2021 Hero Helps Welcome Speakers
Jennifer Bertino-Tarrant
Will County Executive
As a lifelong resident, Jennifer Bertino-Tarrant is honored to serve as Will County’s fourth Chief Executive Officer. Jennifer is a champion for hard-working families and businesses in Will County and brings an extensive background in education advocacy, innovation, and public service.
Prior to her role as County Executive, Jennifer served two terms in the Illinois General Assembly. As a State Senator, Jennifer was a leading advocate for public education and supporting students and teachers. She was an architect in reforming Illinois’ broken education funding system, investing hundreds of millions of new dollars to schools annually and was instrumental in passing legislation aimed at addressing our teacher shortage. Throughout her legislative career, Jennifer focused on fostering a vibrant Illinois and helping others.
James Glasglow
Will County State's Attorney
Will County State’s Attorney James W. Glasgow has a long and distinguished career during which he has implemented groundbreaking initiatives to investigate, prosecute, and prevent crime. Now serving an unprecedented seventh term, State’s Attorney Glasgow has committed himself to making Will County a safe place for its residents to live, work, and raise families.
State’s Attorney Glasgow has an extensive history of addressing the opioid epidemic. In 1998, he obtained federal grants to establish Will County’s Drug Court program and has opened three recovery homes to assist participants on the road to recovery. Mr. Glasgow has pursued an aggressive agenda that includes prosecuting drug-induced homicides against heroin/fentanyl dealers who have sold this deadly poison to hold them accountable for these tragic deaths.
John D. Noak
Romeoville Village Mayor
Mayor John Noak is currently serving his fourth full term in the Village of Romeoville. Noak started his first term on April 7, 2009 after being appointed on February 6, 2008. Noak previously served as a Village Trustee starting in 2005. The Mayor’s background includes over two decades working with local, state and federal governments. Prior to his term as Mayor, he was the Director of Community Affairs and Communications for U.S. Rep. Judy Biggert.
In 2019, Mayor Noak and the Village of Romeoville received the Community WINS Award for economic development from the U.S. Conference of Mayors. In 2013, Noak was named Mayor of the Year by the Illinois State Crime Commission and the 2008 Bishop Shell Award from the Police Athletic League.
2021 Hero Helps Summit Speakers
David T. Jones
Director, Division of Substance Use Prevention and Recovery, Illinois Department of Human Services
David T. Jones serves as Director for the Division of Substance Use Prevention and Recovery with Illinois Department of Human Services (IDHS-SUPR). Previously David served as Commissioner of the Department of Behavioral Health and Intellectual disAbility Services. David provided oversight of a $1 billion healthcare agency with nearly one thousand employees. As a Behavioral Health Administrator with over twenty-five years of progressive collaborative management experience, David has produced measurable results to improve the lives of children, adults and families with behavioral health needs. He possesses a vast in-depth knowledge of state and federal regulations inclusive of Medicaid managed care and Mental Health Rehabilitation Standards. David has managed both an urban and suburban public behavioral health system that achieved outcomes inclusive of increasing access to care and expanding the range of services available to residents with behavioral health care needs. As the appointed Chief of Behavioral Health and Crisis Services with Maryland’s Montgomery County Department of Health and Human Services, David provided leadership to over two hundred multi-cultural, multi-lingual employees. David administered a wide range of diverse programs: Child and Adult Mental Health, Substance Abuse, Behavioral Health Authority, Crisis Center, Victims Assistance & Consumer Services. Additionally David has national experience developing multi-disciplinary coalitions to affect sustainable community-level change. David earned a Master’s in Community School Psychology from Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville and partially completed the requirements for a Master’s of Health Services Administration at George Washington University.
Rebecca G. Baker, Ph.D.
Rebecca G. Baker, Ph.D., is the director of the Helping to End Addiction Long-term SM Initiative, or NIH HEAL InitiativeSM, in the Office of the Director, NIH. Dr. Baker leads coordination of NIH HEAL Initiative programmatic activities between the Office of the Director and relevant Institutes and Centers (ICs). She manages the Office of the NIH HEAL Initiative, including NIH HEAL Initiative staff, and oversees management of NIH HEAL Initiative governance committees. Dr. Baker helped develop the NIH HEAL Initiative, working closely with NIH and IC leadership. She also provides expert advice to and represents the NIH Director on initiative-related activities, including interagency efforts in pain and opioid research and policy.
Prior to holding this position, Dr. Baker was special assistant to the NIH Director and the Principal Deputy Director working directly with NIH leadership to analyze complex biomedical research policy issues and assist in the development of new science and policy initiatives. Before that, she worked in the NIH Office of Science, Outreach, and Policy, where she worked on legislative, communications, and policy issues. Dr. Baker also worked in the NIH Office of Science Policy, where she contributed to the development and implementation of the NIH Genomic Data Sharing Policy. Previously, she worked as a postdoctoral scientist using next-generation DNA sequencing to identify novel disease-causing genes in patients with rare immunological diseases. She earned her Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania and her bachelor's degree from Cornell University.
Kathleen Burke, PhD.
Dr. Kathleen Burke is the Director of Substance Use Initiatives in the Will County Executive Jennifer Bertino-Tarrant's office. In this role, Burke manages the Illinois Drug Overdose Prevention Project in Will County and serves as a member of the Illinois Opioid Crisis Response Advisory Council. Dr. Burke offers naloxone training to law enforcement and citizens of Will County to prevent overdose deaths. She is a member of the Governor State University Addictions Studies and Behavioral Health Advisory Committee, the Will County Mobilizing for Action through Planning and Partnerships Collaborative Executive Committee and Stepping Stones Treatment Center Board of Directors. Burke has advanced several new programs to address opioid use including Recovery Coach training program, medically-assisted treatment, Safe Passage police deflection program, emergency room warm handoffs and recovery housing. Burke holds degrees in Health Care Administration from Penn State (Bachelor of Science), Rush University (Master of Science) and a PhD in Policy Studies in Urban Education from the University of Illinois at Chicago.
Shawn West-Marconi
Shawn Marconi is the Executive Director of the Will-Grundy Medical Clinic. She is responsible for leading the only free safety-net clinic serving the two-county area of Will and Grundy. She is a member of Will County Mobilizing for Action through Planning and Partnerships Collaborative Executive Committee. She is also a member of Agencies United. Shawn works to help improve access to healthcare for the uninsured and under-insured, homeless, immigrant and other vulnerable populations. The clinic is a member of the Will County Continuum of Care. Shawn has a Master’s in Business Administration from Lake Forest Graduate School of Management.
Nicole Garrett
Nicole Garrett is a Program Manager for Community Planning and the MAPP Collaborative at the Will County Health Department. Nicole joined the Health Department as an Intern and shortly after graduation accepted a position as a health inspector for the environmental health division of the agency, and now for the last 2 years works as the MAPP Collaborative Coordinator for the County. Her talents include public health outreach, research, evaluation, public speaking, and education. including Nicole has a Master’s Degree of Public Health from George Washington University in Washington DC.
Connie Dewall
Connie Dewall is the Program Manager for the Will County Substance Use Initiatives, Recovery Coach and Rapid Response programs. Connie is a person in long term recovery whose mission is to help others who are struggling by sharing her experience, strength, and hope. Connie received her associate degree in Applied Psychology from Phoenix College in Arizona. She has certificates in Mental Health First Aide, Suicide Prevention Gatekeeper Program, Governor State University Recovery Coach Program, and Multi-Cultural Leadership Academy. Prior to receiving her position with Will County, she was employed with Stepping Stones Treatment Center for 10 years.