Our Board

Sarah Shirk, President
Nadine Peacock, Vice President
Mary Pikul, Secretary
Paul Sikes, Treasurer
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Jim Bonaccorsi

Born and raised in Oak Park, one of twelve siblings, I’ve always treasured the sense of community. Music was more than a hobby—it was a way of life. Growing up surrounded by instruments and encouraged to take music lessons, I developed a deep passion for it. My journey led me to participate in music programs at St. Luke’s Grade School and Fenwick High School. Following my education at Indiana University, I embarked on an exhilarating adventure as a member of the Freddy Jones Band, achieving commercial success in the ’90s under Capricorn Records/Warner Bros.

With a career spanning over 25 years, I’ve had the privilege of working in both business and nonprofit sectors. My experience has taught me the value of strategic partnerships and driving significant growth. Now, I’m excited to channel this expertise into PING!. What excites me most about this opportunity is the chance to make a tangible difference. I am committed to leveraging my skills and dedication to ensure equitable access to instrumental music programs within the Oak Park and River Forest School Districts.
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Sue Bridge

Susan Bridge and her husband, Nick, are long time Oak Park residents. Their adult son and his family also live in Oak Park. Sue is an educator with an impressive resume which includes her service as Superintendent/Principal of OPRFHS from 1999-2007. She began her career as a high school English teacher and served as assistant principal and principal at Glenbard West High School before coming D200. She has a B.A. in Education, an M.A. in English, and an Ed.D in Educational Administration. Since leaving OPRFHS, she has volunteered extensively, most recently with the CSO Association. “Music has been a vital part of my life, and I have sought ways to keep my ‘musical’ appetite fed while meeting my professional obligations. Having now retired and coming to the end of my term as President of the League of the CSOA, I see PING! as the community organization to which I would most like to contribute my time, talents, and resources.”

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Blaire Goldstein

Blaire Goldstein currently lives in River Forest with her husband Michael and their children.
Blaire is currently a member of the Inclusive Advisory Board for D90 and has served as a co-chair of this Board for the last 3 years. She has also participated in a number of equity projects within D90. Her children are members of the Orchestra and Band as a Cellist and Clarinetist in D90 & D200. In a professional capacity, she earned her Master of Health Care Administration from The George Washington University. She is a licensed nursing home administrator and for the last 20 years has served as an Executive Director of non-profit Retirement Communities in the Western Suburbs of Chicago. She has also served on the Leading Age Illinois Board of Directors. In 2021, she started Blaire Goldstein & Associates and works in a consultant capacity for Senior Living Organizations.
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Jennifer Ierardi

Jennifer Ierardi lives in River Forest (previously Oak Park) with her husband, Drew, and two sons. Her
volunteer activities include PTO and PIMA, and she still dabbles on the piano and clarinet. In addition to
her undergraduate degree, she also received her JD and Master of Public Health Degree from the
University of North Carolina. She has been with Northwestern Medicine since 2007 and currently serves as
the Vice President, Integrity for the 11- hospital health system. In that capacity, she oversees the
enterprise risk, compliance, ethics and data privacy program for the organization. Prior to this role, she
served as Corporate Governance Director from January 2010-August 2012, and Senior Staff to the
President and CEO from 2007-2010. Having played the clarinet in middle school and high school, she very
much appreciates the financial resources and support necessary to make such things available, and is very
excited to be a part of making that a reality for our local students.
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Gail Kalmerton
Gail is a long time River Forest resident and has a solid history of community involvement. She has one daughter who participated in music and the arts during her school years. Gail started working at OPRFHS in 1993 in the Special Education Department and then spent 25 years as the D200 Board of Education as the Executive Assistant/Clerk of the Board serving under six superintendents. She runs a business that hosts adult international students who come to Chicago to improve their English skills. She has been a member of the League of the Chicago Symphony and truly loves being around young people.
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Loren Middleton
Loren, is a 30 plus year resident of Oak Park, and is a practicing Criminal Defense Attorney (www.lorenmiddletonlawoffice.com), musician and label owner under Lojazz Records,
(www.lojazz.com).  Loren has been committed to the local music arts scene for over 10 years, and formed, The Veltway Corporation( www.veltway.com), which serves to promote the music community along Roosevelt Road, and works to provide music opportunity and education through The Veltway Music Collective. All of Loren’s children participated in music education in District 97 and OPRFHS, and he has a fond appreciation of the organization.  Loren has worked to procure instruments and music education with PING in the past, and he looks forward to working again with PING and its initiatives to bring music to our community.

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Adam Miller
Adam has lived in Oak Park since 1995 with his wife and two daughters. Both of them played instruments in band and also participated as Mentors in PING!. Adam is a certified supply chain professional who started his 35-year corporate career with Quaker Oats, which was later acquired by PepsiCo. He has worked in all aspects of supply chain including operations, planning, customer service, process improvement, and systems implementation. He also led a mentoring circle program to support the development of young professionals. As a member of the Pride Parade and Ally Day committees he helped plan and execute annual events as well as leveraged his photography skills to capture 13 Pride Parades and numerous other events to support the communications and outreach efforts. Currently, Adam volunteers as a tutor with the Learning Edge tutoring program (formerly Cluster Tutoring) and has been supporting PING!‘s communication team by photographing a number of PING! events. In his free time he enjoys learning the guitar, playing disc golf, cooking, and working out.
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Steve Miller
Steve has lived in Oak Park for more than ten years. He has two daughters who participate in the D97 instrumental music program. He and his wife, Sarah Staszak Miller (who grew up in Oak Park), highly value public service. With a background in accounting in finance he is currently a CPA and has worked with school districts for his entire career. He is now the Executive Director for Business Operations at Schaumburg SD 54. He served for eight years on the Oak Park Education Foundation board as a member of the finance committee, treasurer, and as president. He’s been involved with the Beye School PTO and serves as the treasurer of his daughter’s Girl Scout troop. Throughout his career, he has valued the chance to improve opportunities for students and is hoping to bring his data and finance background to PING!.
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Larry Ritsert

I am a big believer in the power of music, especially the power of music in community. My own journey began in 4th grade band. I still have friends I talk to regularly from that grade school band experience. My instrument was trumpet and I continued to play through two years of college. I earned a degree in Secondary Ed from the University of Illinois in Urbana and went on to teach 6th grade in downstate Illinois. After one year, I moved back to Chicago to assist in running a family business. During that time I earned a Masters Degree in Management (now an MBA) from Northwestern’s Kellogg Graduate School of Management. After 23 years, we sold our business, Econo-Car Rent-a Car, to Enterprise Rent-a-Car. In 1998, I took a position with The Teachers’ Retirement System of the State of Illinois (TRS) running their counseling center in Lisle, Illinois. I retired from that position in 2017.

I first moved to Oak Park in 1977 and, aside from 3 years in Chicago, have lived here ever since. I was blessed with a son and step daughter, both of whom played in the band at OPRF. While working, I tried to stay involved in their activities and probably spent the most time and effort with my son’s youth baseball teams. I have a fair amount of board experience. Years ago, I was on Chicago Opera Theater’s Junior Board and I also spent a decade or more on a trade organization’s (CATRALA or the car and truck rental and leasing association) board, including two as president. More recently, I served 2 six year stints on the Heritage Chorale (a local community choir, look for us at Day in Our Village!) board, including 4 as president and 6 as vice president. For the last 5 years, I have also served on the board of the Nielsen Chorale in Rockford, IL.

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Bob Spatz
A longtime Oak Park resident, Bob has been an advocate for education and equity for nearly 30 years. He has served on two non-profit boards: Project Unity and the Oak Park Education Foundation. He helped establish the Collaboration for Early Childhood and served on the board for several years. Bob has spent nearly three decades volunteering for Oak Park School District 97 including three terms as an elected board member where he served as both vice president and president. He has also been involved in regional and state education issues as an active member of the Illinois Early Learning Council’s Data Research and Evaluation Sub-Committee, the executive board of the West Cook Division of the Illinois Association of School Boards, and the executive board of ED-RED, a suburban school advocacy organization. In 2019, he helped form the OPRF Youth Ultimate (Frisbee) Organization. Professionally, Bob has worked for 38 years in various IT and data analysis positions at the Center for Research in Security Prices, an affiliate of the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business and currently does part-time consulting in the areas of early childhood and K-12 public policy and funding. He has a BA in Computer Science from the College of Engineering at the University of Illinois in Champaign.