New Abilities Center president praised for team-building skills
Dec 11, 2007 @ 12:00 PM
By Thomas V. Bona
BUSINESSROCKFORD.COM STAFF REPORTS
After a nationwide search for a new president, Abilities Center found its leader right here.
Sam Schmitz, former executive director of the Employers’ Coalition on Health and Rockford city administrator, starts Jan. 7. He succeeds Jon Lundin, who died in May.
“My career working for the city obviously had a certain amount of social conscience to it and I want to be able to make a difference,” he said this morning. He said he wanted to continue Lundin’s stated goal of “helping people in a meaningful and sustainable way.”
Abilities Center, 1907 Kishwaukee St., is a nonprofit organization that provides education, employment and business-development opportunities to more than 1,000 clients a year. The center employs about 200 people at several locations, including the Goodwill stores it runs, and focuses on helping people make a living wage.
The search committee spent several months pouring over hundreds of resumes and interviewing candidates, said Marty Glass, chairman of the board of directors.
Glass said the committee was impressed with Schmitz’s work with ECOH, a network that negotiates hospital costs for local employers. He worked with 165 local employers and brought information and research from around the country to the network.
Glass commended Schmitz’s local connections and ability to bring “best practices” from other organizations to improve the local group. He said Schmitz’s team-building skills will help Abilities Center.
“Anyone who has those skills can succeed anywhere,” Glass said.
No sweeping changes are planned. For his first few months, Schmitz will talk to board members, employees and community leaders and learn about what Abilities Center and how it can fill local needs. He said he’s excited about the possibility of expanding the Goodwill retail operation to fund programs.
Schmitz was executive director of ECOH since 1998. Before that, he was city administrator for about 10 years and worked in other city roles for the previous 10 years.