
Oak Brook-based IMRF Receives Excellence Award
Illinois Performance Excellence announces Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund of Oak Brook, IL is a recipient of the 2014 Silver Award for ÒProgress toward Excellence” for demonstrating effective, systematic, well-deployed approaches that respond to the multiple requirements to most of the Criteria. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund will be formally honored at the 20th annual award recognition ceremony, ÒSaluting Excellence,” on March 26, 2015, held at the Abbington Banquets located in Glen Ellyn.
ÒCongratulations to Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund and all of its employees for its commitment to an on-going journey to excellence,” says Darcy Davidsmeyer, President and CEO of Illinois Performance Excellence. ÒIMRF is taking the lead in its industry to address organizational performance and process/resource alignment with the outcome for better efficiencies, focus and overall results.”
Recipients of the ILPEx Silver Award go to those organizations which have demonstrated effective, systematic, well-deployed approaches that respond to the multiple requirements to most of the Baldrige Criteria for Performance Excellence.
The Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund (IMRF) was created by the Illinois General Assembly. Since 1941, IMRF has partnered with local units of government to provide retirement, disability and death benefits for public employees. With a funded status of 96.7 percent and $33 billion in assets, IMRF is well-funded and sustainable. Today, IMRF has about 400,000 members and retirees, and serves nearly 3,000 different units of government, including towns and villages, libraries and park districts, and counties and school districts (non-teaching personnel). The average member who retired in 2013 had 22 years of service and received an annual benefit of about $16,500.
ÒFor any organization committed to excellence by improving the products or services it provides its customers, clients or members, the task of identifying and implementing the best approach can appear daunting. There are innumerable books and videos on the best management practices. The Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund has found the Baldrige Criteria for Performance Excellence as implemented by ILPEx to be the most successful and comprehensive approach for developing the culture and infrastructure necessary for meeting our customer service goals. Our members deserve the best and ILPEx is helping us to meet that challenge. IMRF is honored to be recognized for its progress toward excellence as it receives a Silver Award. This recognition and the feedback report support and reinvigorate our efforts to become a world class organization,” said Louis W. Kosiba, Executive Director, Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund.
About Illinois Performance Excellence (ILPEx)
ILPEx was founded in 1994 to nurture, develop and highlight excellence by bringing individuals and organizations together, to learn from each other, to share best practices for organizational change and process improvement. As a 501 (c)(3), ILPEx’s mission is to advance Illinois organizations’ capability and knowledge of performance excellence by delivering consultation, instruction and assessments within the framework of the Criteria for Performance Excellence.
For more information on how your organization can benefit from services provided by Illinois Performance Excellence, visit www.ilpex.org, or call 630-637-1595.
For more information on the Baldrige Performance Excellence Program, visit www.nist.gov/baldrige/.
Local News

Finish line in sight
Spread the love. With mayoral race close, turnout is everything By Tim Hadac With polls predicting an extremely close mayoral runoff on Tuesday, April 4, both Paul Vallas and Brandon Johnson had their campaigns in high gear this week, rolling out final endorsements and exhorting voters to cast ballots. For the first time in his…

Sweet surprise for police
Spread the love Everyone likes cookies, especially when they’re Girl Scout cookies delivered by a sweet, smiling Scout–as illustrated by police at the Eighth District station last week. Officers, detectives and sergeants were delighted to grab one of 20 boxes of Thin Mints, S’mores, Do-si-dos, Samoas and other varieties from Charlotte Caughey of Brownie Troop…

Egg prices drive chicken interest
Spread the loveSome becoming backyard farmers By Kelly White Complaints about the price of eggs have been so common in recent months, some folks who have never considered backyard farming are now thinking of buying a hen or two. To help educate people about the matter, The Feed Store, 5408 S. Harlem, is also hosting…

Pro Sports Report | Alex Morgan converts PK and Wave tops Red Stars in opener
Spread the loveBy Jeff Vorva Staff Writer Two of the best scorers in the NWSL made great first impressions to begin the 2023 season. The Chicago Red Stars’ Mallory Swanson, coming off a scoring explosion in the SheBelieves Cup earlier in the year, scored a tying goal on a penalty kick in extra time in…

Area Sports Roundup | Morton College takes 5th in nation
Spread the loveBy Jeff Vorva Staff Writer For three quarters, Janiah Jones’ stats were bland. The Richard Bland College guard had just two points. But she lit things up in the fourth quarter, scoring 16 of her team’s 18 points to help Bland stun Morton College, 69-63, in the quarterfinals of the National Junior College…

Track and Field | Oak Lawn’s Robert Wagner gets jump on season with highest leap at Top Times
Spread the loveBy Tim Cronin Correspondent BLOOMINGTON — Robert Wagner, with a name straight out of Hollywood, starred in the high jump at the Illinois Top Times meet, held March 25 at Illinois Wesleyan University. The only thing missing for the Oak Lawn senior was a spotlight — and, from Wagner’s viewpoint — breaking his…

College Notebook | Richards grad Abby Mallo swinging a hot stick for Billikens
Spread the loveBy Mike Walsh Correspondent Welcome to Division I softball, Abby Mallo. Mallo, a Richards graduate playing at Saint Louis University, was chosen the Rookie of the Week by the Atlantic 10 Conference for the week ending March 19. Mallo, a freshman, hit safely in all four games that week, recording a .429 batting…

Baseball | Brother Rice seeking spark after two-loss week
Spread the loveBy Steve Millar Correspondent Brother Rice is missing some big pieces from the team that finished third in the state in Class 4A last season. Multi-sport superstar Jack Lausch graduated and moved on to play quarterback at Northwestern. Catching star Zion Rose, a potential high Major League Baseball draft pick this summer, transferred…

Choosing sides in mayoral race
Spread the love. SW Side endorsements start to emerge By Tim Hadac While neither Paul Vallas nor Brandon Johnson has campaigned on the Southwest Side to any significant degree, their supporters in this area are starting to go public. The latest endorsement to be snagged occurred last Friday, when U.S. Rep. Jesús “Chuy” García (D-4th),…

Crime spree in Back of the Yards
Spread the loveArmed bandits commit 10 robberies in less than two hours By Tim Hadac A burst of armed robberies in the Back of the Yards area has prompted police to issue a community warning. The 10 stickups occurred in less than two hours on Wednesday, March 15. Crime scenes include: 4600 block of South…
Neighbors

Senate approves measure to crack down on ‘crisis pregnancy centers’
By ANDREW ADAMS & NIKA SCHOONOVER Capitol News Illinois [email protected] SPRINGFIELD – A rush of legislation passed before a Friday deadline in the Senate included proposals aimed at protecting those seeking reproductive health care in Illinois. The first of these proposals, Senate Bill 1909, would give the state’s attorney general explicit authority to…

Senate approves measure to crack down on ‘crisis pregnancy centers’
By ANDREW ADAMS & NIKA SCHOONOVER Capitol News Illinois [email protected] SPRINGFIELD – A rush of legislation passed before a Friday deadline in the Senate included proposals aimed at protecting those seeking reproductive health care in Illinois. The first of these proposals, Senate Bill 1909, would give the state’s attorney general explicit authority to…

Senate approves measure to crack down on ‘crisis pregnancy centers’
By ANDREW ADAMS & NIKA SCHOONOVER Capitol News Illinois [email protected] SPRINGFIELD – A rush of legislation passed before a Friday deadline in the Senate included proposals aimed at protecting those seeking reproductive health care in Illinois. The first of these proposals, Senate Bill 1909, would give the state’s attorney general explicit authority to…

Senate approves measure to crack down on ‘crisis pregnancy centers’
By ANDREW ADAMS & NIKA SCHOONOVER Capitol News Illinois [email protected] SPRINGFIELD – A rush of legislation passed before a Friday deadline in the Senate included proposals aimed at protecting those seeking reproductive health care in Illinois. The first of these proposals, Senate Bill 1909, would give the state’s attorney general explicit authority to…

Senate approves measure to crack down on ‘crisis pregnancy centers’
By ANDREW ADAMS & NIKA SCHOONOVER Capitol News Illinois [email protected] SPRINGFIELD – A rush of legislation passed before a Friday deadline in the Senate included proposals aimed at protecting those seeking reproductive health care in Illinois. The first of these proposals, Senate Bill 1909, would give the state’s attorney general explicit authority to…

Senate approves measure to crack down on ‘crisis pregnancy centers’
By ANDREW ADAMS & NIKA SCHOONOVER Capitol News Illinois [email protected] SPRINGFIELD – A rush of legislation passed before a Friday deadline in the Senate included proposals aimed at protecting those seeking reproductive health care in Illinois. The first of these proposals, Senate Bill 1909, would give the state’s attorney general explicit authority to…

Senate approves measure to crack down on ‘crisis pregnancy centers’
By ANDREW ADAMS & NIKA SCHOONOVER Capitol News Illinois [email protected] SPRINGFIELD – A rush of legislation passed before a Friday deadline in the Senate included proposals aimed at protecting those seeking reproductive health care in Illinois. The first of these proposals, Senate Bill 1909, would give the state’s attorney general explicit authority to…

Senate approves measure to crack down on ‘crisis pregnancy centers’
By ANDREW ADAMS & NIKA SCHOONOVER Capitol News Illinois [email protected] SPRINGFIELD – A rush of legislation passed before a Friday deadline in the Senate included proposals aimed at protecting those seeking reproductive health care in Illinois. The first of these proposals, Senate Bill 1909, would give the state’s attorney general explicit authority to…

Senate approves measure to crack down on ‘crisis pregnancy centers’
By ANDREW ADAMS & NIKA SCHOONOVER Capitol News Illinois [email protected] SPRINGFIELD – A rush of legislation passed before a Friday deadline in the Senate included proposals aimed at protecting those seeking reproductive health care in Illinois. The first of these proposals, Senate Bill 1909, would give the state’s attorney general explicit authority to…

Senate approves measure to crack down on ‘crisis pregnancy centers’
By ANDREW ADAMS & NIKA SCHOONOVER Capitol News Illinois [email protected] SPRINGFIELD – A rush of legislation passed before a Friday deadline in the Senate included proposals aimed at protecting those seeking reproductive health care in Illinois. The first of these proposals, Senate Bill 1909, would give the state’s attorney general explicit authority to…