Illinois Manufacturers' Association presents $29,000 grant to AIT

On Wednesday, April 20, the Illinois Manufacturers' Association (IMA) presented AIT Worldwide Logistics with an Employee Training Investment Program (ETIP) grant check in the amount of $29,000.

Julie Starsiak, director of membership for the IMA, presented the check to Vaughn Moore, president; Joe Kayser, vice president of finance; Will Isherwood, director of human resources; and Sandra Armas, manager of human resources.

The State of Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity's Employer Training Investment Program was established to help Illinois employers remain competitive by upgrading their employee's skills. This program potentially reimburses Illinois companies up to 50% of eligible and approved training costs. The State allocates funds to assist Illinois-based companies become more competitive and expand into new markets with the goal of improving economic conditions and the job market within the state of Illinois.

"AIT has invested more and more time and resources into employee training and development efforts," said Isherwood. "Receiving this grant funding assistance is incredibly rewarding and will only further AIT's continued investments in these important areas."

Over the past two years, AIT has made an ongoing commitment to enhance its leaders in order to realize company goals and individual career development opportunities. This journey began by eliciting the help of the Carroll–Keller group, a Lombard-based training and consulting team dedicated to helping organizations improve performance and bottom-line profitability.

Carroll-Keller formulated a program strategically aligning all members of management with AIT's overriding vision and goals. During this process, Janine Sergay and Darryl Harris facilitated classes targeting the areas of behavioral interviewing, strategic planning, coaching and mentoring and performance management.

Under the leadership of Sheri Wozniak, director of accounting services, Isherwood, Kayser and the human resources department, AIT is now at the stage of learning how to effectively implement these new tools in order to become more engaged and aligned with AIT's goals.

The current grant money will be utilized to design and host eight individual training sessions ranging in topics from AIT's vision to employee development and aligning goals with actions.

Founded in 1893, the IMA is the oldest and largest statewide manufacturing trade association in the United States. The IMA's mission is to strengthen the economic, social, environmental and governmental conditions for manufacturing and allied enterprises in the state of Illinois, resulting in an enlarged business base and increased employment.

As a member of the IMA, AIT went through an extensive application process in order to be considered for the grant opportunity.

"This is a very exciting time at AIT," said Wozniak. "This grant will allow our entire organization to come together and prepare for our future success.”

###

Contact:

Christine Nicholson

Corporate Public Relations Coordinator

630.766.0711

cnicholson@aitworldwide.com