Oakton Board Elects New Leadership, Seats New Student Trustee
(April 24, 2019) The Oakton Community College Board of Trustees elected new Board Chair Benjamin Salzberg (Northbrook), Vice Chair Martha Burns (Evanston) and Secretary Paul Kotowski (Niles) at its meeting on Tuesday, April 23. The college also installed newly elected trustees Gail Bush, Marie Lynn Toussaint and Wendy B. Yanow, each serving a six-year term, and welcomed its newly-elected student trustee Adisa Ozegovic (Skokie), who will serve for the next year.
Chair Salzberg succeeds Des Plaines resident Joan DiLeonardi, who did not seek a fourth term on the board after 18 years of service. Elected to the Board in 2015, Salzberg served as vice chair in 2018-19 and secretary the year before. His professional expertise involves increasing the efficiency of company operations to achieve increased economic gains. Presently, he is the senior partner of Process Through Design, a company that improves the overall efficiencies of businesses.
Salzberg began his education at Oakton and earned an associate degree in engineering from the college. He earned a bachelor’s degree in engineering from the University of Illinois, a master of business administration degree from Illinois Institute of Technology and a master’s degree in education from National Louis University. He is a state-certified teacher and is licensed by the Illinois State Board of Education.
Bush, Toussaint and Yanow are Evanston residents. Bush served as faculty at Maine Township District 207 for 10 years and has held dual faculty and administration positions at Dominican University and National Louis University. She holds a doctorate degree in educational psychology from Loyola University Chicago and master’s degree in library science and bachelor’s degree in anthropology from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Toussaint is a licensed attorney, co-founder of Haitian American Lawyers Association and president of the Haitian Congress to Fortify Haiti. She earned her bachelor’s degree from University of Illinois Chicago; paralegal certificate from Roosevelt University and Juris Doctorate from the John Marshall Law School.
Yanow, an associate of Adult Learning Unleashed (ALU) Consulting, has been an adult education practitioner for more than 25 years. She has served as a senior consultant for higher education at the Council for Adult and Continuing Education as well as adjunct and visiting faculty at Loyola University Chicago, DePaul University and National Lewis University. She spent 12 years as a curriculum manager at DeVry University. Yanow earned a master’s and a doctoral degree in adult education at National Louis after earning a bachelor’s degree in liberal arts (music) from UIC.
Ozegovic, a 2018 graduate of Niles West High School, replaces John Timperley (Park Ridge) as student trustee. The freshman has been active in the college’s Phi Theta Kappa honor society and works as a reporter at the Oakton OCCurrence student newspaper. She plans to study journalism after completing her general education requirements at Oakton.
Oakton Vice President for Administrative Affairs Edwin Chandrasekar was reappointed as treasurer to serve at the pleasure of the board.
