Park Board Information
Park Board meetings are held twice monthly on Thursdays. Committee meetings are typically held the 2nd Tuesday of the month and Board meetings are held the 4th Thursday of the month. These public meetings begin at 6:30 p.m. at the Winnetka Park District Administrative Office, 540 Hibbard Road. For more information, please call (847) 501-2040.
Richard Pierce
President
1550 Tower Rd., (847) 446-5967 - rpierce@winpark.org
Richard and his wife Suzanne have resided in Winnetka for 19 years. Their son attends The Lowell Whiteman School in Steamboat Springs, Colorado. Pierce received his B.A. in History from Lawrence University, M.A. in History from University of Toronto, M.S. in Education from Northwestern University and his J.D. from Loyola University School of Law. For the past seventeen years he has been teaching Advanced Placement European History and Constitutional Law at A.E. Stevenson High School in Lincolnshire. During that time he served as a consultant to the College Board AP Program.
Preceding his career in education, Pierce held the position of Associate Counsel at Francorp, a franchise development consulting firm. For the previous thirteen years he was an independent futures trader at the Chicago Board of Trade. Pierce served on the Board of Directors of the Old Willow Club as Director of Buildings and Grounds.
Richard currently serves on the Winnetka Park District Revenue Facilities and Parks and Beaches Committees.
Brad McLane
Vice President
593 Provident Ave, (847) 441-0985 - bmclane@winpark.org
Brad has been a resident of Winnetka for 16 years. He and his wife, Dede, have one child at Crow Island and two who went through D36 and NTHS to successfully land in college! Brad holds a BA degree from Yale in Architecture and Organizational Behavior, an accounting certificate from Cornell and an MBA in Marketing from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. For the past 16 years, he has been an executive search consultant focused on recruiting Chief Marketing Officers. He recently rejoined the founder of his former firm and started the Chicago office of RSR Partners. Prior to that, he held marketing and brand manager roles with Ralston Purina in St. Louis and Coca-Cola in Houston; which was followed by two entrepreneurial, start-up businesses in Houston. He started his career as a “liberal arts program” auditor with Price Waterhouse in their New York office.
McLane served as Chair of the Winnetka Caucus Council in 2001 and as Chair of the Village Committee in 2000. He was a Commissioner on the Winnetka Plan Commission (2002-2005) and a board member on the Winnetka Parks Foundation (2002 to 2008) and a board member of the Winnetka Paddle Tennis Club (2003 to 2007). He was recently elected to Vice Chairman of Winnetka Congregational Church. Brad has been involved in a number of youth programs in the Village including set building and acting in the Winnetka Children’s Theater; and coaching in the Kenilworth Winnetka Baseball Association, the Winnetka Park District softball program and the Winnetka Hockey Club’s House League.
Brad currently serves on the Winnetka Park District Revenue Facilities (Chairperson) and Administration Committees.
Brad is also a Park Board representative to the Winnetka Parks Foundation.
John DiCola
Commissioner
187 Ridge Ave., (847) 446-6151 - jdicola@winpark.org
John, his wife Becky and four children have been Winnetka residents since 2005. His children attend both Crow Island and Winnetka Nursery schools. John is the founder of Deeks Group LLC an Internet marketing firm. Prior to Deeks, DiCola worked at Google running their Chicago office for 5 years and their Retail business for 2 years. Additionally John serves as an advisor to several start-ups and non-profits. He has a BA in Political Science from Denison University.
John currently serves on the Winnetka Park District Audit, Recreation and Administration Committees (Chairperson).
John is also a Park Board liasion to School District #36.
Edward Harney
Commissioner
535 Oak St., (847) 446-7294 - eharney@winpark.org
Ed has been a resident of Winnetka for over 40 years. He and his wife Kathy have two children, age 14 and 12, attending Choate Rosemary Hall and North Shore Country Day School. The Harney family are active users of our great beaches, parks, boat launching, and recreation programming. Harney holds a BA in Economics from Northwestern University and an MBA in Finance and Marketing from DePaul University. Harney's career concentration is in non-durable consumer products with professional experience at Beam Global Spirits & Wine, Quacker Oars/Pepsico, Ge Capital and the Richelieu Group. Harney has been active in numerous local youth sports programs both as a coach and parent leader. He was Co-Chair of the Winnetka Caucus Council in 2006, having chaired the Village Candidate Committee in 2005 and the Schools Committee in 2004, and was elected to the Winnetka Community House Board of Governor’s in 2008.
Ed currently serves on the Winnetka Park District Audit, Finance (Chairperson) and Parks & Beaches Committees.
Ed is also Park Board representative to the Winnetka Parks Foundation and Park Board liasion to the Environmental Committee.
Gerri Kahnweiler
Commissioner
1070 Westmoor Rd., (847)441-6402 - gkahnweiler@winpark.org
Gerri has been a resident of Winnetka for 14 Years. She and her husband have four children, one working professionally for the Levy Organization at Wrigley Field, one in college, one at New Trier and one at North Shore Country Day School. Kahnweiler holds a BS degree in Accounting from Miami University (Oxford, Ohio) and a MBA in Finance from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University. Gerri has been an active trustee on the Jewish Women’s Foundation of Metropolitan Chicago, serving as Chair of both the Health and Wellbeing Committee and Evaluation Committee and currently serves as a Trustee for New Trier Township. She also serves on the board of Personal Pac. Among her numerous local activities, she has served as a Peer Jury Adult Advocate and chair of the Health and Human Service Committee of New Trier Township, past treasurer of the Winnetka Parks Foundation and various school related activities.
Gerri currently serves on the Winnetka Park District Administration, Recreation (Chairperson) and Revenue Facilities Committees.
Geri is also a Park Board liasion to New Trier Township High School.
Ian Larkin
Commissioner
988 Oak St., 847-441-5004 - ilarkin@winpark.org
Ian and his wife, Nora have resided in Winnetka for eleven years. They have six children ages 12 to 2. Ian holds a B.B.A. from the University of Notre Dame. Ian co-founded an investment firm in 2006, Maranon Capital. Prior to Maranon Ian spent four years at American Capital and eleven years at William Blair Capital Partners. Ian coaches various kids sports, is captain of the worst softball team in WPD history (the Washington Generals) and currently serves on a not-for profit board, Redmoon Theater.
Ian currently serves on the Winnetka Park District Audit (Chairperson), Recreation and Finance Committees.
In 2012 Ian was elected to the Illinois Association of Park Districts (IAPD) Board of Trustees. Currently he serves on the programs and membership committees for the association.
John Thomas
Commissioner
525 Ash St., (847) 446-5401 - jthomas@winpark.org
Thomas and his wife, Ellen, have lived in Winnetka for 37 years. They have two married sons who went to Winnetka grade schools and New Trier H.S. He attended The University of Michigan College of Engineering, and then their School of Business Administration, earning both a BS and MBA in Operations Management.
He started at Procter & Gamble in industrial engineering and operations then moved to marketing management. He spent some years in consulting but came to Chicago in a general management role at an AMEX company. His last decade of business was spent in consulting and general management of the consultancy. Now retired, he continues to publish The Procter & Gamble Alumni Directory as a charity fund raiser.
Thomas chaired the 1999 Caucus Parks Committee and then the 2000 Winnetka Caucus Council. He has served on the Zoning Board of Appeals and was twice on the Winnetka Planning Commission. Thomas was a board member of the Winnetka Youth Organization in 1986-2004 and twice chaired that board. He was a Winnetka Parks Commissioner in 2005-2009 and has returned for a second term.
Outside of civic affairs, he was on the Board and Executive Committee of the Northern Illinois Girl Scouts Council. Thomas previously served as President and Board member of United Way -Winnetka/Northfield and Board member of United Way-North Shore. He has also served on several Boards of public and private corporations. His experiences in business and community service bring a broad perspective to the challenges and opportunities facing the Park District.
John currently serves on the Winnetka Park District Parks and Beaches (Chairperson) and Finance Committees.
John is also a Park Board representative to the Village of Winnetka Planning Commission and Caucus Committee.