A capital construction program manager from Darien is the newest member of the Hinsdale High School District 86 Board.
District 86 officials said 15 people applied to fill the vacancy that occurred June 29 when Nancy Pollak resigned because she moved out of the district.
After interviewing four candidates, the School Board chose Tamakia (TJ) Edwards, who joined the board at a special meeting Monday.
Edwards is the capital construction program manager and project executive for the General Services Administration’s Public Buildings Service in the Great Lakes region, District 86 officials said. The General Services Administration provides centralized procurement for the federal government, including managing workspaces, buildings and services.
Edwards provides recommendations for ongoing projects, major renovations, the adaptive reuse of existing assets and potential new construction, the district said in a statement.
She has three sons: Chase, a seventh grader at Eisenhower Junior High; Messiah, a recent graduate of Hinsdale South High School; and Damarius, who works as an analyst at Goldman Sachs and lives in Chicago.
Edwards also started a consulting business, called Inner-View Coaching and Consulting Services, to help technical professionals find their desired job by improving their performance and self-awareness.
She serves on a District 86 special committee that together with the district’s facilities committee discusses and provides input on the progress of the ongoing construction projects funded by the 2019 referendum.
Edwards has a bachelor’s degree in architectural engineering from the Illinois Institute of Technology and earned her master’s from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University.
“We are excited to have someone with her knowledge and experience joining our team, and look forward to working alongside her in the year ahead to provide our students with a healthy and safe environment in which to pursue their ideal future,” School Board President Kevin Camden said in a statement.
“I consider it a true privilege to serve a community that has meant so much to me and my family,” Edwards said. “I am ready to begin the critical work that must be done to help our students learn, grow and achieve.”
She will fill the remainder of Pollak’s four-year term, which ends in April 2021.
Camden thanked everyone who applied for the vacancy and who volunteer in many other ways to help the district’s students. He also thanked Pollak for her dedication to the district and the community.
“We are incredibly fortunate to live in a place where people not only believe in the importance of education and the benefits of a strong school system, but are willing to dedicate their time, effort and energy to help our students succeed both in and out of the classroom,” Camden said.
