CPA moves up the corporate ladder
CPA Jerry Murphy has spent the past 25 years working his way up at Sikich LLP in Naperville and was recently named partner-in-charge of its manufacturing and distribution practice.
He said the professional services firm has deep experience in the manufacturing and distribution industry.
"My goal is to build on that experience and give our teams the tools they need to stay on the cutting edge of industry developments," he said.
The manufacturing practice provides accounting, technology, supply chain and advisory and managed services to manufacturers, wholesale distributors and warehousing and storage companies.
"As the leader of our manufacturing and distribution vertical, Jerry will help us continue to sharpen our expertise and enhance the many services we offer clients in this industry," said Sikich CEO Chris Geier.
Murphy said business owners are optimistic about the future, but are challenged with the shortage of the skilled labor force. He added that companies are trying to bring labor back to the U.S. in an effort to be more competitive. Another industry concern is cyber security risks.
Looking ahead to his new role, Murphy says he will work to adapt to new services and to be on the forefront of all the changes in the industry.
"The pace of change is faster than ever," said Murphy, who resides in Geneva with his wife. He grew up in Oswego and knew that when he graduated from Eastern Illinois University that his is the career path he wanted to take.
He says he has enjoyed working at a growing firm and likes the diversity of the work and the clients.
One area that he sees tremendous growth is working with clients on succession planning. "With a growing number of Baby Boomers turning over their businesses, this area is really picking up," Murphy said.
While growing up, Murphy said his parents taught him the importance of a strong work ethic. "Hard work has been the cornerstone of my career."
Top ranking
In this year's Forbes magazine rankings of the country's best values in higher education, Elmhurst College placed ninth among the top 10 schools in Illinois, and in the top 13 percent of colleges and universities nationally.
The rankings highlight where prospective college students can get "the most quality for each tuition dollar spent," and whether a particular college will deliver a meaningful return on investment.
The rankings formula was based primarily on school quality, alumni midcareer earnings, student debt levels and on-time graduation success, as well as dropout risk rates and enrollment figures for Pell Grant recipients. Only 11 colleges and universities from Illinois made the list. Aside from Elmhurst, the list included the University of Chicago, Northwestern, University of Illinois (the Urbana-Champaign and Chicago campuses), Loyola, Illinois Wesleyan, DePaul, Bradley, Wheaton College and Illinois State.
Retail expansion
Next Realty in Skokie completed lease transactions for more than 46,000 square feet of space, including more than half the space previously leased by The Sports Authority, at its retail center at 7233 W. Dempster St. in Niles.
In the largest of the transactions, Big Lots, which has been a tenant of the center since 1995, more than doubled the size of its footprint at the center. Big Lots will occupy the western portion of the space previously leased by Sports Authority.
In addition, Harbor Freight Tools has executed a new lease and will occupy the space that is being vacated by Big Lots.
Harbor Freight Tools, a privately held retailer based in California, was established in 1977 as a small family-owned business. The company was formed with the commitment to provide working people with great quality tools at the lowest prices. At more than 700 locations nationwide, Harbor Freight Tools offers more than 7,000 tools and accessories.
Joining the team
NAI Hiffman in Oakbrook Terrace announced that Ted Staszak has joined the firm as senior vice president with the capital markets team.
With more than 20 years of experience in commercial real estate, including acquisitions, dispositions, partnership transfers, joint ventures, project management and development joint ventures, Staszak will partner with Pat Sullivan, senior vice president, focusing on expanding the firm's industrial capital markets platform as well enhancing full-service solutions for its clients.
Prior to joining NAI Hiffman, Staszak was an executive vice president with CBRE. Throughout his career, he has completed more than 500 investment transactions with an aggregate value in excess of $8 billion nationally with a particular expertise in Chicago, Indianapolis, Columbus and Cincinnati.
Creative award
Springboard Brand and Creative Strategy, of Arlington Heights, was honored with several health care advertising awards.
Most notably, Springboard received 12 awards from the Healthcare Marketing Report's 34th Annual Healthcare Advertising Awards and three Aster Awards for Healthcare Advertising.
Of the awards for the HMR Healthcare, Springboard received four awards for the Holy Cross Germantown "Your Very Own" campaign, including one gold award under the radio advertising series, two awards for Illinois Health and Hospital Association, two awards to North Mississippi Medical Center, one Silver award for RML Specialty Hospital under the brochure category and three awards, including one Silver award for WellStar West Georgia Medical Center. For the Aster Awards, Springboard was awarded with one gold and two silver awards.