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Lisle financial adviser fine tunes business operation

Jeffery Harper's mission is to assist in orchestrating the financial future of the clients through his business, Opus Wealth Management.

The name of the growing Lisle firm comes from the popular movie, "Mr. Holland's Opus," he explains.

"An opus is your life's work - your purpose in life," said Harper, who admits he is not musically inclined himself. "My family is very music oriented. I play the radio," he said with a laugh. His son, Kyle, works with him at the wealth management company.

The eight advisers who work at the firm are "skillfully orchestrating" the needs of the clients, from taxes to legal to retirement or education, said Harper, 57. "We pick up the baton and point to what the clients need," said Harper, a senior financial adviser and founder of the firm.

He launched his original company, Harper Wealth Management Group, on his own in 1989 in Downers Grove. Over the years, he changed the name of the company and transitioned to the current business model that he says is "solutions oriented." The company now has a fee based business model instead of the commission approach.

"We focus on low-cost institutional money management," Harper said. He believes clients have a better chance to succeed if they can reduce their costs and get better advice that is aligned with their goals.

Most of his clients are really busy and want assistance in delegating their portfolio.

He stresses that it's crucial to find an adviser who cares about what is important to you. He realizes many are hesitant about talking with an adviser. "People need to get started and develop a plan and gain some discipline," he added.

Harper believes that many people have lost focus in saving money and instead, live day to day. "They want to buy the best car, the biggest house and the newest iPhone," he said. Harper tells people to hold the line on expenses, such as dining out. He says saving is key. "We need to set aside some of the best of today to pay for tomorrow."

When Harper has free time, he enjoys spending it with his wife and three grandchildren. He also enjoys traveling and baseball. "I especially love the Chicago Cubs," he added.

New director named

Naper Settlement announced that Sheila Riley, with experience in history and children's museums, has been named director of learning experiences.

In her new role, Riley will oversee the Learning Experiences Department and nine museum educators. She most recently served as the museum manager at the Children's Discovery Museum in Normal, a division of the parks and recreation department, where she supervised more than 40 full-time and part-time employees in areas of exhibits, education, membership and development.

Riley is originally from northern Kentucky and found herself in the Midwest when she moved to Indianapolis to start her Ph.D. in American Studies and Folklore, with an emphasis in Material Culture at Indiana University. She worked as the director of collections at The Children's Museum of Indianapolis for 10 years, where she directed all aspects of collections management, curation, conservation and archives for over 120,000 artifacts and specimens. Riley has her master's degree in Folk Studies with an emphasis in Oral History and Material Culture from Western Kentucky University. Naper Settlement is a nationally accredited, award-winning outdoor museum set on 12 magnificent acres in the heart of Naperville, where history comes to play and community comes to connect.

Project picks up speed

After a slowdown, construction is picking back up to revitalize a large senior living project on Irving Park Road in Wood Dale.

The project, which is about half done, is back on track at full strength, said Rick Lynn, an associate with Oak Brook-based Marcus & Millichap, the brokerage company that brought in the construction loan to finish the project.

The project, expected to be complete this spring, includes 147 units, 104 of those designated to assisted living and another 43 for memory care. The project, valued at more than $30 million, is taking place at 276 E. Irving Park Road on 2.79 acres.

Randall Residence was named the new operator of the senior living facility. The Lawton, Michigan-based company runs assisted living facilities in Ohio, Michigan and southern Illinois.

"This is the first one for them in the Chicago market," Lynn said.

Packaging company

Brown Commercial Group, based in Elk Grove Village, represented Korpack in moving its company headquarters to a 56,269-square-foot location in Bloomingdale and subleasing its original 18,252-square-foot headquarters in Bartlett.

Korpack is a single-source supplier of standard and custom packaging as well as packaging machinery and automation solutions. Dan Brown, Brown commercial group president had represented the company in the Bartlett lease, and also found the new industrial space, which is almost three times larger, at 290 Madsen Drive, Suite 101, in Bloomingdale.

The previous headquarters was at 1232 Hardt Circle in Bartlett.

Moon shot

NorthShore University HealthSystem hosted a 'moon shot' ribbon cutting to celebrate the opening of its new primary care office for its Lake Forest Medical Group.

Taking on a big challenge is often heralded as a 'moon shot.' Captain James Lovell, a former NASA astronaut who was part of the crew that worked on the Apollo moon shot missions, owned the property prior to NorthShore. He ran a restaurant there for 16 years. Mark Neaman, NorthShore president and CEO, and Lovell joined in celebrating the opening of the offices at 915 S. Waukegan Road, Lake Forest.

Let's talk baseball

National Baseball Hall of Famer Ferguson "Fergie" Jenkins will speak at 7 p.m. Nov. 17 at Goodwin Hall Auditorium at Benedictine University, Lisle. This "BenU Presents: An Evening with" event is open to the public. Tickets are $20 for general admission and $35 for the presentation and a meet and greet.

Jenkins originally signed with the Philadelphia Phillies in 1962, but didn't find success until the Chicago Cubs converted him into a starting pitcher in 1967. In his first year, Jenkins posted 20 wins and a sparkling 2.80 ERA with 236 strikeouts. Jenkins won 20 or more games each year from 1967-72, striking out more than 200 in every season and averaging 314 innings pitches.

His best single-game performance came in the 1967 All-Star Game. He stuck out six of the top sluggers in American League: Harmon Killebrew, Tony Conigliaro, Mickey Mantle, Jim Fregosi, Rod Carew and Tony Oliva. In 1971, Jenkins became the first Cubs pitcher and the first Canadian to ever win the National League Cy Young Award. He completed 30 of 29 starts, finished 24-13, and walked only 37 batters while striking out 263 in 325 innings.

Jenkins was traded to the Texas Rangers following the 1973 season, and the next year he had a career-high 25 wins and became the first baseball player to win the Lou Marsh Trophy, an award given to Canada's top athlete. His 25 wins remain a club record.

He was inducted into the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame in 1987.

The right-hander is one of only four pitchers in major league history to record more than 3,000 strikeouts with fewer than 1,000 walks. He was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1991.

Visit www.ben.edu/speakers to purchase tickets. For more information, contact Nicole Placek at nplacek@ben.edu or (630) 829-6406.

Korpack in moving its company headquarters to a 56,269-square-foot location in Bloomingdale.
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