On behalf of the more than 75,000 residents of the Village of Arlington Heights, I welcome you to one of the most dynamic communities in Illinois. Just a quick train ride from the Chicago Loop, Arlington Heights offers residents convenient access to the amenities of a large city, while living in a community boasting quaint neighborhoods, an active lifestyle, dynamic shopping, dining and entertainment, with top-rated schools, library and park district.

The village prides itself on offering an outstanding quality of life for its residents. Arlington Heights offers a variety of housing options, from affordable to upscale, in an array of pleasant single-family homes, townhomes, condominiums and apartments.

Offices and business parks offer diverse employment potential as well as positive and welcoming business environments. In 2019, I was proud to accept the U.S. Conference of Mayors Partner America Small Business Advocate Award recognizing Arlington Heights as one of only two communities in the country to receive  the award last year for creating an environment for businesses to grow and prosper.

Reflective of the award, over 58 new businesses started up or relocated into the community, bringing 328 jobs and re-occupying more than 360,000 square feet of formerly vacant space. We encourage all businesses to work with village staff and the Chamber of Commerce to help their businesses achieve great success.

We are continuing to make our community even better by focusing on potential development in certain areas and beautification enhancements on key corridor areas throughout the village. We plan to continue being a leader in the northwest suburbs regarding employment potential and creating a welcoming and exciting business environment.

The village leaders look forward to continued positive growth while retaining existing businesses and attracting new ones. Our partnership with the Chamber of Commerce is critical to helping Arlington Heights thrive.

Experience all that Arlington Heights offers residents and businesses alike. You will not be disappointed.

Thomas W. Hayes, Mayor
Village of Arlington Heights

In 2020, the village government team is looking to build upon its strong partnership with the business community. Arlington Heights has continued the economic growth that has made it the premier community of Northwest Suburban Chicago. While Arlington Heights is known for being home to some of the best schools and neighborhoods in Chicagoland, it also attracted 58 new businesses in 2019, creating 328 new jobs, while filling over 360,000 square feet of vacant space.

Our vibrant downtown continues as the go-to entertainment, nightlife, and restaurant destination in our region adding several new and expanded venues. The village is also looking to increase investment along the south corridor with several developments currently being planned.

Arlington Heights is a community that is rightfully proud of who it is, with high expectations of continued success in the future. The village is devoted to offering exceptional service to our citizens and businesses. We look forward to another exciting and productive year!

Randall R. Recklaus
Village Manager of Arlington Heights

The role of the Arlington Heights Chamber of Commerce continues to evolve, however the foundation of being influential in the economic development of the village has stayed consistent. Whether working to retain existing businesses through business counseling, consulting, promotion, or advocacy to the recruitment of businesses through collaboration with commercial property owners, franchise agencies or being a business accelerator when working with local government agencies, the Arlington Heights Chamber continues its foundational mission.

Keeping Businesses Here
As an insider’s look into our business community, this guide offers consumers the ability to identify businesses who are community investors. This means they are not just here to make a profit, they invest back into the community through the Chamber resources that helps the overall community. By consumers supporting these businesses, they provide the resources needed to stay profitable and competitive with businesses in surrounding communities. Where you spend your money does directly impact your community.

Bringing in New Businesses
The Arlington Heights Chamber is proactive in economic development. Because of this, we are bringing in potential business owners and investors who have become more interested in the community and connecting them with commercial owners who are more strategic with what businesses will be most successful in their given space. If you know of a business in other communities that you would like to see come to Arlington Heights, give me a call or drop me an email. We will do our best to connect with them.

Providing What Consumers Need & Want
The Arlington Heights Chamber is your chamber, working on your behalf to be an advocate for a healthy community. We provide you with the connections to businesses and organizations who make Arlington Heights a great village. We provide you the opportunities to engage in community events, social gatherings, and resources to help you enjoy all Arlington Heights has to offer.

Become an Arlington Heights Insider with announcements of new businesses in town, information about upcoming community events, and exclusive deals and promotions from Arlington Heights Chamber member businesses! Visit www.Arlingtonhcc.com
and register today.

Jon S. Ridler
Executive Director
Arlington Heights Chamber of Commerce

Businesses that provide cutting-edge products and services to residents and other neighboring businesses transfer their success to their community. Having exciting, successful businesses in our community draws consumers to Arlington Heights, which, in turn, makes the community more attractive to others looking to expand or open new businesses.

Business of the Year
New businesses generally take some time to gain steam and make an impact on a community. But that has not been the case with @properties, a real estate firm that opened an Arlington Heights office in July 2018. It has blasted out of the gate and continued to gallop (to use Arlington Park terminology).

In its first full year, @properties’ 120 Arlington Heights-based agents did $135 million in sales in Arlington Heights alone and interacted with 332 local buyers, earning more market share than any competing firm.

“Previously, I was the managing broker for the Arlington Heights office of Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage and when I decided to move to @properties, many of my top agents followed me,” said Stephanie Szigetvari, vice president of Brokerage Services. “@properties focuses on the customer experience by offering top-notch marketing and innovative technology to agents. But, in the end, they stay because of the office culture. They feel respected and it is a fun place to work.”

@properties was founded in Chicago in 2000 by two former real estate agents and it has been growing ever since. In fact, it is currently rated the No. 1 brokerage in the Chicago area with 2800 agents in 32 offices.

“When we won this award from the Arlington Heights Chamber, we felt both honored and surprised,” Szigetvari said. “The other nominees have been around for a while so it was overwhelming to be recognized at this early stage of the game.”

Business Leader of the Year
Until five years ago, Colin Gilbert was a successful real estate attorney who happened to enjoy wine. Then he had the opportunity to purchase the very successful Tuscan Market and Wine Shop in Arlington Heights from its retiring founder and, now, five years later he has been named “Business Leader of the Year” by the Arlington Heights Chamber.

Now Gilbert does law by day and wine by night, he quipped.

Gilbert, an Arlington Heights native and graduate of Hersey High School, has been a Chamber member for many years. In fact, he was serving as Chamber vice president when he purchased the market and became chairman of the board soon thereafter.

During Gilbert’s tenure as chairman of the board in 2015-2016, he oversaw its transition from a “working board” that expected board members to be very hands-on in the running of annual events, to a “governance board” that leaves more of the responsibility for running events to the paid Chamber staff. The Chamber currently has three staff members.

Three years later, Gilbert said, “the new structure seems to be going great!”

Small Business of the Year
Imagineering Studios Inc., which has been based in Arlington Heights since 2011, received the “Small Business of the Year” award. In existence since 2000, Imagineering Studios is owned and run by the Kou family. Services are focused on visual production which includes video production, photography, graphic design and web work, as well as audio recording, primarily for businesses, according to Tim Kou, director of visual production.

“We primarily support businesses that either don’t have a marketing department or have a marketing staff that needs support with producing good visual content for their marketing and advertising efforts. We can also help clients with social media content including videos and almost any type of photography,” Kou said.

In fact, they have produced the video openers at the Arlington Heights Chamber of Commerce’s award dinner for the past four years. They also recently assisted with rebranding the Chamber’s website, logo, materials and promotional videos.

“We felt hugely honored and surprised by the award,” Kou said. “We enjoy partnering with the Chamber, partly because of the added visibility, but it also allows us to share any success that we have with the business community. We offer a variety of services that are unique in this suburban area and it gives us a great opportunity to show businesses
what we can do for them.”

Emerging Business of the Year
Arlington Heights’ beautiful and engaging downtown needs to maintain a plethora of exciting food and entertainment attractions to regularly attract diners, theater lovers and music enthusiasts to its picturesque streets. People generally choose their destinations based on the food and entertainment offered, not just on the beauty of the streetscapes.

Chip Brooks and Chris Dungan got to know each other through their work with the Metropolis Theatre. Brooks had been in law and Dungan owned a pharmaceutical company. Both love music, so they teamed up to open the Hey Nonny music venue and bistro in fall 2018. In January 2020, Hey Nonny was named the “Emerging Business of the Year” by the Arlington Heights Chamber of Commerce.

“Both of us love music and hated that we had to travel so far to hear high quality acts. So, we wanted to open a venue in our own town,” Brooks said.

And that is what they did. Hey Nonny is a flexible two-room operation with a bistro on one side of a retractable wall and a 110-seat music venue on the other side that offers a variety of music concerts, monthly storytelling, cabaret shows, trivia nights and live music weekend brunches. The place is alive with zydeco, blues, jazz, bluegrass, country, rock and even classical/chamber music and “musicians love the acoustics in the space so they are happy to return,” Brooks said.

“Many music lovers buy tickets for their favorite shows well in advance and have dinner in the bistro before the show,” he added. “We wanted to bring a really good restaurant and a great music venue to Arlington Heights and we have done that.”

Michael Mulder
Board Chairman
Village Bank & Trust
Senior Vice President

David Jaffe
Immediate Past Chairman
@properties
Agent

Teresa VanOpdorp
Chairwoman Elect
Marketing & More Group
Owner

Marc Poulos
Vice Chairman
Marc Poulos Painting & Decorating
Owner

Matthew Staley
Vice Chairman
AAA Insurance & Travel
Insurance Agent

Mary Sprow
Vice Chairwoman
Topgolf Schaumburg
Director of Sales

Ernest Rose
Treasurer
Drost Kivlahan McMahon & O’Connor LLC
Partner

John Corbett
Legal Counsel
Law Offices of John J. Corbett
Owner

Jon Ridler
Corporate Secretary
Arlington Heights Chamber of Commerce
Executive Director

Jason Miller
Past Board Chairman 2018
Fitness 19
Operator

Joe Keefe
Metropolis Performing Arts
Centre
Executive Director

Michael Dziurgot
Momentum Health Center
Owner

Randy Recklaus
Village of Arlington Heights
Village Manager

Allyson jannotta
An Aha Life – Allyson Jannotta Coaching
Personal & Professional Life Coach

George Christopoulos
72 Financial
Owner

Chris Nichols
Arlington Pipe & Cigar Lounge
Owner

Argie Karafotias
Golden Brunch
Owner/Operator

Pete Rosengren
Paddock Publications / Daily Herald
Vice President of Advertising

There aren’t many small to medium-sized businesses that can say they work with business behemoths like Disney, Motorola, General Electric, Bosch, Oster, Weber, Medline, Singer, Loreal and Whirlpool. But one company with those kinds of substantiated bragging rights has been growing in Arlington Heights since 2009.

Optimal Design Company was founded in 2003 by three young engineers educated at Purdue University and Michigan State University. After working for large companies for a few years where they each worked on only a handful of projects, Sajid Patel, Joe Wascow and Dan Williams teamed up to open Optimal where they resolved they would “innovate for life” and offer wide-ranging design services.

And that is certainly what they have done, designing everything from rugged phones to a pool pump, wearables that monitor biometrics to an orthotics scanner, and cutting-edge sewing machines to the world’s first Android computer tablet.

“Now every day is exciting because we get to work in so many different areas, from things for Hollywood to medical devices,” Patel said. “We are even in partnership with a virtual reality company that offers virtual reality experiences in 15 dedicated spaces around the world and we design and manufacture the necessary gear here in Arlington Heights.

“The first device we designed was the brainchild of a Glenview attorney who wanted an exercise machine he could use while sitting at his desk and now, 17 years later, we are working on 4G and 5G mobile phone technology, digital signs that monitor traffic and air quality, healthcare monitors, beauty technology and much more,” he added. “We are even working on a wearable device for the U.S. Olympic team.”

Potential customers and partners generally find Optimal Design Company at large trade shows like the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, online or by word of mouth from previous customers, Patel said.

For instance, six years ago Singer embarked on a nationwide search for a new design company to take them into the future, and Optimal Design was the victor after five rounds of competition. Interestingly, in order to compete, Patel said that Optimal Design engineers spent lots of time at the Arlington Heights JoAnn Fabrics store, learning to sew and talking to both customers and staff about what they would like their sewing machine to be able to do.

Similarly, when they are working on innovations for Weber Company barbecue smokers, Patel said that employees are routinely told that there are ribs available for lunch because the engineers involved have been experimenting.

“We offer firms expert level design and engineering to help them produce the products of which they have dreamed, and while most of our customers are consumer companies, we occasionally develop items for industry like the device that crumples the packing paper you see inside packages shipped to you when you order online,” he added.

When ordinary people do their part to help with cleaning up the environment, coaching sports, organizing and running community events, helping veterans, the victims of natural disasters
and so on, everyone benefits.

It is for this reason that The Arlington Heights Chamber of Commerce annually recognizes those in their organization and the community who reach out to help in various capacities without expecting anything in return.

Volunteer of the Year
It should be no surprise that Mike Clements, a local home inspector, was named the Chamber’s Volunteer of the Year. He has long been a fixture at Chamber events, setting up and tearing down the Main Event and Taste of Arlington in August, serving at the Beer Fest in October and bartending at other various events and functions. Clements is also an active member of both the Arlington Heights Lions Club and the Arlington Heights Rotary Club and can be seen volunteering at their events.

Clements joined the Chamber years ago when he was the part-owner and general manager of Clementi’s Pizzeria and Bar, which has since closed. The various civic clubs and the Chamber held meetings at Clementi’s, so he got to know the members and became involved in the groups.

Today Clements continues to stay involved and says he thoroughly enjoys being involved in the different organizations’ fun events and “giving back a bit.”

“Being involved in local organizations also helps my home inspection business by letting me get to know local Realtors and real estate attorneys,” Clements said.

Community Leader of the Year
Jim Bertucci, a stalwart member of the Chamber since 1991 and an Arlington Heights Heart of Gold winner, was named Community Leader of the Year. He is an investment adviser/financial planner with a practice in the village.

“Joining the Chamber was great from a business standpoint, but it also worked for me because I like to network and meet lots of people,” Bertucci said.

However, his outreach to Arlington Heights does not end with the Chamber, of which he was once president. Bertucci has been president of the Rotary Club, the Arlington Heights Memorial Library Board and the Arlington Heights Crime Stoppers Board. He has also been vice president of the Arlington Heights Historical Society and currently is vice president of the Performing Arts at Metropolis Board.

In addition, he has co-chaired the Mayor’s Community Prayer Breakfast Committee at St. James Catholic Church, is a member of the St. James Leadership Summit and began a Men’s Bible Study group. He has also directed the Rotary Club’s Santa Run and recently helped the Arlington Heights Memorial Library launch its Foundation.

“I believe in giving back,” he said. “I guess you could say that I have a social itch. I like to bring people together for good discussions and fun. I also believe in trying to leave my community better than it was when I found it.”

Non Profit of the Year
SALUTE INC., founded by Will and Mary Beth Beiersdorf, earned the Non Profit of the Year award. Founded 17 years ago, soon after Will returned from a 13-month deployment to Guantanamo Bay following the 9/11 terrorist attacks, Salute Inc. has raised $4.7 million to help over 14,000 veterans and their families.

“When Will was deployed, we had three young children and I was a stay-at-home mom.  Will’s employer held his job but wouldn’t make up the difference between his civilian pay and his military pay. So, the community of Arlington Heights stepped up to help. Gift cards, cutting our grass and babysitting were just a few ways people assisted our family,” Mary Beth said.

When Will returned home, the Beiersdorfs wanted to pay that kindness forward and without really intending to, started a nonprofit. It began with an annual fundraising 5K run and the rest is history.

“Our assistance to veterans and active duty military is not cookie cutter. We deliver what each family needs,” she said.

SALUTE’s volunteers and employees understand that the transition to civilian life is often difficult, especially where there is injury. So, SALUTE delivers short-term financial assistance to bridge the temporary income gaps and meet the basic needs of post-9/11 veterans, working with VA hospitals and other major medical centers to identify those in need.

SALUTE assists with mortgage and rent payments, utility bills and other resources.

“The Arlington Heights Chamber has witnessed through the years our efforts to pay it forward,” Beiersdorf said of the award. “SALUTE is a community effort. Our success is measured by those we have assisted locally and across the country. Honor the Service … Remember the Sacrifice.”