Best Under 40: Chamber president takes relationships to the bank

It seems anywhere Whitney Cimaglia goes in Lombard, she runs into someone she knows.

That’s exactly how she likes it. Cimaglia is a people person, whether she’s working for a local bank, volunteering for local charities or shopping at the local grocery store.

“My husband for the last few years calls me the mayor,” she said.

The 28-year-old Lombard native, however, has no plans of running for public office anytime soon. She’s perfectly happy right where she is in her professional journey.

“I don’t think I’d want to move up anymore and lose the face-to-face interaction,” she said.

As vice president/branch sales manager for Republic Bank in Oak Brook, Cimaglia said she works directly with owners of small and moderate businesses to help them achieve their financial goals.

“I know my customers by name and I know what their business is and maybe about their family life and what keeps them up at night,” she said.

Banking is just one element of what roots Cimaglia in the community. She’s the board secretary at Tri-Town YMCA, she serves Meals on Wheels for the DuPage Senior Citizens Council and she rings the Salvation Army bell outside Yorktown Mall.

And she’s not just a member of the Lombard Area Chamber of Commerce and Industry. She’s the president.

Cimaglia was sworn in as president in January and said the first few months were challenging as she adjusted to the position. She credited members of the executive board with helping her find her footing.

“I don’t even think I knew what the chamber was until maybe five or six years ago so I definitely didn’t expect it,” she said of being president.

Now, nearly nine months into the job, she said she’s comfortable with her role and setting goals for the chamber’s future.

Attracting more members and expanding into neighboring communities are among Cimaglia’s goals before the end of her one-year term. And if they want her to stay on as president another year, she said she’d gladly continue the mission.

Joining the chamber as a 24-year-old proved to be an important step in her professional career. Despite being the youngest member, she said she immediately was welcomed by the others.

“Nobody ever treated me like some young kid that didn’t know about life,” she said.

Cimaglia hopes to extend that welcoming environment to others in the same situation. One idea is to create a chamber networking group specifically for young professionals.

“I think it would be a nice program because there are young people who attend networking functions that don’t feel as welcomed as I did.”

She also works with aspiring professionals when they’re even younger – sometimes much younger. Cimaglia has taught kindergartners and second-graders in Lombard as part of the Junior Achievement program and mentored a high school job shadower.

After piling up an impressive list of accomplishments before age 30, there’s still one title Cimaglia, who lives in Lombard with her husband, Eric Voelker, hopes to earn one day.

“I sure would like to be a mom someday. That’s probably a bigger job than anything else I’m doing right now.”

Then she might be ready for that run at public office.

“Who knows, maybe my husband’s right. Maybe I will be mayor,” she said with a laugh.