Executive Committee
| Position | Name |
| President | Sara Burcheri |
| President-Elect | Julie Bjorkman, PhD, ABC |
| Past President | Rebecca Shaffer |
| Secretary | Heather (Blondin) Natal, CMP |
Board of Directors
| Director, Awards | Rhonda Carlson |
| Director, Membership Services | Julie M. Bjorkman, PhD, ABC |
| Web Content Management | Anthony Fleet |
| Director, Creative Services | Astrid Greve-Spencer |
| Director, Membership Communications | Carolynn Muci |
| Director, Professional Development & Events | Christine Boisjoli |
| Director, Sponsorships | Sara Burcheri |
President, and Director, Sponsorships
Sara Burcheri
Success Consultant
With over 13 years of experience focused on experiential marketing at a large retailer, Sara decided to take her corporate knowledge and apply it to helping small businesses. She is currently a Success Consultant at Reverie Organizational Development where she is able to focus on her passion- helping to design and implement solutions for small business growth.
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Past President
Rebecca Shaffer
Head of Business Development and Operations
Ragan Consulting Group
Rebecca is responsible for the daily operations of Ragan Consulting Group. She serves as a measurement consultant and often project manages client work, ensuring that projects are tracking on schedule and the client’s needs are being met.
Previously, Rebecca was a senior internal communications analyst at the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, where she conducted the Bank-wide communications audit, managed special projects, Town Halls and leadership meetings, employee award programs and contributed news stories to the Bank’s intranet site.
Before joining the Fed, Rebecca spent seven years as a conference producer at Ragan Communications, creating tailored content for corporate communication professionals. In this role she worked with corporations such as Microsoft, The Walt Disney Co., The Coca-Cola Co., Mayo Clinic, Chesapeake Energy and Southwest Airlines.
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Secretary, Chapter Marketing & Public Relations
Heather (Blondin) Natal, CMP
Marketing Manager, Manufacturing Solutions
Computer Aided Technology
For over 15 years, Heather has been working at international companies in Marketing and Communications. Her breadth of experience ranges from copywriting and graphic design to strategic brand management, internal communications, and digital media. In her current role, Heather specializes in event planning to ensure that each event is unique in its message and memorable for the attendee. She received her B.A. in Communications from the University of Illinois at Chicago and holds the IABC’s Communication Management Professional (CMP) Certification.
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Director, Awards
Rhonda Carlson
Global Internal Communications Expert
Rhonda is a global internal communications guru. She most recently worked for PepsiCo, a consumer package goods company. Her client was the IT organization. She can decode “tech talk,” as well as develop content and executive communications, employee engagement and shape culture and so much more. Just ask her!
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Committee Member, Chapter Marketing & Public Relations
Anthony Fleet
Critical Communications Manager
United Airlines
Anthony Fleet currently works at United Airlines on the corporate communications team. He creates and manages content for the company’s internal employee information display screens, creates stories for the company’s daily global newsletter and intranet, supports implementation of new communication tools. He is the Communication Co-chair for United’s Black Business Resource Group. Anthony has a Master of Science in Integrated Marketing Communications from Northwestern University and a Bachelor of Arts in communication from La Salle University.
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Director, Creative Services
Astrid Greve-Spencer
Global Associate Director, Corporate Affairs & Communications
AkzoNobel
Astrid Greve-Spencer has significant leadership experience in PR, journalism, branding, and communications. She is currently the Global Director, Corporate Affairs & Communications, at Wolters Kluwer’s Enablon business – a leading global provider of integrated software solutions for Risk & Compliance; Engineering & Operations; EHSQ (Environment, Health, Safety & Quality) & Sustainability; and ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance). In this role, Astrid develops, leads and executes strategy, plans, and tactics for internal and external communications and branding. She is part of the business’ Executive Leadership Team.
Prior to her current role, she was the Communications Manager for North America with AkzoNobel (a global paints and coatings company headquartered in Amsterdam, The Netherlands), where she was responsible for brands awareness and reputation, public affairs and government relations initiatives in the U.S., Canada and Mexico.
A former journalist, Astrid gained extensive experience in media relations while working as an award-winning TV news producer in various cities across the U.S., including Chicago; Portland, OR; and Toledo, OH. After making a career switch to strategic public relations, she worked at KemperLesnik, one of Chicago’s top PR agencies, primarily with B2B clients – and some B2C – across several industries.
Astrid holds an MBA and a Master of Science in management from the University of Maryland University College (now University of Maryland Global Campus), as well as a Master of Arts in magazine design and bachelor’s degrees in broadcast journalism and communication from the University of Missouri-Columbia.
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Director, Membership Communications
Carolynn Muci
Internal Communications Manager
Harper College
Carolynn Muci (MS, Corporate and Organizational Communication) has spent her career crafting content that connects with audiences, starting her career in advertising and making the shift to internal communication because she believes in the tremendous impact engaged employees can have on the success of an organization.
Currently the Internal Communication Manager at Harper College, she counsels leadership on best practices for effective internal communications and develops consistent, coordinated messages to meet the needs of the organization and the faculty and staff.
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Director, Member Services
Julie M. Bjorkman, PhD, ABC, APR
Director, Assistant Professor
EdD, Higher Education and Organizational Change
Benedictine University
jbjorkman@ben.edu
Dr. Bjorkman’s career over the past 30 years includes working with multi-national companies going through large-scale change. By using data-based research methods, she identifies and creates the appropriate change intervention and communication strategies to develop a full range of deliverables to engage and retain the workforce. Her professional experiences with large corporations such as GE, HSBC, British Petroleum, and Takeda Pharmaceuticals have given her a wealth of on-the-job experience with organizational change and change communications.
As the Director and Assistant Professor of the Doctorate of Education (EdD) program in Higher Education and Organizational Change at Benedictine University in Lisle, she helps lead doctoral students through their educational journey of their EdD in completing coursework and independent research. She teaches courses in organization development, leading change, research methods, and leadership communications.
Julie is a past president of IABC Chicago, and served in many board roles over the past two decades, including IABC’s International Executive Board, and most recently was a Chapter Advocate for the Pacific Plains Regional board.
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Director, Professional Development & Events
Christine Boisjoli
Communications and Program Manager
Robina Institute of Criminal Law and Criminal Justice
University of Minnesota Law School
Christine is a strategic, multiskilled communicator with over nine years of experience in both internal and external communications. Currently, she is the Communications and Program Manager for the Robina Institute of Criminal Law and Criminal Justice at the University of Minnesota Law School. As a newly-minted resident of Chicago, she is excited to explore professional opportunities in the Chicagoland area.
Christine earned a master’s degree in strategic communication from the University of Minnesota Hubbard School of Journalism and Mass Communication. Her graduate research focused on nonprofit fundraising communications, emphasizing market positioning strategy. She received her bachelor’s degree from Saint Cloud State University, where she majored in English with a concentration in creative writing.
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