About Us  

We are pleased to welcome Mr. Jac A. Charlier to Career Advancement Network as the Director of Strategic Initiatives.  In this role, Jac will be responsible for expanding business relationships, implementing new initiatives, and project management.  Jac brings a strong incorporation of research as a practitioner, and will undertake projects with the goal of improving outcomes to our signature program, “Career Passport”.  Jac brings over 18 years of public service experience, and for the last 16 years has been a public safety focused, criminal justice leader in offender reentry initiatives.  He is a regular speaker at national conferences regarding Illinois’ reentry efforts.
 
      In his most recent role prior to joining Career Advancement Network, Jac was an accomplished senior manager with the State of Illinois for nearly 6 years and was responsible for 17 Supervisors and 275 line staff with budget responsibility of approximately $40 million.  Over the course of his career, Jac was chosen to lead new initiatives under 4 separate administrations and was selected to be the 1st facilitator of the Statewide Reentry (prisoner) Program Oversight Council.  Jac also has a long commitment to ending violence against women.  He led the development of the first-ever Parole Agent Domestic Violence training program and began a collaborative project regarding sex trafficking.  Jac has a proven background in leadership development.  During his tenure with the state of Illinois, he created a model for leadership development that resulted in 9 staff members being selected for supervisory roles or special positions, more than any other supervisor.  


        Jac has taught at Loyola University (2006) in their criminal justice graduate program and continues as a recurring guest lecturer.  In addition, starting in August, 2010 Jac will be teaching criminal justice research methods at Governors State University, and also an introduction to criminal justice course at St. Xavier University.  Jac also possesses 15 years of experience as a criminal justice adjunct trainer and will be training with NEMRT (North East Multi-Regional Training) during their Winter 2010/2011 season.


        Jac has 8 years leadership experience in Lutheran Advocacy-Illinois, an organization that he helped to develop in its current form.  Lutheran Advocacy is a statewide social justice organization brokering relationships with members of the Illinois State Legislature and citizens from across the State.  These efforts led to the formation of the largest such advocacy organization of its kind in Illinois.  


        Jac has over 20 years experience as an engaged citizen and currently also serves his neighborhood as a member of the board for his local community organization.  He is an active member of the American Legion having served 11 years in the military, both as an enlisted soldier and commissioned officer, achieving the rank of Captain.  Jac has extensive involvement with youth having earned the rank of Eagle Scout with the Boy Scouts of America and being subsequently recruited to serve as a District Commissioner for 2 terms with the Chicago Area Council, Boy Scouts of America.  He is a member of the National Eagle Scout Association.


       Jac brings excellent value and unique skills to Career Advancement Network and we extend a warm welcome to our organization.

Mark Kaufman
John Suffern
Prior to forming Career Advancement Network, Mr. Kaufman oversaw Marriott International's welfare to work program, Pathways to Independence, in the Midwest Region for six years. He was responsible for program start-up, contracting, fiscal oversight, and performance management in fifteen cities. He managed the only Department of Labor contract ($3.5 million) awarded to the private sector under welfare to work and was lead developer of Marriott’s Career Advancement Training program.

Also during that time Mr. Kaufman

  • Served as Executive on Loan to the National Welfare to Work Partnership

  • Served as Founding Chairperson, Chicago Hospitality Industry Consortium

  • Sat on Illinois Governor George Ryan's Transition Team for Job Training

  • Served as Board Member, City of Chicago’s Welfare Reform Task Force

  • Served as Board Member, State of Illinois Literacy Council

His programs received awards from the state of Michigan’s Workforce Board and the Department of Labor.

 

 Mr. Suffern has 19 years of management experience in the areas of information data management, workforce development, business development, customer relations, operational and project management, financial planning, and debt management. His range of expertise includes the following:

  • extensive recruiting experience in the employment industry, resulting in market growth in excess of 38 percent,

  • responsibility for fiscal management and budgetary systems in excess of 25 million dollars,

  • development of customized workforce training programs,

  • created Strategic Sales Training for regional sales team, improving client relations and customer satisfaction, and

  • developed quality assurance programs to ensure customer satisfaction and quality standards.

John has six years experience working with the leader in government outsourcing of workforce development programs at MAXIMUS, Inc. He had responsibility for City of Chicago, Cook County, and State of Illinois contracts totally over $14 million dollars in revenue during his tenure. John has a Bachelor of Arts in Business Administration from Beloit College, Beloit Wisconsin, 1984. John is trained in Professional Selling Skills, certified in Miller-Heiman Strategic Sales Training, and is becoming a Certified Examiner for the Lincoln Foundation for Performance Excellence.