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 Jerry Paris-Chairman
Jerry Paris, President of MW Automotive Enterprises, Inc., graduated from the
University of
Illinois in 1968 with a B.S. in Economics. Jerry went on to graduate study at
DePaul
University in
Chicago . Jerry began his financial career with the Federal Reserve Bank of
Chicago in the early 1970’s. In 1976, Jerry relocated to Rockford, Illinois to open several Midas Auto Repair Centers in Illinois, Wisconsin, California and
Tennessee.
Jerry retired from the U.S. Army Reserves as a Lieutenant after eight years of service and is active in numerous civic and charitable organizations. In most cases, Jerry served in leadership roles within these organizations.
Jerry is also the Chairman of the Rockford Illinois Chapter of Partnership for Cures. Jerry is married to Connie and has two grown children, Rachel and Brad.
 Margaret A. Christie, JD
Margaret A. Christie, JD is a partner with the law firm of Golan & Christie. Prior to her affiliation with Golan & Christie, she spent a number of years working at large law firms, including Rudnick & Wolfe (now, Piper Rudnick), where she was a partner and which she left to start her own firm. As her work expanded, she merged her practice with several other firms until joining Field & Golan in 1995. Her areas of practice include Commercial Real Estate, Financing and General Business Law.
Ms. Christie is a graduate of
Ohio
Wesleyan
University (B.A., Economics, summa cum laude) and Northwestern University School of Law, where Ms. Christie served as Executive Editor of the Law Review. She is a member of the American Bar Association, the Illinois State Bar Association and Commercial Real Estate Women.
Ms. Christie is married to Gene Zelek, a partner at the law firm of Freeborn & Peters. Margaret and Gene share their home with two pugs, and in her free time, she enjoys gardening. Margaret has been interested in medical research for many years as a result, in part, of having been a primary care giver for a family member experiencing a serious illness for which there were limited medical treatments.
Margie's legal expertise and problem solving abilities will assist us in creating the partnerships that will leverage the best of business, philanthropy and caring individuals.
 Neil M. Hirsch
Before Neil Hirsch became the head of group purchasing for IHRSA he graduated with honors from Tulane University with a major in Economics. He then continued on to New York University, to pursue his MBA, where he graduated first in his class and was elected to the National Retail Honor Society. Neil’s mastery of business has lead him down many paths including positions at Pro Shop Marketing, Affinity Marketing as well as the Vice President of Women’s Clothing Operations for Hirsch Clothing. Currently Neil serves as a speaker on merchandising at MITA meetings and for special classes at Michigan State University and Northwestern University, in addition to the Tennis Show and the Supershow on Merchandising. Neil is the chair of the Judy Hirsch Fund for Lung Cancer Research in memory of his wife Judy, who lost her battle a couple of years ago. Neil will lend PFC his no-nonsense marketing expertise and his passion to find cures.
 Robert Miller
Robert Miller founded Millco Investments in 1999 and is involved in all aspects of the company including, brokerage, investments, client relations, financing and property management. From 1994-1998 Robert was Vice President of David Kaufman & Company, a national real estate brokerage and auction firm.
Robert was named Retail Real Estate Investment Sales Broker of the Year in 2004 by the Chicago Commercial Real Estate Council (a division of the Chicago Association of Realtors®) and named among the top 10 producing real estate brokers in the greater Chicago area by CoStar®. Bobby has completed in excess of $580 million in real estate transactions during his 11+ years of experience in the real estate brokerage and investment marketplace.
Mr. Miller frequently consults to investors, banks, REITTS, Insurance Companies, attorneys and accountants. Some of Millco's existing and previous clientele include, JP Morgan-Chase/Bank One, Angelo Gordon & Company, Captec Financial and Fidelity Investments.
Robert is a licensed real estate broker in the State of Illinois. He received his BA from the University of Wisconsin Madison, in 1990. Robert supports numerous charities, including Juvenile Diabetes, JUF, Susan Komen Breast Cancer, and GIRF and is a board member Partnership for Cures.
 Michael L. Lucas
Michael Lucas brings Partnership for Cures 20 years of experience in capital markets, investment management, and business start-ups. Mr. Lucas is currently a principal with Leading Edge Investment Advisors, and his last business experience spans institutional financial experience at Northern Trust Global Investments, as Vice President of Institutional Sales, where he was responsible for developing business opportunities for emerging and minority-owned manager programs, and selling a range of passive and actively managed equity and fixed income investment products.
Prior to that he was with TEKchand LLC, as Director of Business Development and Chief Operating Officer where he was responsible for client and partnership development, and the securing of venture capital. Before TEKchand, Michael co-founder and served as President of Trias Capital Management, an entrepreneurial fixed income investment advisor recognized as one of the Top Ten Fastest Growing Investment Managers by Pensions & Investments in 1993.
Earlier in his business career, Michael was at Wedgewood Capital Management, Portfolio Manager of The Atlanta Growth Fund, a NASDAQ-listed mutual fund marketing the firm’s fixed income management investment capabilities to institutional investors, and before that at Mellon Bank,as marketer for the fixed income securities to institutional clients domestically and internationally.
Michael earned his degree from Cornell University, B.S. in Economics, and serves as an Advisory Council member for the Cornell University Entrepreneurship and Personal Enterprise Program, connecting the resources of entrepreneurial alumni with the spirit, creativity, and drive of entrepreneurial students. Michael is married to Deirdra Lucas, and they have a lovely daughter, Perri. He holds NASD Series 7, 63, and 65 licenses.
Michael's worldwide connections and entrepreneurial achievements will help PFC produce even greater value in the venture philanthropy community.
 Peter B. Kupfeberg
Peter B. Kupferberg is a principal of Gofen and Glossberg and has been with the firm since 1992. He received a B.A. degree from Grinnell College and a Master’s of Business Administration degree from the University of Chicago. Mr. Kupferberg has served on boards of many not-for-profit organizations, including the Council for Jewish Elderly, Hillel/CAYS, the Mary Meyer School and the Standard Club. He currently serves on the board of the Jewish Council on Urban Affairs and is chairman of the financial division of the Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Chicago.
 Ann Slaw
Ann, a mother of a child with a rare, orphan disease, Familial Dysautonomia, witnessed the curative power of the naturally available substances, tocotrienols and EGCG, and nutrition therapy to reduce the triggers for FD crises. “Andrew is a poster child for Partnerships for Cures and the Two Years to Cures Initiative. Once Andrew started taking a form of vitamin E and EGCG and then modified his diet, his overall health improved dramatically.”
Ann graduated from the
University of
Illinois with honors in psychology and received her JD from
Loyola
University. She practiced at Protection and Advocacy, Inc., advocating for the rights of persons with developmental disabilities. She then was a Program Planning Attorney at the Illinois Institute for Continuing Legal Education (IICLE) and then the Seminar Division Director at CLE Group, Inc., working with interactive technology as a training tool. She served as an Administrative Law Judge at the Illinois Department of Employment Compensation and was then elected as school board member for Kildeer Countryside Community Consolidated School District 96. She is both a co-founder of “Special Kids, Special Families” and the FD Hope Foundation.
Ann founded and is the Chair of the FD NOW fund at PFC because she knows that there are additional treatments that will enhance the lives of those with FD, in two years or less, and that these breakthroughs can then be applied to other orphan and genetic diseases.
 Mark L. Kosiek
Mark Kosiek is a Managing Director and Chicago Office Head for the PrivateBank and Trust Company. He has been with the Bank since 1996. Prior to that from 1980-1995, Mark was with First National Bank of Chicago where he managed their private banking and residential mortgage businesses.
Mark has more than 27-years experience in the Chicago banking industry; with a focus on Private Banking and Wealth Management. He also has and extensive background in all aspects of Commercial Banking, Commercial and Residential real estate lending and client relationship management.
Mark is a graduate of St. John's University in Minnesota and received is Masters in Banking from the University of Washington in Seattle. He is actively involved in several community and not-for-profit organizations including; St. John's University Alumni Board, St. James Parish in Arlington Heights, Accion Chicago, The Chicago Theological Seminary Visiting Committee, and is also a Director with the Chicago Chapter of The Entrepreneurship Institute.
Mark and his wife, Joan ( who is a 27-year Medical Technologist with Specialty Designations in Hematology and Molecular Diagnostics) reside in Arlington Heights and have two sons, Patrick and Peter.
 Kevin R. Krantz
Kevin R. Krantz concentrates his practice in advising businesses and their shareholders, directors and officers in a broad range of legal issues, including litigation matters. Mr. Krantz serves as general corporate counsel to numerous corporations in the printing, distribution, manufacturing, medical equipment, and real estate industries. Additionally, Mr. Krantz represents lenders in secured financing transactions.
Mr. Krantz has extensive experience in mergers and acquisitions, financing, business turn-around, employment issues, real estate transactions, advising family owned businesses and business litigation and appeals.
As part of his practice, Mr. Krantz has represented numerous clients in transactional matters and litigation. Mr. Krantz is counsel of record in several reported cases, including, Wolf v. Buss America Inc., 77 F.3d 914, 519 U.S. 866 (1996); LaBate v. Data Forms, Inc., 682 N.E.2d 91 (1997); and Hartmann v. Capitol Bank & Trust, 694 N.E.2d 1108 (1998); 817 N.E.2d 913 (2004).
Mr. Krantz has been in private practice since 1991. Formerly, Mr. Krantz was a partner with Darnall, Polachek & Krantz in Addison, Illinois and with Kessler, Krantz & Christensen in
Chicago, Illinois . Prior to his becoming an attorney, Mr. Krantz was an operations manager for Hallmark Jewelry Manufacturing Co., a division of Katy Industries, in Chicago, Illinois.
Memberships:
American Bar Association Section on Business Law
Chicago Bar Association
Standard Club of
Chicago
.jpg) Steven Goldsher
Steve Goldsher was most recently Vice President of Business and Game Operations for the WNBA Chicago Sky. Steve’s path to the Sky began in sixth grade, when he met future Chicago Sky owner Michael Alter. Years later, Goldsher attended Alter’s press conference announcing the team and he was hooked. He was the team’s second employee, responsible for finance and game operations, eventually adding sales and ticket ops. After completing his two year stint with the Sky, Steve left to continue managing the graphics consulting company he started in 2002. Goldsher began his 20-year career working for a local accounting firm, and in 1986 was hired by one of his consulting clients, a graphics company. He became part-owner and CFO and grew the company to a group of 12 companies. He was named CEO of the $60 million company, called The Enteron Group, in 1996. A Chicago native, he now resides in
Northbrook with his wife and three children.
 George Goldman, Chair Emeritus
Mr. Goldman provided the guiding vision for the Partnership for Cures.
George is the Founder, Chairman of the Board, and Chief Executive Officer of Goldman & Co., an Illinois based merchant banking firm and Asset Partners, Inc., its associated real estate investment corporation. He has a 40-year history in investments, having owned and operated millions of dollars worth of real estate, publishing, and manufacturing companies. He has developed a national reputation for consulting on diverse financing and acquisition strategies.
George has organized equity for more than 200 projects with values in excess of $200 million. Primary emphasis has been on the acquisition of manufactured home communities and real estate sale/leasebacks. Non-real estate investment activities have included the acquisition of WOODALL, the mobile home park/campground industry’s foremost publishing company,and two manufacturing companies.
Four of the major programs that George initiated involved McDonalds, Consolidated Foods (Sara Lee), Children’s World Learning Centers and ITT Educational Institute. All were projects George personally developed with senior corporate financial management to achieve their specific strategic needs. These programs involved Goldman’s acquisition of dozens of corporate real estate properties with structures that he helped evolve and then supported for many years.
Today, George specializes in evolving new investments and utilizing his creative problem solving talents to finance difficult projects.
In 1999, George and Judy Goldman became highly committed to finding cures for catastrophic diseases. They provided $5 million of initial funding to start Goldman Philanthropic Partnerships, a 501(c)(3) charitable Private Operating Foundation which finds and funds out-of-the-ordinary catastrophic disease research, with particular emphasis on blood and bone marrow cancers. In 2005 another charitable foundation was spawned – Partnership For Cures – a Public Charity with a Two-Years-To-Cures mission.
George was senior partner in three public accounting firms, which he founded between 1959 and 1969. He was also the founder of two courses on real estate investment and business management for Harper College, Palatine IL. George has conducted national seminars for the Manufactured Housing Institute, National Association of Home Builders, Illinois Manufacturers Association, American Medical Association and many other professional organizations. He has written articles for numerous publications including, Independent Banker, The International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans, The Journal of Property Management, and the Institute of Real Estate Management (National Association of Realtors)
 Judith Goldman, Board Emeritus
Judith A. Goldman is Vice President of both Goldman & Co. and Asset Partners, Inc., responsible for investor relations. During her 40-year active involvement in the family businesses and investments, she has managed much of the accounting activities as well as property management oversight.
After being diagnosed with multiple myeloma in 1990, Judy participated in a two year clinical trial headed by the Mayo Clinic that involved an extensive chemotherapy regimen comprised of five different drugs administered both intravenously and in pill form. Following an exhaustive two-year treatment with many side effects, her physicians determined that her treatment was successful and that her disease was in remission. Now, Judy has dedicated herself to reaching out to those with cancer through a number of advocacy efforts and support groups. She has been a voice for multiple myeloma patients through her testimony on Capitol Hill and through
Illinois events such as Cancer Survivors Day. Judy also has been instrumental in working with the International Myeloma Foundation ("IMF") by founding the Midwest Action Committee ("MAC"), a regional representative of the IMF, committed to multiple myeloma patient education and support. MAC sponsors public education campaigns designed to describe the impact of multiple myeloma on patients, identify treatment options, and validate the important role that physicians must play in this cancer's management. She also continues to play a critical role in four patient groups and publishes a monthly newsletter distributed to over 300 myeloma patients, doctors and nurses. She personally maintains a hotline for newly diagnosed patients. She also has been active in several advocacy organizations.
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70 West Madison Street, Suite 1500