2017 YLB Program

2017Youth
Leadership
Awards

Northeast Illinois Council

It is better to be prepared for an opportunity and
not have one than to have an opportunity and not
be prepared.

Whitney M. Young

Welcome!

Each year we recognize people in our community who go above
and beyond to serve our youth and help to pave the way toward
a better future and a better life. Today we are honoring four
such individuals for their oustanding contributions to Youth
Leadership. We thank you for being here to celebrate with us
as we recognize their dedication and work to ensure that the
important business of developing the minds and talents of our
youth continues.

Committee

We would like to thank the following people for their devotion
to recognizing our Youth Leadership Award winners and for
celebrating the thousands of youth who have benefited from their
generosity.

John Landgraf
Joanne Osmond
Mayor Leon Rockingham
Mike Rummel
Roycealee Wood

Program

Welcome Mayor Leon Rockingham, Committee Chair

Flag Ceremony Pack 99 and Troop 275

Invocation Michael Jackson, Lake County Emergency Management

Breakfast

Impact of Scouting Brandon Stascak, North Star District Director

Awards Presentation Dale Thomas, NEIC VP Membership

Thank You John Landgraf, Committee Member

Azita Saleki-Gerhardt, Ph.D.

Whitney M. Young, Jr. Service Award

Azita Saleki-Gerhardt, Ph.D., is President,
AbbVie Operations, leading a team of scientific,
engineering, business, quality, supply chain,
security, purchasing and manufacturing
professionals responsible for supply and
distribution of all AbbVie products, as well as a
number of corporate services. Over her 20-year
career with Abbott, she worked in key positions
in science and technology, manufacturing,
and quality assurance. She has been published
in a number of scientific publications and
has been awarded several patents related to
pharmaceutical sciences.

Dr. Saleki-Gerhardt is a member of the board of directors for Entegris, which
serves in a similar capacity to the United Way of Lake County. She is the chair
for the Global Quality and Manufacturing (GQMC) Committee for PhRMA and
is a member of the Dean’s Advisory Boards for the School of International
Studies and School of Pharmacy at UW-Madison, where she earned her
bachelor’s, master’s and doctorate degrees in pharmaceutics.

A firm believer in corporate responsibility, Dr. Saleki-Gerhardt has been
active with the AbbVie team in providing support for their signature
volunteer event, Week of Possibilities, focused on improving educational
opportunities for children in underserved communities. In 2017, more than
6,000 employees volunteered over 26,000 service hours as a part of this
event which demonstrates AbbVie’s commitment to supporting our local
communities. As a result of this event, she helped to raise 4.8MM this year,
lending tremendous support for the charities most important to AbbVie’s
team.

Dr. Saleki-Gerhardt serves on the board of the United Way of Lake County
and has been actively engaged with the United Way’s Success by 6 program,
promoting healthy early childhood development to ensure children enter
school ready to succeed. AbbVie has implemented several major projects in
the local communities under Azita’s leadership, which have included North
Chicago Public Library, North Chicago Community High School, Hervey
Village, AJ Katzenmaier Academy, and Bernie’s Book Bank.

Michael Jackson

Whitney M. Young, Jr. Service Award

Michael Jackson has been impacting Youth in
Scouting for 18 years serving as a Cubmaster in
Pack 805, Committee Chairman in Troop 601, and
Committee Chairman for the Waukegan Police
Exploring Post. In his time serving in those roles
he has influenced hundreds of young men in
the Waukegan and North Chicago Communities,
taking them to Ma-Ka-Ja-Wan Scout Reservation,
involving them in community service projects,
and providing a program for youth that might not
have otherwise existed. Michael’s sons, Jonathan
and Michael, were both active with their dad,
with Jonathan achieving the rank of Eagle Scout.
Beyond his service as a unit leader, Michael has served on the District Level
providing direction to over 1,000 leaders in the North Star District serving
Northern Lake County. Michael has served as the public relation chair,
Exploring Commissioner, nominating committee member, and is always
willing to help at events from Cubmobile to council-wide camporees. His
dedication and service with a smile resulted in Michael receiving the Silver
Beaver award in 2006, the highest honor a volunteer can receive from the
council.
In addition to Scouting, Michael is active with the Shiloh Baptist Church,
Waukegan Teen Bible Study, Waukegan Pads Ministry, Citizen Corps Council
of Lake County, and American Red Cross Disaster Services. Michael served
as police officer for the City of Waukegan for 28 years and has spent the last
9.5 years as the Emergency Management Specialist with the Lake County
Emergency Management Agency. Michael will always be known for his
great smile and dedication to Scouting in Waukegan.
His co-leader, Rev. Thomas Johnson said, “I most admire his true passion
for kids and people as a whole, especially those in need. Growing up, he
saw people giving back and wanted to give back as an adult. In his 18
years as Scout Leader, he is always looking for ways to help the Scouts and
their families to make their lives better, including finding the money and
transportation to keep them involved in Scouting. He wanted to impact kids
as a Scout Leader long before impacting them as a police officer. His big
smile makes everyone feel at ease which makes them want to work with him
and involve their kids in Scouting.”

Joanne Osmond

¡Scouting…Vale la Pena! Service Award

In 2008 Joanne Osmond helped launch the
Adventure Scout program designed to provide
character development and values-based
leadership training for boys in Northeast Illinois.
The in-school program was tailored to better
serve Hispanic and African American families.

In 2013, she promoted the Whitney Young Award
and first Leadership breakfast honoring leaders
and organizations supporting underserved
areas. Joanne served scouting in many roles over
her thirty-five years as a registered leader: Den
Leader, District Cub Scout Trainer, Director of Cub
Scout Day Camp, Chairman Cub Scout PowWow,
National Cub Scout Committee, Explorer post for handicapped scouts,
Unit Commissioner, Pack/Troop/Team/Crew Committee Member, Council
Executive Board, Wood Badge C-03-10 Course director, LDS Relationships
Committee, NEIC Vice-President for ten years, and Cubmaster. Her two sons
are Eagle Scouts and grandsons are working on their Eagle projects.

In addition to Scouting, Joanne has served on the Lake Villa 41 Elementary
School Board since 1991, is the president of the SEDOL Executive Board, and
vice-president of the Illinois Association of School Boards. Since her retirement
from Abbott in 2002, she has supported entrepreneurs as a business advisor,
instructor, and designer of online training at the Small Business Development
Center at the College of Lake County.

John Price

Elbert K. Fretwell Outstanding Educator Award

John Price is a career educator who began
teaching on the near west side of Chicago in
a Catholic School. John started as a volunteer
teacher, and the school used his salary to
provide tuition scholarships for children to
attend the school. Seeing his work as a service
to the community has continued throughout
his 22 years in education. John has taught 3-8
graders in all subject areas at three different
schools in Illinois and California. After leaving
the classroom, he served as a literacy coordinator
and assistant principal and then became the
principal at Audubon Elementary School, a
Chicago Public School, in 2006. Before leaving
Audubon in 2011, the school earned the distinguished Blue Ribbon Award
for Excellence from the US Department of Education in recognition for
outstanding improvement of student learning.
After leaving Audubon, John moved into district leadership for Chicago
Public Schools. He served as a regional superintendent, supervising
elementary and high schools for three years before leaving to become the
Assistant Superintendent in Evanston. In his district leadership positions
John has consistently focused on implementing targeted instructional
strategies, providing high quality professional development and coaching,
and building strong community partnerships to support student learning.
John started in North Chicago in July of 2017. North Chicago District 187 is
John’s first assignment as Superintendent.
A California native, John has lived in Chicago since 2001 with his wife, Cheryl,
and two children, ages 14 and 11. When not at work, John enjoys spending
time with his family outdoors, and of course attending dance and soccer
practices. John also spends his free time reading and training for 5K and 10K
races. Cheryl is a lawyer working as the Pro Bono Director for the Domestic
Violence Courthouse in downtown Chicago.

Youth Leadership Awards

The Elbert K. Fretwell Outstanding Educator
Award has been developed by the Educational
Relationships Subcommittee (ERSC) of the
National Council of the Boy Scouts of America.
The Fretwell Award is presented by local
Scouters to teachers, educational support staff,
and school administrators who stand out from
their professional peers in instilling Scouting values in their
students.

The Whitney M. Young Jr. Service Award
recognizes outstanding service by an adult or
an organization for demonstrated involvement
in the development and implementation of
Scouting opportunities for youth from rural
or low-income urban backgrounds.

The ¡Scouting…Vale la Pena! Service
Award recognizes outstanding service by an
adult or an organization for demonstrated
involvement in the development and
implementation of Scouting opportunities
for Hispanic/Latino youth.

Youth Leadership
Award Recipients

For the past five years, we have been recognizing our local youth
builders at the Youth Leadership Awards Breakfast. These include
the Whitney M. Young Award, the The ¡Scouting…Vale la Pena!
Service Award and new Elbert K. Fretwell Outstanding Educator
Award. These are our past and current Youth Leadership Award
recipients in the Northeast Illinois Council:

2013 2014
Tony Figueroa Dr. Donaldo Batiste
William Covington
Ed Polen
Mayor Leon Rockingham Paul Dean
Hon. Roycealee Wood Rev. Walstone Francis

2015 2016
Exchange Club of North Chicago Jody Hultman
Kiwanis Club of Zion-Benton
Bill Kelley Corlis Murray
Del Parra Mike Nerheim
Shiloh Baptist Church

2017
Azita Saleki-Gerhardt, Ph.D.

Michael Jackson
Joanne Osmond

John Price

Thank you to our
Sponsors

Gold Level ($10,000+)
AbbVie Foundation

Silver Level ($5,000 - $9,999)
John Landgraf

Bronze Level ($2,500 - $4,999)
Jelly Belly Candy Company
Kenneth P. Morrison
Procter & Gamble

Friend Level & Table Sponsors ($1,000 -$2,499)

Advanced Disposal
William Covington
City of North Chicago
EMCO Chemical Distributors
Michael Jackson
The Mulch Center
Stephen Murrill
Joanne Osmond
Regional Office of Education
Ronald Peterson
D. Keith Ross
Malvern “Chip” Smith
Tech Systems
Dale Thomas
Trotter & Associates
Vision Tree
Waukegan Police Department
Roycealee Wood

Thank You

for the steps you’ve taken for our future leaders!