DuPage Foundation was pleased to celebrate its many community volunteer leaders during a special reception held on September 19 at Naperville Country Club. Nearly 100 Foundation friends and partners joined for the gathering, which was graciously sponsored by Bill and Heather Hayes of Naperville and Tom and Lucy Hayes of Warrenville.
Among those honored were retiring Board Chair Nate Wasson of Hinsdale and retiring Trustees Gerald Lewis and Paul Miles, both of Naperville. The Foundation also welcomed a new slate of officers including Board Chair Bill Blum of Naperville, Roger McDougal of Glen Ellyn, Kevin Phillips of St. Charles, and Secretary Charles “Ted” Saul of Glen Ellyn, along with new Trustees Supriya Jasuja of Oak Brook and Jim Mark of Plainfield. Jasuja and Mark officially started their tenures earlier that day at the Foundation’s Annual Board meeting.
“We are deeply thankful to our outgoing Trustees for their outstanding service,” said Mike Sitrick, DuPage Foundation president & CEO. “The advocacy, counsel, and support of our volunteer leaders plays a vital part in our ability to deliver our grantmaking and programs efficiently and effectively throughout our community while building the Foundation’s endowment and engaging new partners in our mission. I’m extremely appreciative of all that our Board and Committee members do to advance our work and wish to personally thank Nate Wasson for his leadership these past three years. He’s got an outstanding successor in Bill Blum and I’m confident that we’ll continue our trend of increasing our impact under his tenure.”
“Nate’s advocacy for community giving and leadership on numerous Foundation initiatives has been invaluable to the Foundation’s consistent growth and increased impact,” said Blum. “I’m determined to continue the Foundation’s trajectory of success moving forward.”
“Serving on the DuPage Foundation’s Board for the last several years has been an extremely rewarding experience,” said Wasson. “I’ve grown personally and professionally as a member of this passionate, community-focused, and generous group of volunteers, and am deeply proud of what we’ve accomplished together for our community with our donors and partners. We have a tremendous new class of Trustees joining us, and I’m excited to see them continue our important work.”
About Our New Trustees
Jim Mark, AIA, LEED AP is a licensed architect and the managing director for private markets and chief strategy officer for Wight & Company. He is known throughout Chicago and its suburbs as an advocate for regional economic and community development and a champion of environmental stewardship and vital social services. He currently serves on the board of directors for the Chinese American Service League, Choose DuPage, Friends of the Chicago River, Naperville Heritage Society, and Will County Center for Economic Development. Jim and his wife Marykay have two adult children, Nicole and Benjamin.
Supriya Jasuja is an Infectious Disease Physician at Oak Street Health, who also sees patients at the Cook County CORE Center and Cook County Department of Public Health. She is a long-time volunteer of DuPage Foundation as a member of the Grant Committee, and is also a Board member of the Oak Brook Historical Society. Supriya and her husband, Ankit Shah, live in Oak Brook and have three children, all of whom are in college.
