It has been a priceless personal gift for me and my WBC colleagues to participate in this great Chicago renaissance led by Mayor Daley, our chairman. While the extraordinarily innovative and multi-tasking WBC team will continue to follow the Mayor to the global mountain top, I have decided to add a new leg to my career.

Read More

Founder Paul O’Connor Says Goodbye and Thanks

It has been a priceless personal gift for me and my WBC colleagues to participate in this great Chicago renaissance led by Mayor Daley, our chairman.

While the extraordinarily innovative and multi-tasking WBC team will continue to follow the Mayor to the global mountain top, I have decided to add a new leg to my career.

Although I don't know yet what the next step of my (creative) career will be, I do intend to leave this position by September 1.

We began this start-up as The Chicago Partnership for Economic Development with a business leadership breakfast in Mayor Daley’s office on September 9, 1999. A year later we merged with a regional international-business development organization created a few years before us by the Civic Committee of the Commercial Club of Chicago,… and took their better name.

It was a while before we overcame “organ rejection” by our government partners, but three things secured the tight bond of our long working relationship: the Mayor’s unwavering support, our proving we brought something valuable and new to the table, and the Boeing relocation – that happily marked us for life with a big exclamation point.

WBC has always gotten too much credit for Boeing, when we were just the Chicago point guard of a championship statewide and citywide all-in effort. We have worked with hundreds of companies – multi-national and start-up – helping to create and retain 70,000 paychecks, an increasingly strong metropolitan economy, and the precious intangible asset of a business-friendly environment.

Job One has always been to grow our own existing companies, even as we have worked with pro bono partners to improve the national and worldwide image and awareness of this peerless community that has always had only one strategic intent – to design and build the world’s greatest city.

It is a unique honor to have added my voice to the roll call of “windy” Chicago boosters, and to have lived out a pale imitation of my mom’s and dad’s passionate love of this City. It has been a great run, the successes of which were made possible by thousands of fellow city builders.

Tanx.

—Paul

Paul O'Connor
Executive Director
World Business Chicago
poconnor@worldbusinesschicago.com

                                                                                                                                                                PAGE UP 

Chicago Companies Build Employee Skills
WorkforceChicago2.0 Leads Effort to Bolster Chicago’s Talent Pool

As the global economy continues to grow, employers across the U.S. are becoming increasingly aware of the importance of educating and building skills within their workforces.  Chicago has been ahead of the curve in encouraging its corporate community to commit to employee learning and development, since the creation of WorkforceChicago2.0 in 2000. 

“Nothing is more important to our economic future than the quality of our workforce… If we are going to remain competitive in a global economy, our people are going to have to work harder and more creatively,” said Mayor Richard M. Daley.

In nearly seven years of existence, WorkforceChicago2.0 has positioned the Chicagoland region as one of the top talent pools, while building a regional commitment to employee learning and development. The group is led by a board of business leaders and CEOs of major Chicagoland employers including; BlueCross BlueShield of Illinois, IBM Corporation, U.S. Cellular, Hartman Publishing Group, Ltd. and Eli’s Cheesecake. 

The group has served as a model for other cities interested in reaching out to employers and building talent pools in similar ways. In 2004, WorkforcePhiladelphia2.0 was developed based on the efforts of WorkforceChicago2.0. Additionally, St. Louis successfully launched WorkforceStLouis2.0 in 2005, positively impacting that region as a result of the Chicago model.

This month, business and government leaders came together to honor two companies that have shown exemplary practice in employee learning and development. Mayor Daley presented Advocate Health Care and Deloitte & Touche USA LLP with the annual WorkforceChicago2.0 Exemplary Practices Award at a breakfast event on June 6.

“We applaud the winners for showing that investing in the workforce has major benefits for the long-term financial health of companies and our communities. It’s a smart and essential business practice that works,” the Mayor said at the breakfast.

Deb DeHass, Vice Chairman and Midwest Regional Partner for Deloitte & Touche noted how the expanding need for knowledge workers has created a “war for talent” that is only going to get worse.

Additionally, President and CEO of Advocate Health Care, Jim Skogsbergh explained how retaining talent by providing more career advancement opportunities and increasing job satisfaction is a solution to the impending skilled labor shortage.

In addition to the Awards, Workforce2.0 sponsors efforts to educate businesses about the importance of learning and development throughout the year. The group is also working to forge stronger relationships between business and higher education as the Chicago region faces a growing need to support and re-skill its current workforce. 

Throughout its existence in Chicago, WorkforceChicago2.0 has disseminated thousands of copies of exemplary practice case studies, reached more than 500 companies through speeches, presentations and forums, made presentations to countless companies and organizations and influenced Illinois legislation for lifelong learning. The group has continued plans for recognizing, sharing and promoting exemplary learning strategies. 

WorkforceChicago2.0 was developed by the Council for Adult and Experimental Learning (CAEL) in collaboration with the Human Resources Management Association of Chicago (HRMAC) and World Business Chicago. 

The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation provided the initial support for WorkforceChicago2.0, which has been endorsed by the Metropolitan Mayors Caucus, the Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce, the Chicago Workforce Board, and the Mayor’s Office of Workforce Development.

For more information visit WorkforceChicago2.0 online.

                                                                                                                                                                PAGE UP 

International Visitors Center of Chicago

The International Visitors Center of Chicago, or IVCC, is a non-profit, membership-based organization that since 1952 has helped promote the City of Chicago as an important international center for culture, commerce, and tourism. It acts as a liaison between an estimated 800 international visitors and their Chicago-area counterparts each year.

The organization consists of three major components: the International Visitor Leadership Program, Community Connections, and the Fulbright Visiting Scholar Enrichment Program. The International Visitor Leadership Program allows approximately 700 foreign participants each year to meet with their professional counterparts in Chicago.

IVCC Community Connections promote intensive professional, business, and cultural exchanges for one-to-four-week programs. Finally, the Fulbright Visiting Scholar Enrichment Program permits foreign post-doctoral participants to teach at universities throughout the Midwest about their experiences with American culture.

In recent months, the IVCC has launched numerous programs that deal largely with Middle-Eastern and Arabic nations, in an attempt to create beneficial links across the sometimes hostile relations among the United States and Islamic countries. The organization is currently host to eight women from the Middle East and North Africa who are interning at some of the top corporations and law firms in Chicago while learning about and earning greater respect for the customs, religions, and everyday practices of  the American way of life. 

For more information visit the IVCC online.

—Patrick Cooney
Communications Assistant
World Business Chicago

                                                                                                                                                                PAGE UP