Governors State University Board of Trustees Chair
Jim Kvedaras is a nearly lifelong resident of Chicago’s far south suburbs. He and his wife Cathy currently reside in the west suburban area and have two adult children and three grandchildren. He received his Bachelors of Business Administration from Governors State University and his MBA from Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management.
Jim retired after 37 years in the railroad industry, working for one of the large “Class 1” international freight railroads. He established a pattern of assuming roles of increased management responsibility across a number of departments, including as Director of U.S. Government Affairs, where he managed state and local Government Affairs for sixteen states.
Previous roles included positions in Public Affairs (including as spokesman for the company’s U.S. operations), Contracts and Agreements, Corporate Development (strategic planning), and several sub-departments in engineering. One of his personal highlights throughout his career has been in reaching out to newer employees in an informal mentoring capacity, encouraging them in ways to build their own professional skills sets, improving their competence and confidence.
While he participated in various community organizations during his working career, including baseball and soccer coaching for area youth athletics organizations, he also participated for years on the Dean’s advisory committee for Governors State University’s College of Business.
He now continues to give of his personal time on boards and committees for several organizations. He is in his second term as Trustee for Governors State University (and Board Secretary) and represents GSU on the State Universities Civil Service System’s Merit Board. He is a longtime Director and Executive committee member for the Cancer Support Center of Homewood and Mokena, IL. He also donates time and energy as a volunteer for his local food pantry, in various capacities.
A believer in lifelong learning, he looks forward to the challenges of helping provide guidance and direction to the state’s University College system and their student bodies.