Board of Directors
Jerry Gordon Ed.D. (Chairperson)
Former Superintendent of Schools,
District 13,
Bloomingdale, IL
Jerry hails from Indiana and has educational degrees in English, School Administration, and School Business Management from Purdue, Ball State, Indiana University and Northern Illinois. After 18 years in the position, Jerry recently retired as the Superintendent of Bloomingdale Elementary School District 13. Prior to that, he was the Assistant Superintendent in District 13 and in Brown County (IN) where he also served as Assistant Superintendent, Director of Special Programs, Assistant Principal for Curriculum and Director of Student Affairs at Brown County High School, Nashville, Indiana. Jerry taught English and was the drama coach at Alexandria-Monroe High School in Alexandria, Indiana to begin his career.
Jerry is a member of the American Association of School Administrators, Illinois Association of School Administrators, Phi Delta Kappa, Superintendents’ Round Table of Northern Illinois, LEND Legislative Advisory Committee, SEND, and the Institute for Educational Research.
In the community, Jerry has been a member of the Bloomingdale Public Library Board, Lions Club, Bloomingdale Township Committee on Youth, Bloomingdale Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors, DuPage Area Project, Bloomingdale/Roselle Rotary Club, and the Bloomingdale CHARACTER COUNTS! Coalition. He has also been the County Character College Chairperson for the DuPage Character Development Coalition for the past three years.
Terry Hagy Jr. (Vice-chair)
President, RentalMax, LaGrange, IL
- Born and raised in the Chicagoland area
- Attended College of DuPage and graduated from Northern Illinois University with a BS degree in Marketing
- Married with two sons both attending college in the state of Colorado
- Resides in La Grange, Illinois
- Worked in sales and marketing capacities for consumer packaged goods manufactures, i.e. Ralston Purina, Gillette, H.J. Heinz and the Jel Sert Company (Last position was VP Sales at the Jel Sert) Company.
- Currently President and Board Member of RentalMax L.L.C., a 10-store equipment rental company in the Chicagoland area
- Active in the American Rental Association and currently Chairman of the Information Committee, and a member of the National Legislative Caucus Group
- Also has served as Chairman of the Business Development, Strategic Planning and Advertising & Marketing Committees’ for the American Rental Association.
- Was a Board Member and served as Vice Chair for Healthy DuPage
Dr. Gary Smit (Secretary)
Former Superintendent of Schools,
District 44,
Lombard, IL
Dr. Gary Smit retired in June of 2004 after serving as a superintendent for 25 years, in Illinois and Wisconsin school districts. From 1983 - 1994, Gary was Superintendent of South Berwyn School District 100. He served for the past ten years as Superintendent of Lombard School District 44. Previously, he was an elementary school teacher and principal. In addition, Dr. Smit has been an adjunct faculty member at several area colleges.
In 1997, Dr. Smit graduated from a CHARACTER COUNTS! Character Development Seminar held in his local community. Since then, he has successfully led efforts to make CHARACTER COUNTS! a strong presence throughout the community. The initiative is now enthusiastically embraced not only by schools but also in local government, media, law enforcement, sports programs and faith communities. He is the chairman of the Lombard Youth Services Coalition and is a board member of the Lombard CHARACTER COUNTS! Coalition and the YMCA. Dr. Smit is a member of the Rotary Club of Lombard and serves as Chair of the Youth Services Committee.
Dr. Smit has worked for the Josephson Institute since 1999 presenting one-day awareness seminars, the three-day Character Development Seminars and Pursuing Victory With Honor workshops for coaches. Most recently, he was assigned the additional training responsibility for the Advanced Character Development Seminar and the US Army two-day training module. He continues to speak at numerous local, state and national conferences on how character education can be integrated into the life of a school and community.
Tim Cramer (Treasurer)
InTouch Coordinator,
BreakingFree,
Naperville, IL
Tim has a Master's Degree in Human Resources and Industrial Relations from Loyola University Chicago and a Bachelors Degree in Psychology from Western Illinois University. He's been working to build healthy communities through prevention for 15 years. For the past twelve years he has been the InTouch Coordinator with Breaking Free and has been involved in shaping the direction of prevention in Illinois as part of the Department of Human Services Substance Abuse prevention system. He has a wealth of experience in providing consultation and technical assistance to community based prevention providers and communities in the areas of outcome measurement and evaluation for prevention as well as coalition development and sustainability.
Dr. Darlene Ruscitti
Regional Superintendent of Schools, Wheaton, IL
As Regional Superintendent of Schools for DuPage County, Dr. Ruscitti is an advocate for quality education, Darlene serves on a myriad of professional and civic organizations that supports the continuous improvement of education in DuPage and in Illinois. She earned her Doctor of Education Degree from Loyola University, Chicago, and Masters and Bachelor of Education Degrees from Northeastern Illinois University, Chicago. Her most recent accomplishment is the soon to be published, No Social Promotion Policy and its Effects on DuPage County Schools. Darlene is recognized in the 2002 international edition of Who’s Who of Professional Educators. Darlene resides in Bloomingdale. She has been married to Bill for almost 30years and has two grown children.
Dennis Cortes
Partner and Managing Director of Global Technical Strategies,
Cantor Fitzgerald & Co., Chicago, IL
Dennis's career over the past 20 years has been in the are a of Technical Strategies for such companies as Cantor Fitzgerald,
ED&F Mann,
Prudential Securities, and
Thomson McKinnon. With these firms, Dennis has been involved with
team management, research and development, assessment of market needs, strategy development for pricing and marketing, managing client relationships, proprietary trading and risk management.
In addition, Dennis is a Founder and the Chief Editor for Virtue in Action, an educational program for the 6th – 12th grades. Program lessons use current events and issues to help students understand the virtues and inspire students to live out the virtues. Along with his wife Kris, Dennis lives in Flossmoor, IL where they are raising five children.
Deby Baker
Business Development Manager,
Woodland Windows and Doors , Roselle, IL
Deby Baker first became interested in character in the workplace, when her employer, Woodland Windows & Doors of Roselle, launched a character program in 1999. Since bringing the "Character First" program into their business, Woodland has seen improved service and safety, increased sales, and higher employee morale. In 2005 she became involved with the DuPage Character Development Coalition, where it became apparent that character development, promoted widely in schools through "Character Counts", is also for adults. As a result, Deby joined with a core group of business people to form the DuPage Character Business Committee of the coalition, whose mission is to provide businesses with character development strategies and tools. Along with fellow committee members, Deby is currently serving as Committee Chairperson and takes the message of the importance of character in the workplace to communities and Chambers of Commerce throughout DuPage County.
Former Board Members:
Betty Cheever
Retired Village Mayor,
Downers Grove, IL
Donell Bullock
Former Executive Director, Healthy DuPage,
Lombard, IL
Marie Doll
DuPage Heahth Department, Wheaton IL
Steven Neubauer
Chief of Police,
Elmhurst, IL
Peggy Steele
President & CEO, Regis Learning Systems,
Evergreen, CO
Erin Vaughan
Vice President, Government Relations & External Affairs, ARAMARK, Downers Grove, IL
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