WEST SUBURBAN VIP | Meet Senator Jim Oberweis

JIM OBERWEIS FOR CONGRESS

WEST SUBURBAN CHICAGO–Jim was born and raised in Aurora and had lived in the same house for 42 years before moving to his current home. He has fond memories of his grandparents and their farm, and loved every chance he had to ride his bike with friends down to the Fox River after a day of chores. Jim grew up knowing the value of hard work, family commitment, and teamwork to get the job done right. After graduating from Marmion Military Academy, he went on to earn a B.A. from the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana, and an M.B.A. from the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business.

He kept it local and took his first job as a math and science teacher at Waldo Junior High School in Aurora; yet, never settling for status quo, he next launched Oberweis Asset Management which now manages approximately $3 billion in growth stock assets.

Jim might also have minor celebrity status for the guiding hand as Chairman of Oberweis Dairy and the success of 43 ice cream stores and restaurants with more than 1,200 employees, as well as his philanthropic endeavors with the Oberweis Foundation helping those less fortunate in our community.

Somewhere along the way, Jim found the time to not only get married, but have five children and 22 grandchildren (with 2 more on the way), while also maintaining a deep interest and familiarity in the policies implemented by the local, state and federal governments.

“Despite having been involved as a volunteer in the Republican Party, I did not seriously contemplate running for office until I finished raising my family and establishing my businesses,” Jim says. “The defining moments usually occurred annually on April 15 and on the semi-annual property tax due dates.”

Jim is frustrated that both Illinois government and the Federal government have the same problem, “They seem to see no correlation between spending and revenue streams, which leads to higher taxes, higher debt and an unstable financial foundation for American government and American society,” he says of why he is pursuing his role as a Congressman. His courage to continue to seek change comes from the gratification he has found in getting various bills signed into law as an Illinois Senator. “You hope your work will make the government function more efficiently and less expensively,” he says.

At the core, Jim values creating change for a better future, not only for his own family but for his community. -Kristen Kucharski

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