JOLIET — Following a career that helped to cultivate the coming of age of support services for Illinois citizens with disabilities, Cornerstone Services President/CEO James Hogan, 67, announced that he will retire at the end of the year.
“Working with Cornerstone clients, staff, volunteers, and board members has been a true honor for me,” Hogan said, “but I am now looking forward to having more time to spend with my family.”
Cornerstone Board Chairman Robert Rogina said Hogan’s dedication to enhancing and expanding the life choices available to people with disabilities helped to build the not-for-profit from a fledgling agency, founded in 1969, with a $1 million budget to a comprehensive $25 million organization providing a wide array of services.
Today, Cornerstone’s 500 staff members provide employment, residential, vocational and behavioral health services to 800 people daily. The agency’s mission is to provide progressive, comprehensive services for people with disabilities, promoting choice, dignity, and the opportunity to live and work in the community.
“Thanks to Jim Hogan, people with disabilities in Will County enjoy many more options for living and working in the community,” Rogina said.
Cornerstone’s current chief administrative officer, Benjamin Stortz, has been named interim president/CEO. Stortz is an 11-year veteran of the agency.
Throughout his 29-year career, Hogan’s leadership on the local and state levels helped to shape the quality and breadth of services for people with disabilities. From a single workshop site in 1969, the agency then known as the Will County Sheltered Workshop, grew under Hogan’s leadership to four day-program locations and 60 residential sites with more recent service expansion for children and those with mental health needs.
Rogina said Hogan has positioned the agency well for future success, and Cornerstone has plans to expand services.
In 2011 alone, Cornerstone enrolled 244 new individuals with disabilities in various services, and added 75 adults in the residential services area. In addition, agency employment staff helped secure 98 jobs for people with disabilities in our community.
“Jim worked tirelessly to lobby for more resources so that persons with disabilities could participate more fully in community life,” Rogina said. “His efforts can be felt well beyond the walls of Cornerstone and into the entire state of Illinois.”
#Source: The Herald-News Dec 18, 2011
http://heraldnews.suntimes.com/news/9466223-418/cornerstone-ceo-retiring.html
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