Governor Bruce Rauner announced today he has filled four seats on the Illinois Racing Board.
Name: Shelley Kalita
Position: Commissioner - Illinois Racing Board
Governor Bruce Rauner has selected Shelley Kalita, 62, of Chicago to serve as a commissioner on the Illinois Racing Board. It's a return to the Illinois Racing Board for Kalita, where she worked in various capacities for 33 years.
Kalita worked at the board from 1977 to 2010. She began her career there as a forensic chemist and was promoted to laboratory director in 1988. In that position she directed drug testing programs in Illinois horse racing and managed all aspects of lab testing and administrative operations. She also testified as an expert on drug matters in horse racing. From 2002 to 2010, she was the board's general counsel. In this capacity she was the legal adviser to the executive director, board members and staff. She also prepared and tried license hearings.
Currently, Kalita is the owner of her own law firm, the Kalita Law Group P.C. She focuses on practicing immigration and family law.
Kalita earned a bachelor's degree from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign in zoology. She holds a master's degree in forensic science from the University of Illinois, Chicago and a law degree from DePaul University.
Name: Travis Swoope
Position: Commissioner - Illinois Racing Board
Governor Bruce Rauner has selected Travis Swoope, 42, of Chicago to the Illinois Racing Board.
Swoope is currently an account executive for Microsoft, where he manages client relationships for the company's Midwest accounts. He has worked for Microsoft for more than nine years, and in this position, Swoope is responsible for $25 million in annual revenue.
Prior to his work at Microsoft, Swoope was a senior solution strategist at Centerpost Communications, which was a company that provided automated communications between companies and their customers. Swoope led sales and delivery teams in driving customer multi-channel solutions. Swoope also spent six years at Accenture where he led client engagements for large-scale financial services projects.
Swoope is a graduate of Case Western Reserve University, earning a bachelor's degree in management. He also holds an MBA from the University of Chicago.
Name: Jeffrey Brincat
Position: Commissioner and Chair - Illinois Racing Board
Governor Bruce Rauner announced today he has selected Jeffrey Brincat, 52, of Lake Forest to the Illinois Racing Board.
Brincat is currently the President and CEO a consumer finance company. He's worked there for more than 15 years.
Brincat is a veteran of the United States Marine Corps. He served our country for nearly seven years until 1990.
Brincat earned a bachelor's degree from the University of Illinois in 1984. He earned an MBA from Lake Forest College in 1995.
Name: Robert Muriel
Position: Commissioner - Illinois Racing Board
Governor Bruce Rauner has appointed Robert Muriel, 49, of Highland Park as a commissioner to the Illinois Racing Board.
Muriel owns and manages a small-business litigation firm, Muriel Law Offices, LLC. His practice focuses on commercial, real estate, intellectual property, professional liability and consumer litigation. He's owned this practice since 2005. Previously, he was a partner and owner of Nery & Muriel LLC from 2003 to 2004. Muriel has also worked at the law firms of Ungaretti & Harris and Hinshaw & Culbertson.
Muriel was a law clerk for Judge Allen Hartman in the Appellate Court of Illinois from 1994 to 1996.
Muriel graduated from the University of Illinois with two bachelor's degrees in accounting and finance, and he worked as a tax consultant for two years before attending law school. He earned his law degree from Loyola University Chicago in 1993.
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