Gov. Pritzker Announces Two Appointments to Boards and Commissions

John Barker will serve as a Member of the Illinois State Museum Board.* Barker began his career over thirty years ago as a self-employed real estate developer specializing in residential and commercial projects in several cities across Illinois, and he is currently a Co-Owner of Barker Real Estate. He also serves as the Secretary and Director for Middletown State Bank. An active member of the community, Barker is a Member of the Vachel Lindsay Association and has been involved with Downtown Springfield, Inc and the Sangamon Club. Barker received a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Redlands.

Christine Caves will serve as a Member of the Illinois Workforce Innovation Board.* Caves is Vice President of Business & Economic Growth for the QC Chamber. She focuses on business attraction, business retention, and expansion activities for manufacturing and defense industries. Caves brings more than 20 years of experience working and consulting in state workforce systems, higher education, for-profit, and non-profit industries. She began her career working for the Central Texas Workforce System. There, she worked with veterans, dependents, and government contractors. Since moving back to the Quad Cities, Caves has served as a Workforce Coordinator for IowaWorks’ Title 1, WIOA programs. In that capacity, she served on the Davenport Schools Career & Technical Education Advisory Board and Eastern Iowa/Western Illinois Advanced Manufacturing Sector Board. Caves currently serves on the Business Committee of the Mississippi Valley Workforce Board in Iowa as well as the Local Illinois Workforce Innovation Board #13. She was recently nominated to represent the Mississippi Valley Workforce Board at the National Job Quality Academy Summit in Washington, DC this summer. Caves earned her Bachelors from the University of Wisconsin-Platteville and Masters in Psychology from the University of the Rockies.