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 The new Trustees were approved in February and May,
and seated at the September 26 meeting in Lincoln. They are: Sara
Freitag of Lincoln, Bonnie Thompson of Lincoln and St. Simons
Island, Georgia; Matthew Wissa of Chicago; and David Zwanzig of
Morton.
“I am very pleased to announce these new members of our Board of
Trustees. Each is a very accomplished individual and will continue
our tradition of excellence in Board leadership,” said Dr. David
Gerlach, Lincoln College President. “They are forward thinking
individuals who will bring their unique talents to the board as we
continue to grow our programs while navigating the challenges of
these uncertain times.
“As we resume on-campus instruction and continue to grow both
undergraduate and graduate programs, we will rely heavily on our
Trustees to provide us with expertise and leadership. These new
Trustees will be important assets for the college,” Gerlach
concluded.
Frietag grew up in Lincoln and attended Illinois State University.
She is a successful Sales Leader for State Farm in Central Illinois.
Thompson grew up in Lincoln and attended Lincoln College, as well as
the University of Illinois and Illinois State University. She spent
25 years with Kraft Foods of Chicago, where she was the Corporate
Travel Manager and Manager of Executive Services prior to her
retirement.
Wissa is an Associate in the Chicago law firm of King and Spalding,
where he is a member of the Special Matters and Government
Investigation Practice.
Zwanzig retired in 2019 from CORE Construction in Morton, where he
was Vice President of Pre-Construction Services. He has been
involved in projects on the Lincoln College campus since the 1980s,
including the construction of the Lincoln Center, which houses
Lincoln College’s athletic facilities, classrooms, fitness center
and the award-winning Lincoln Heritage Museum.
Lincoln College was the first institution named in honor of
then-President Abraham Lincoln and the only institution named after
Lincoln while he was alive.
The Lincoln College Board of Trustees appoints the President and
major administrative officers of the college. Board committees
oversee finances, development, planning, academic affairs and
student services, among other duties.
Additional details on each of the new trustees follow.
Sara Freitag
Sara Freitag serves as the Sales Leader for the Springfield/Decatur
Sales Territory for State Farm Insurance.
Freitag joined the State Farm family in 2000. She has worked in
Corporate Accounting, Agency Recruiting and Auto Underwriting. In
2012, she opened a State Farm Agency in Springfield, IL. Four short
years later, she joined the agency leadership team and was named
Sales Leader in 2016.
Freitag is a graduate of Illinois State University with a degree in
Finance. She and her husband Aaron, a State Farm Agent in Peoria,
IL, have two sons, Riley and Cooper.
Bonnie Keys Thompson
As the Corporate Travel Manager and Manager of Executive Services at
Kraft Foods in Chicago, Bonnie Thompson was charged with
consolidating all Kraft U.S. business travel into the Corporate
Travel Department. Kraft foods marketed food brands in more than 170
countries and 12 of its brands earned more than $1 billion
worldwide. Forty of its brands were at least a century old.
In her role, Thompson oversaw remote apartments and staff in
Chicago, New York and London and was responsible for overseeing
executive travel planning, chauffeurs, dining rooms and staff, car
leasing, special events and receptionists.
Thompson received the Kraft Merit Award for meritorious service and
unusual initiative in recognition of her successful organization of
Kraft’s corporate United Way Program. Under her leadership, she
increased the company’s United Way involvement by 15%, making Kraft
one of the highest Chicago corporate donors to the United Way. She
also organized corporate on-site blood drives resulting in 25%
participation and earning Kraft the award for the highest corporate
participation in the north suburban Chicagoland area.
Additionally, Thompson received the Kraft Worldwide
Superior Achievement Award in recognition for exceptional
contributions to Kraft’s mission to improve growth and
profitability. She was cited for leading the transition to an
on-site travel program, which achieved savings of $5.7 million above
expectations through airline/hotel/car programs and agency revenue
sharing.
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During her career at Kraft, Thompson also served as
Compensation Supervisor for corporate human resources, Compensation
Analyst for international executives and Administrative Assistant
for Systems Services.
Following her retirement from Kraft in 1993, she has volunteered for
Red Cross Blood Drives, organized fundraisers for Safe Harbour Home
for Children, has been an ad hoc board member of Hospice of the
Golden Isles, was president of the Friends of the Library for three
years, chaired the patron party in conjunction with the Wine, Women
& Shoes major fundraising event for Rally for the Cure and was
President for three years of the Sea Island Ladies Golf Association.
Matthew T. Wissa
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Matthew Wissa holds his J.D. Degree from the University of Chicago
and his Bachelor’s Degree from Claremont McKenna College in
Claremont, California.
As a member of the Special Matters and Government Investigation
Practice at King & Spaulding in Chicago, he focuses on white-collar
criminal defense, internal corporate investigations, and complex
civil litigation.
He has extensive experience representing corporate clients facing a
range of criminal enforcement actions brought by the Department of
Justice (DOJ), the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and
state Attorneys General.
He has been admitted to practice before the U.S. District Court for
the Northern District of Illinois and is a member of the Cabrini
Green Legal Aid Young Professionals Board.
In his application to be a Trustee, Wissa said, “I want to become a
Lincoln College Trustee because it is an opportunity to help a truly
diverse student body by bringing a unique perspective to the
College’s Board of Trustees. Lincoln College provides opportunity to
an under-served population, and I am eager to join in the
institution’s mission of empowering students to reach their full
potential and in doing so transforming students’ lives.”
He has authored a number of articles and papers, including such
topics as “Spoofing US Law and Enforcement,” travel rules and
virtual currencies, and comparisons of US and UK law and
enforcement.
David Zwanzig
Dave Zwanzig has had a long history of working with Lincoln College
during his career at CORE Construction. Having retired from CORE in
March, 2019, he will now be able to continue a relationship that
began in the 1980s, but in a new capacity as a Trustee. He hopes to
use his experience to help with facilities as it relates to use of
funds, planning and other project needs.
Zwanzig is a Design-Build Institute of America (DBIA) Designated
Design-Build Professional and a Construction Technology graduate of
Illinois Central College.
Zwanzig has applied a vast knowledge of the construction industry
across a broad spectrum of projects and delivery methods for nearly
43 years. His skills include budgeting, estimating, value
engineering, and project planning. During his career, he earned a
reputation for guiding integrated project delivery while not losing
perspective on the need for strong communication with owners,
architects, engineers and subcontractors to ensure the timely and
successful completion of projects.
In addition to his work on Lincoln College’s Lincoln Center, he has
overseen a diverse range of projects in his career including: Camp
Lincoln in Springfield, the Caterpillar Learning Center Addition,
OSF Medical Office Building in Morton, the Shoppes at College Hills
in Normal and the Shoppes at Grand Prairie in Peoria, East Peoria
Downtown Development, Eureka College Sanders Hall and Ivy Hall, the
University of Illinois and Illinois State University.
Prior to his retirement, he was Vice President of Pre-Construction
Services as CORE Construction from 2008 to 2019. Before that he was
Director of Design-Build for nine years, and Chief Estimator for
four years. He began is career at CORE in 1976 as an
Estimator/Project Manager.
[Lauren Grenlund
Director of Public Relations
Lincoln College] |
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