Evanston Consulting Firm Awarded $5M Hurricane Sandy Recovery Contract

Hagerty Consulting was awarded a contract to help with Hurricane Sandy recovery.

New York City has awarded Evanston-based Hagerty Consulting a $5 million contract to help the city navigate federal regulations and obtain more than $5 billion in federal disaster-assistance funds for Hurricane Sandy recovery, the New York Post reported.  Former Evanston Chamber of Commerce President Steve Hagerty formed Hagerty Consulting, 1618 Orrington Ave., Ste. 201, in 2002. Since then, the company has helped government agencies, universities and private businesses in planning for and recovering from various disasters from the 2005 Hurricane Katrina disaster to the 9/11 terrorist attacks, according to the company's website.

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Evanston Chamber Elects New President

Sean O’Grady will assume the position.

The Evanston Chamber of Commerce recently announced it had elected Sean O’Grady, senior vice president at Evanston Hospital, as its new president. The chamber, which was founded in 1907, has over 1907 and claims to be “the only non-profit business organization in the region solely supported by private industry.” Earlier: Chamber to Honor WineStyles Owners, Others A chamber of commerce press release, portions of which are printed below, elaborated on O’Grady’s personal life and accomplishments: Mr. O’Grady began his NorthShore career with NorthShore University Health System Medical Group in 2007 as Vice President, Specialty Practices. He has been Senior Vice President at Evanston Hospital since October, 2008. Prior to joining NorthShore, Mr…

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Chamber to Honor WineStyles Owners, Others

The awards will be presented Tuesday at the Evanston Chamber of Commerce's annual meeting. The founders of the Actors Gymnasium Circus & Performing Arts School, as well as Paul and Cease Giddings, will be honored.

The Evanston Chamber of Commerce has named Maggie and Dean Noonan, owners of WineStyles, as its Small Business Person of the Year, according to a Chamber press release. "They have transformed their Sherman Avenue shop into a warm, welcoming environment with strong community involvement," the release says. The couple will be honored Tuesday at the Chamber's 92nd annual meeting. Additionally, Paul and Cease Giddings will receive the Community Leadership Award, and Larry and Sylvia Hernandez-Stasi, who co-founded the Actors Gymnasium Circus & Performing Arts School, will receive the Non-Profit Leadership award. Below is more information from the Chamber's press release: CHAMBER ANNUAL MEETING HONORS SERVICE TO COMMUNITY AND BUSINESS …

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About Town

Why Don't We Have A Visitors' Center?

A recent trip to Madison, Wisconsin made me realize: we may be overlooking the obvious.

This past weekend, I traveled to Madison, Wisconsin to visit my sister and her family.  You may recall from an earlier post that they used to live in Evanston but decided to move to Madison for a variety of very rational reasons. Madison’s a town that’s frequently compared to Evanston.  They’re both college towns.  They’re both situated on lakes.  They both have vibrant, intellectual, artistic and vocal populations.  Neither town is afraid to show its “funk.” While walking down Madison’s main drag, I was struck by how similar – and dissimilar – the two towns actually are. Madison and Evanston both have their share of businesses (the “usual suspects” if you will) which sustain many college towns:  Urban Outfitters, American Apparel, Noodles…

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Jennifer Fisher

1:09 pm on Monday, August 6, 2012

Folks, while we appreciate the debate that's going on here, some of the comments have strayed way off topic. We deleted them in order to encourage discussion of the subject of this article: a visitor's center in Evanston.   more ›