I am Tim Traynor, the new Development Director for NAMI DuPage, and I welcome this opportunity to be introduced to you and to tell you a little about myself.

I am a lifelong Chicago-area resident, currently living in the southwest suburb of Palos Heights. I lived in Glen Ellyn years ago, one of my sisters lives and teaches in Downers Grove, another lives in Burr Ridge, and Mom lived in Downers Grove for many years, so I am no stranger to the area!

In my business career, I have worked in insurance and also in banking, primarily in marketing and also in sales. On the avocation side, I have actively volunteered with nonprofits for many years, in areas as varied as Children’s Hospital in Chicago, a seniors’ retirement community, a jobs ministry in the southwest suburbs, a 501(c)(3) for deployed chaplains and troops which I founded and have led for several years, and a number of roles in my church parish community.

My transition into employment with a mission-driven nonprofit as unique and exciting as NAMI DuPage is one I have aspired to and worked at for a few years now, and I am delighted and honored to be part of your NAMI DuPage team.

My hopes and expectations for my first year of involvement at NAMI DuPage are pretty straight-forward. I intend to get to know as many of NAMI DuPage’s members and donors as I can, and I want to hear about your hopes and expectations for NAMI as well. I will help spread the word within and outside our membership of the many far-reaching and innovative contributions NAMI DuPage is making in improving the lives of our consumers and their families. I plan to encourage greater levels of involvement on the part of people we already know, and to develop new sources of financial support as well.

I look forward to getting to know you, and to working with you!