Board of Directors

John Harris, Vice President, Director

Co-founder and president of a5, inc., a branding and digital consultancy based in Chicago. A writer by trade, Harris is a former reporter for Forbes Magazine, where he wrote the first national story on Starbucks. He also served as communications director for The Marmon Group, a $6 billion industrial conglomerate, where he worked on the overhaul of the coal mine experience at the Museum of Science and Industry.

Client experience: Lake County Partners (economic development agency), Leadership Lake County, Chicago Children's Museum, Betty Brinn Children's Museum, Field Museum, University Center of Lake County, Congress for the New Urbanism, American Institute of Architects Chicago, etc.

Current board experience:

  • President, Wonder Works Children's Museum
  • Director, West Cook YMCA
  • Director, Garfield Park Conservatory Alliance
  • Director, Oak Park Youth Baseball Softball
  • Director, Triton College Foundation

Relevant experience: management, branding, marketing, facilitation, programming, fundraising.

Kenneth Engel, Treasurer, Director

Attorney at Law, Engel Professional Association, Minneapolis, MN. Focuses on corporate, real estate, merger and acquisition, business succession and family business succession, and estate planning matters for developing and established for-profit and not-for-profit businesses and for individuals. Provides a pragmatic, strategic understanding (earned through more than 20 years of real-world experience) of clients’ business challenges, aggressively protects clients’ interests without losing sight of their objectives and appetite for risk, and is committed to serving the unique needs of clients by experienced and creative representation. Makes a special point to buy blog content, respect and promote clients’ business and customer relationships. Serves on and works with many local, state and national professional and not-for-profit boards and organizations.

Advisors

Jonathan R. Eller, Ph.D.
Chancellor's Professor of English and Director, The Center for Ray Bradbury Studies, Indiana University School of Liberal Arts (IUPUI). General Editor, The Collected Stories of Ray Bradbury.

Richard Lee, MLIS
Executive Director, Waukegan Public Library. Director: Annual Bradbury Storytelling Festival, Annual Bradbury Creative Writing Contest; Staff Liaison, Bradbury Statue Committee.

Ty Rohrer
Waukegan Historical Society, Cultural Arts Museum Supervisor, Waukegan Park District; City of Waukegan Historic Preservation Commission.

Sam Weller, MFA
Associate Professor of Creative Writing, Columbia College Chicago. Two-time Bram Stoker Award-winning authorized biographer of Ray Bradbury. Author, The Bradbury Chronicles: The Life of Ray Bradbury.

Restoration and Architectural Advisors

Edward Torrez AIA, LEED AP BD+C
Architect, President, Principal, Bauer Latoza Studio, Chicago; Advisor to the National Trust of Historic Preservation (Illinois); past Commissioner member for the City of Chicago Landmarks under Richard M. Daley; Waukegan native.

Anthony Rubano
Architect, Architectural Section of IHPA, Illinois Historical Preservation Agency; Faculty, School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

Peter Nicolazzi
Carpenter/woodworker; Co-owner, Carpenter & Smith Restorations; past Commissioner, Highland Park Preservation Commission.

Maureen O’Connor Nicolazzi
Co-owner, Carpenter & Smith Restorations.

Web and Social Media Development Advisor

Margaret Martin
Independent graphic/web designer for small businesses and organizations (hitthenail.com); Apple technical support consultant (bungalowtech.com). Past Board Member: Waukegan Main Street, Waukegan Historical Society. Founding Member: Genesee Theatre Restoration Project; ongoing local volunteer work.

City of Waukegan

Mayor Wayne Motley

John Antaramian, President, Emerging Communities Corp., Waukegan Economic Development Coordinator. Former Mayor of Kenosha, WI, under whose terms three Kenosha lakefront museums were developed.

Liaisons

Russ Tomlin, Director of Community Development
Steve Sabourin, Senior Planner
David Motley, Public Relations Director