• Home
• In the Classroom
  • Volunteering in the Classroom
  • Volunteer Orientation
  • JA School Programs
  • JA Schools
  • Testimonials
• Educators
• Events
• Planned Giving
  • Ways To Give to JA
  • What JA Does With Contributions
  • Comparing the Benefits
  • The Heritage Society
• Board of Directors
• About JA
  • Annual Report
  • Library of Documents
  • Local Office Achievements
• F.A.Q.
• Contact Us

Board of Directors

View our Annual Report

Cody Atkins
General Manager

Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. Cody began his career in retail with Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. in 1995 while attending Oklahoma State University in Stillwater, Oklahoma. Cody has spent the previous eleven years in various managerial positions within Wal-Mart. In 2003 Cody relocated to Lincoln, IL as General Manager of the Lincoln Wal-Mart. Prior to moving to Lincoln, Cody operated facilities in Monett, MO and Fayetteville, AR. Cody serves on the Advisory Board of the Salvation Army, is a member of the Steering Committee for the Lincoln Art and Balloon Festival, coaches youth baseball, and is Treasurer of the Lincoln Logan County Chamber of Commerce. Cody and his wife, Sara, live in Lincoln, Illinois, with their two sons Coleman and Cooper.

Greg Bange
Auto Operations Manager

State Farm Greg is a graduate of Eureka College in Eureka Illinois, with Bachelor of Arts Degrees in Psychology & Sociology. He started his career with State Farm in 1984 as a Fire Underwriter in Illinois where he progressed thru several underwriting supervisory roles, as well as Fire Claim Representative. In 1994, Greg accepted a Learning & Development Dept. opportunity in State Farm's Corporate Headquarters, Bloomington IL . From there he relocated to New Jersey in 1996 to assume Fire Underwriting middle management responsibilities for the Metropolitan New York City area & the state of New Jersey. He returned to Bloomington, IL in 1998 where he was promoted to Fire Property &Casualty Underwriting Consultant. This opportunity was followed by relocation to the Kalamazoo Michigan area in 2000 as Division Manager for Michigan Auto Claims. In 2008, Greg was offered his current position in Bloomington IL as Great Lakes Zone Auto Underwriting Operations Manager. Greg has achieved several professional designations including: Chartered Property & Casualty Underwriter (CPCU), Chartered Life Underwriter (CLU), Associate in Management (AIM), Associate in Claims (AIC), INS, and Global Environment of Insurance (GEI). In recent years he has also been a member of Board of Directors for Michigan Agent & Associates Political Action Committee, a delegate to the Board of Directors for Michigan Property & Casualty Guaranty Assn., and has co-chaired the Executive Steering Committee for Facilities at Gull Lake Community Schools. Greg is married to Diane, and has two teenage sons, Brett and Austin. He spends his free time involved with his children's extracurricular activities, participating and spectating in several sports, and reading periodicals and sources of trivia.

Jim Connolly
Organizational Behavior Consultant

Thomas, Connolly & Phelps, Inc. Jim Connolly is the Founder and President of Thomas, Connolly & Phelps, Inc. With more than 20 years of experience, Jim applies his expertise in human behavior and organizational dynamics to help companies resolve significant business challenges. Projects have included organizational restructuring, organizational performance, behavioral interviewing, strategic planning, organizational change and team building. Jim has completed hundreds of projects for clients ranging from Fortune 50 companies to start-up companies. Jim is an active member of the Institute of Management Consultants and the Turnaround Management Association. Jim is a sought after speaker, a frequent presenter for several CEO roundtables including Renaissance Executive Forums and an adjunct facilitator for the Edward Lowe Foundation (CEO coaching and retreats). Jim is also an author and writes for several publications and has been cited in BusinessWeek and The New York Post. Jim, his wife and two children live in Bloomington.

Paul Digiallonardo
Senior Vice President

Morgan Stanley Smith Barney Paul DiGiallonardo is a senior vice president and branch manager of Morgan Stanley Smith Barney's Peoria Complex. . As the lead Morgan Stanley Smith Barney client advocate in central Illinois, he also oversees the training and support of financial advisors and support staff to ensure the best possible client experience. Upon joining Morgan Stanley in 2001, DiGiallonardo worked as a branch administrative manager and financial advisor, and quickly moved up to complex sales manager, then to producing branch manager, and finally, to his current position. DiGiallonardo's progression at Morgan Stanley demonstrates his focus and drive to always be his best. During his nine years with the company, DiGiallonardo graduated from the Morgan Stanley Complex Manager Leadership Program, built a management team focused on accountability and ownership, and successfully increased the total number of experienced financial advisors in 75 percent of complex branches. Last year, DiGiallonardo was awarded On Wall Street magazine's National Top 100 Branch Managers Award, which identified the best financial industry managers in the United States.

Kenny Eathington
Partner

Husch Blackwell Sanders LLP Kenny practices in the areas of real estate, corporate, commercial, environmental, and bankruptcy law as well as business and estate planning. Kenny represents many clients in commercial and residential real estate transactions. He also advises various financial institutions on lending issues and loan documentation. Moreover, he assists clients acquiring or divesting businesses and locations by negotiating contractual terms, performing due diligence, and advising on entity formation. Many clients rely on Kenny's counsel regarding day-to-day operations such as review of loan documents, equipment leases, minimum purchase agreements, sales agency agreements, marketing agreements and other contracts. From 1983 to 1988, he was employed by Farm Credit Services of Northwest Illinois as a branch manager and credit analyst. Prior to joining Husch, Kenny was an associate with a Peoria, Illinois, law firm for over two years. Kenny is the recipient of the Peoria Area Association of Realtors Affiliate of the Year Award (2004) and the Peoria County Bar Association Pro Bono Lawyer of the Year Award (2001).

Jim Farrell
Senior Vice President, Marketing & Communications

OSF Healthcare System Jim is responsible for the development and execution of OSF HealthCare system-wide marketing, communications plans, and activities. He directs the efforts of system-wide partners, i.e., advertising agencies, database marketing firms, and a patient satisfaction company to ensure optimum utilization of marketing-related dollars for the system and the individual entities (including six hospitals and one nursing home, 80 physician offices and a health insurance company). Jim oversees an accumulated annual budget exceeding $5 million. Jim enjoys running, basketball, coaching youth soccer, and teaching courses in Healthcare Planning & Marketing, Healthcare Economics, and Methods of Research for the School of Graduate Studies of the University of St. Francis, in Joliet, Illinois. He and his wife of 30+ years, Sharie, have four children.

Tom Farrell, CPA
Assurance Partner/Managing Director

McGladrey Thomas M. Farrell is a Partner in McGladrey’s Peoria office. He has over 25 years of public accounting experience. To currently holds the Peoria lead partner position. Tom's current responsibilities include a concentration in providing audit, accounting, tax, and consulting services to clients in the manufacturing, wholesaling, distribution, transportation, retail, and financial services industries. Tom serves on McGladrey’s audit and accounting internal inspection team which performs quality control reviews of approximately 90 offices. Tom has been recognized as a concurring reviewer, independent report reviewer, and financial institution specialist by McGladrey’s National Office of Risk Management.

Aimee Hale
Vice President, Branch Manager
Hershey Road Branch

PNC Bank Aimee graduated Summa Cum Laude from Illinois State University with a Bachelor of Science in Marketing in 2002. During her tenure at ISU, Aimee was named the Most Outstanding Senior in Marketing in the College of Business. Aimee began her career with National City Bank in the Retail Development Program. During this time, she has worn several hats within the retail bank. Aimee currently is the Assistant Vice President and Licensed Financial Specialist of the Hershey Road branch in Bloomington. She currently holds Series 6 and 63 investment licenses as well as Illinois Life and Health insurance licenses. Most of Aimee's time is spent working with small business owners and investment clients, offering personalized solutions to meet their needs. Aimee began her involvement with JA as a classroom consultant and was recently appointed to the Board of Directors. Aimee currently resides in Normal. In her spare time, she enjoys working out, playing soccer and tennis, cheering on the Green Bay Packers, and loves to spoil her dog, Bailey.

Susie Ketterer
President

Simantel Susie joined Simantel in 1981, immediately after earning her Bachelor of Science degree in mass communications and graphics from Bradley University in Peoria, Illinois. As Simantel grew, she mastered several job positions, including Creative Director, Account Supervisor and Vice President. Susie is strong on strategy, a big picture thinker and full of creative ideas. Her work has earned hundreds of local, regional and national awards for Simantel. In 2003, Susie and another long-time employee, Kevin McConaghy, purchased Simantel. Susie has been successful in the development and implementation of integrated programs for a wide variety of Simantel clients over the last 25 years. In 2004, Susie and Kevin were awarded Small Business of the Year Award, and recognized by local peers with an Award of Excellence. Susie has also been an adjunct teacher at the Bradley University Communications College. Susie lives in Peoria with her husband, Mark, and their three kids, Andrew, Erin and Molly.

Brian R. May
Partner

Accenture Brian graduated from Marquette University in 1988 with a degree in Mechanical Engineering. He began his career in Milwaukee with Accenture (then Andersen Consulting) in January of 1989 where he has spent the majority of his time serving automotive and industrial manufacturing clients. He was promoted to Partner in September of 2000. Brian currently has responsibility for Accenture's business in Peoria. While in Milwaukee, Brian served on the Board of Directors for COA Youth and Family Services, an inner city educational and social program organization. He and his wife Kris moved to Peoria in 2006. Brian and Kris met in kindergarten almost 40 years ago and have been married for 19 years. They have twin 4 year old daughters, Eden and Alaina. In their spare time they enjoy boating, golfing and spending time with their family.

Roosevelt Moore, CLU, ChFC, CPCU
Superintendent, Administrative Services

State Farm Roosevelt joined State Farm in 1998 as a Communications Specialist in the Mid South Regional Office (Monroe, Louisiana). He transferred to Corporate Administrative Services-Technical Services (Bloomington, Illinois) in 1999. He held several technical and analytical positions and was promoted to Administrative Services Supervisor in 2004. After assuming several first-line supervisory roles, Roosevelt was promoted to his current position as Administrative Services Superintendent in 2007. Prior to State Farm, he worked for a number of years in Retail Management. Roosevelt received his bachelor’s degree from Illinois State University. He earned both the Chartered Financial Consultant (ChFC) and Chartered Life Underwriter (CLU) designations in 2007 and received the Chartered Property Casualty Underwriter (CPCU) designation in 2009. Roosevelt began his involvement with JA as a classroom consultant in his daughter’s kindergarten class. The Chicago native and his wife, Trenn, have two children, Raquel and Roosevelt III.

Ned Neuhaus
Senior Business Resource Manager

Caterpillar Inc. Ned works as Senior Business Resource Manager in Caterpillar's Global Finance and Strategic Support Division. He earned his B.S. in Accounting from the University of Illinois - Urbana/Champaign and is a CPA. Prior to joining Caterpillar in 1990, Ned worked at Price Waterhouse in Peoria. Since joining Caterpillar, Ned has held a variety of financial positions, including several positions in Caterpillar's European operations in the UK, Switzerland and Belgium as well as serving as Director of Internal Audit. Ned is a classroom consultant and also served as Secretary-Treasurer of JA in Peoria prior to going overseas. Ned, his wife Dee Dee and their two daughters live in Peoria.

Bob Pfohl
Systems Supervisor, Global Purchasing Business Resources

Caterpillar Inc. Bob is employed by Caterpillar, where he is responsible for the worldwide deployment of IT asset management processes and systems. During his 24 year career with Caterpillar, he has held positions in Accounting, Manufacturing and Information Technology. Prior to his current position, he was IT manager for Cat Ag Products Inc., where he was responsible for the implementation of an ERP system and startup of two Joint Ventures. Before beginning work at Caterpillar, Bob graduated cum laude from Purdue University with a BS in Industrial Engineering. In 1986, he earned his MS in Business Management from Aurora University. Bob enjoys golfing, bowling, working around the house, and coaching his daughters' soccer teams. He is currently president of his homeowner's association and has served as an officer on two other homeowner's associations, been a member of his daughter's school board, president of the school's Home and School (PTA) association and co-chair of his church's capital campaign. He, his wife Lisa and two teenage daughters currently reside in Dunlap and have previously lived in north and northwest Peoria.

Rick Richardson
Chief Operating Officer

Simantel Rick Richardson is the Chief Operating Officer of Simantel. He joined the firm in 2007. Rick graduated from the University of Illinois in Champaign-Urbana in 1989 with a degree in finance. He joined Arthur Andersen in Chicago as an auditor and then worked in a number of progressive finance positions in the investment management industry, with Stein Roe & Farnham and Phoenix Duff & Phelps, the latter as Controller. He completed his MBA from the University of Chicago in 1995. In 1997, he joined PricewaterhouseCoopers as a management consultant and relocated to Peoria. Rick then spent five years as the VP of Finance for Kathryn Beich, Inc. in Bloomington, helping to lead the transition of the school fundraising business from Nestle USA to private equity investors. Most recently, he led the business and financial operations of Clifton Gunderson LLP, the nation's 13th largest public accounting firm. Rick lives in Peoria with his wife, Kara, and their two children. In addition to serving on the board of JA, currently as Chairman, Rick is a member of the Illinois CPA Society, the AICPA and has served on the Finance Committee of St. Vincent de Paul parish in Peoria.

Ed J. Scott
Corporate Treasurer

Caterpillar Inc. We are pleased to announce that Ed Scott, currently Chief Audit Officer, has been appointed Corporate Treasurer. Ed's extensive finance and treasury background across many organizations including Solar Turbines, Financial Products Division, Corporate Treasury and his current role as Chief Audit Officer make him very well qualified for this new role. Over the years, Ed has made significant contributions to the company including implementation of a very successful internal audit co-sourcing arrangement with Ernst & Young, excellent support of the Audit Committee, development of cost effective funding sources to support Cat Financial's growth and the leadership he recently provided to the Strategic Planning Committee. Ed began his career with Caterpillar Inc. as a Finance Analyst in Corporate Treasury in 1981. He held several finance positions at Caterpillar until he relocated to Santiago, Chile to become Finance Representative for the Southern South America District Office of Caterpillar Americas in 1987. He returned to Peoria in 1990 where he was Foreign Exchange Administrator in Corporate Treasury and later, Treasurer for Solar Turbines. Ed joined Cat Financial in 1996 where he held several positions including Treasurer, Vice President for Marine and Latin American retail finance operations and finally, Executive Vice President and CFO. He relocated to Peoria to assume his current duties in 2007. Ed holds a bachelor's degree in Business Administration from Marquette University and an MBA from the University of Illinois. He currently serves as Chairman of Junior Achievement of Central Illinois.

David Singley
Peoria Manufacturing Operations

Komatsu America Corporation David has worked in the Service and Contract Business Departments and was also a department representative on the ISO 9001-2000 implementation team. David also serves as an internal auditor for ISO processes. As a Classroom Consultant for Junior Achievement of Central Illinois, David has taught 1st grade curriculum at Concordia Lutheran School in Peoria, 2nd grade curriculum at Oak Grove East in Bartonville, and both 5th and 6th grade curriculum at Wilson Intermediate School in Pekin. In 2009, David’s nomination of the late Mr. R.G. LeTourneau (well regarded as the founder of modern earth-moving throughout the world) for induction into the JA Business Hall of Fame was chosen from among several nominations; LeTourneau will forever be remembered for his work which moved Central Illinois society in a better, stronger direction. Following a life-long commitment to formal education, David earned his B.S. in Applied Geography from Illinois State University and his M.B.A., with a concentration in International Business, from LeTourneau University. David also serves as Trustee on the Peoria Public Library Board. David serves as an elected officer of the Italian-American Society of Peoria; he is a Master Mason at Illinois Lodge 263, A.F. & A.M. and is a life member of the V.F.W. David and his wife Terri (Piccoli) Singley reside in Peoria and have a blended family with three children. They are active members of St. Paul Lutheran Church in Peoria, they also belong to the Heart of Illinois Chapter of Via de Cristo.

Junior Achievement Staff

Angie Spitzer-McNaught
Program Director

Junior Achievement of Central Illinois Angie joined JA in 2007 and is now the Program Director. She is responsible for recruiting and training JA Classroom Consultant volunteers and teachers; managing, evaluating, and registering JA classes; researching, writing, and implementing grants; and managing interns. Before her tenure at JA, Angie was an Adjunct Instructor of Communication at Illinois Central College in East Peoria, IL. She holds a B.A. in Speech Communication from Truman State University and an M.A. in Communication from Illinois State University. Angie is a member of the American Society for Training & Development, Heart of Illinois Chapter and is a Certified Facilitator for the Pacific Institute, 21 Keys for High Performance Teaching & Learning as well as the Study Circles Resource Center. Angie enjoys volunteering for community outreach initiatives through her church and resides in Washington, IL, with her three children.

Becky Sneller
Program Manager

Junior Achievement of Central Illinois Becky joined JA in February of 2009 as a Program Manager. She is responsible for coordinating JA classes in McLean and Logan County schools, recruiting and training new JA classroom consultants, managing the JA database, and assisting with grant writing. Becky graduated from Colorado State University with a Bachelor of Science Equine Science degree. She lives with her husband RJ, and their one son Caden, on a small horse farm in Arrowsmith, Illinois. Together they enjoy all things related to horses, traveling to Colorado and Chicago to see extended family, and being outdoors. Becky attends Wesbein United Methodist Church in Saybrook, Illinois. She also volunteers with McLean County 4-H, is a past volunteer of AmeriCorps where she served as a corps member with the Montana Conservation Corps, and is dedicated to helping others find a passion for community and national service.

Larry Timm
President

Speaker Bio

Junior Achievement of Central Illinois, Inc. Larry is privileged to serve the growing Junior Achievement (JA) family of schools, business professionals and board members. This local JA office has nearly quadrupled in classroom reach since 03-04, now reaching nearly 14,000 students each year. That growth makes JA of Central Illinois one of the fastest-growing JA offices in America, out of 130+ coast-to-coast. The local renaissance has earned this office several local and national awards, both in and out of JA circles. Larry graduated with a Bachelor of Arts Communication degree from Greenville College in 1993, and Penn State′s Developing Managerial Effectiveness class in 2006. After seven years in marketing and advertising, and running his own business as well, Larry spent three years as Peoria Christian School's Business Department Head and Director of Public Relations. It was there that he learned first-hand how valuable JA is to not only the students, but also to those from the business community. He has been with Junior Achievement since January 2004. Larry was honored to be in the inaugural class of 20 Under 40 Leaders in McLean County in 2006, and also the 2006 class of 40 Under 40 in Peoria. His active participation at Riverside Community Church includes teaching the Good $ense Financial Course to adults. He also serves on various boards including the Salvation Army Advisory Board; Larry’s wife and three boys are also active in Scouting.