gabriela Rivera as Senior Accounts Man-ager out of their Elgin, IL office.

First Mid-Illinois Bank and Trust is excited to announce that Jeremy Howard has joined the Company as Senior Vice Presi-dent and will serve as Regional President for the Peoria Region.

Heyl, Royster, Voelker & Allen is pleased to announce John Redlingshafer as Partner in its Peoria Office.

Marco, Inc. announces the promotion of Mike Welling to Director of Managed IT Servic-es and Clint Dorgan to Produc-tion Systems Sales Manager.

McGladrey LLP is pleased to an-nounce Erin McKenzie has been promoted to Assurance Man-ager in the firm’s Peoria office.

Peoria Park District is excited to announce Rebecca Shulman Herz as the Director of the Peoria PlayHouse Children’s Museum.

Congratulations to Caterpillar and Chairman Doug Oberhelman for taking home the Mayor’s Outstanding Community Service Award. Accepting the award is Henry Vicary, Community Relations Manager of Caterpillar, with Bob Gates, Partner at Kavanagh, Scully, Sudow, White & Frederick, P.C. For more than 85 years, Caterpillar Inc. has been making progress while driving positive and sustainable change on every continent. Through the organization’s core values of integrity, excellence, teamwork, and commitment, Caterpillar is a world-class company with a home base right here in Peoria. The award was presented by Mayor Jim Ardis on February 4, 2015 at the annual State of the City Address.

Business Briefs The Business Briefs are an excellent marketing opportunity offered to Chamber members. Submit items of interest to the editor to editor@peoriachamber.org. Information must be received by the 10th of the month to be included in next month’s issue. All content subject to editorial review.

Wayne

awards & recognition

The Chamber Report (USPS-097-250) is the official publication of the Peoria Area Chamber of Commerce. It is published monthly at 100 SW Water Street, Peoria, IL 61602, phone: 309.495.5900. An annual subscription is $10. Periodical postage paid in Peoria, Illinois 61601 and additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER - Send address changes to: The Chamber Report, Peoria Area Chamber of Commerce, 100 SW Water Street, Peoria, Illinois 61602.

Advanced Correctional Health-care was recently notified that CEO, Dr. Norman Johnson; Corporate Medical Director, Dr. Gregory Rakestraw; Re-gional Medical Director, Dr.

Charles Taylor; and site physi-cian, Dr. Ronald Everson have all passed The American Board of Addiction Medicine exams last year.

Caterpillar products received seven Top 100 Awards, which is a program that calls special attention to the most signifi-cant new products.

CEFCU received a 5-Star or “Superior” rating – the high-est rating awarded – by BAU-ERFINANCIAL, an independent organization that has been an-alyzing the performance of fi-nancial institutions since 1983.

Hawk Agency is proud to an-nounce 3rd quarter honors for upholding their motto: Alan Gordon, Agent of the Quarter; Pam Casper, Employee of the Quarter; and Ryan Ireland, Car-rier Partner of the Quarter.

McGladrey LLP recently an-nounced that the fifth annual McGladrey Classic raised more than $930,000 for children and family focused charitable orga-nizations.

Heyl, Royster, Voelker & Al-len has had twelve attorneys from the Peoria office named Super Lawyers in the recently published Illinois Super Law-yers listing. Partner Gary Nelson was listed under In-surance Coverage; Partner Roger Clayton was listed under Health Care; Partners Nick Bertschy and Joe Feehan were listed under Personal Injury General: Defense; Part-ner Steve Heine was listed un-der Transportation/Maritime; Partners Brad Elward and Craig

First Mid-Illinois Bancshares, Inc. is proud to announce the execution of a definitive agree-ment under which First Mid will acquire 12 Southern Illi-nois banking centers of Old Na-tional Bancorp, which is based in Evansville, Indiana.

OneFire Media Group has launched a new website, with several components that help businesses decipher the latest trends and provide informa-tion in a format that is easy to use and understand. One-Fire has also unveiled its new Inside Business Tech podcast that will air weekly and covers the latest trends in technology and business, and highlights business headlines in a quick news format.

Peoria Park District is pleased to announce that Peoria Zoo will be offering two new edu-cation programs including an Adult Series and a Family Se-ries. Peoria Zoo will also be of-fering a Home Educator class for home schooled children.

South Side Trust & Savings Bank recently awarded 44 Pe-kin Community High School students for completing the South Side Bank Financial Scholars Program.

Unrath were listed under Ap-pellate, Firm Managing Part-ner Tim Bertschy was listed under Business Litigation; and Partners Rex Linder and David Perkins were listed under Civil Litigation: Defense.

Midwest Food Bank is ranked #1 among all privately funded charities in the USA by Charity Navigator for fiscal manage-ment and commitment to ac-countability and transparency for the third year in a row.

“As one of the oldest communities in the state, our heritage has been in the forefront of new revolutions,” said Mayor Jim Ardis at the 2015 State of the City Address. “Everyone must build a culture of change and innovation to not only meet today’s challenges, but the challenges of tomorrow. And we’re doing that here in Peoria.” The address was held at the Peoria Civic Center amidst the swirl of a snowstorm on Wednesday, February 4th. The event, sponsored by Dewberry Architects, was preceded by a presentation of the colors by Manual Academy’s JROTC, and also featured remarks by Peoria Area Chamber Board Chairman Bob Gates, as well as Business Development Director of Dewberry Architects, Chris Waible. Peoria Mayor Jim Ardis outlined Peoria’s 2014, highlighting the inspiring work done by local start-ups such as OneFire Media, Jump Trading Simulation and Education Center, and CSE Software.

He then spoke about Peoria’s movements in education. Peoria Promise, an initiative to enhance workforce skills and academic opportunities for Peoria school graduates, has reached its 7th year in action. The Pathways to Prosperity Peoria initiative, which began in the past year, will “build systems of career pathways linking high school, work and community college.” Infrastructure, as well, has gone through major changes in 2014. The Warehouse District downtown has received close to $30 million in funds, and the Louisville Slugger Sports Complex is expected to increase local revenue upon its completion. The Mayor mentioned Peoria’s national notoriety as an “innovation city.” Peoria was recognized by Bloomberg Philanthropies as “one of only twelve cities nationwide to be awarded an Innovation Grant” for $1.5 million dollars.

“All these amazing accomplishments and more are bringing to light the incredible opportunity we have before us,” concluded Mayor Ardis. “We are blessed to live in a city like Peoria. We have many resources, a strong core of business, many amenities that cities much larger don’t have and people with a strong work ethic. There is no community I’ve ever seen or heard about that gives back more than ours...and it’s all because of our people.”

Chamber News

Mayor Talks Local Innovation at the State of the City Address

Manual Academy’s JROTC with Peoria Mayor Jim Ardis, Peoria Area Chamber Board Chair-man Bob Gates, and Peoria Area Chamber President Jeff Griffin

Chamber President Jeff Griffin and Peoria Mayor Jim Ardis

Mayor Ardis’s entire speech may be found at PeoriaChamber.org

This event sponsored by Dewberry Architects.For more information, visit PeoriaChamber.org

Caterpillar Stays In Peoria The Peoria community was delighted to learn on Friday, February 20, that Caterpillar is expanding their global headquarters on the Peoria riverfront. Chairman & CEO Doug Oberhelman officially unveiled a modern design for a Peoria world headquarters campus encompassing 31 acres downtown. “We are beyond thrilled with Caterpillar’s visionary commitment to Peoria’s

downtown,” said Bob Gates, Chairman of the Peoria Area Chamber of Commerce and Partner at Kavanagh, Scully, Sudow, White & Frederick, P.C. “The global headquarters project demonstrates innovation and celebrates our member’s shared vision of being a community that is a great place to live, work, and play.” The new complex will include a three-tower building with innovative work space, as well as walking and biking paths, adding six blocks to the site. “The Chamber understands and appreciates that Chairman Oberhelman’s leadership to make this day a reality the future of Illinois. Mayor Ardis’ comments during the celebration were spot on, he challenged the business community to use this great day as a springboard for our efforts to draw business, development and people to Peoria,” said Jeff Griffin, President of the Peoria Area Chamber of Commerce. “This is the time to share our good news with the World and showcase the great things happening in Greater Peoria.”

Jim Schultz, Director of Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity, Doug Oberhelman, Caterpil-lar Chairman, Don Welch, President of Enjoy Peoria (Peo-ria Area Convention and Visitor’s Bureau) and Jeff Griffin, President of the Peoria Area Chamber of Commerce.

Save the date!

March 124:30 - 6:30 PMPeoria Riverfront Museum222 SW Washington StreetPeoria, IL 61602

Business After Hours

March 247:45 - 9:00 AMAlipro (hosted by Kellehers)619 SW Water St.Peoria, IL 61602

Business Before Hours

Mayor Talks Local Innovation at the State of the City Address

Register today at www.PeoriaChamber.org

October 23The inaugural tournament!Mark your calendars now!

May 2811:00 AM - 6:00 PMWeaverRidge Golf Club5100 N. WeaverRidge Blvd.Peoria, IL 61615

Peoria Area Wiffle Ball Classic

21st Annual Golf OutingCaterpillar Stays In Peoria

100 SW Water St. Peoria, Illinois 61602

Contact us! Please notify the Chamber at 309.495.5900 or

editor@peoriachamber.org of nameand address changes or additions.

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