Center on Halsted's board of directors has announced that Modesto 'Tico' Valle will be promoted to executive director effective July 1. On that date, Valle will have served as the Center's deputy executive director for three years.
Valle has been a leader of nonprofit organizations and an LGBT activist in Chicago since 1986. He has served on the boards of Equality Illinois and Horizons Community Services ( now Center on Halsted ) , and on the national board of the NAMES Project Foundation. Valle also founded NAMES Project Chicago and served as its board chairman.
Valle was appointed acting executive director of Horizons/Center on Halsted in 2002 and served in that capacity until 2004, when Center on Halsted hired Robbin Burr. Burr and Valle then worked together on the Center's programs and to complete the organization's $20 million capital campaign for a new building on 3656 N. Halsted that will celebrate its grand opening in June. Burr will step down in what she told Windy City Times in January ( when the Center announced her exit ) is 'a well-thought-out and good business decision, both for the Center and me.'
'Tico's expertise and experience were invaluable to me when I arrived from the corporate sector,' Burr said in a statement announcing Valle's appointment. 'I was able to place complete faith in Tico's ability to manage staff and programs, enabling me to go out and successfully increase our fundraising and expand constituencies.' Valle added that he has 'learned a lot from Robbin over the past three years.'
The announcement regarding Valle ends a selection process that began in January. A committee chaired by COH board member Denise Foy conducted the search.
A public dedication ceremony of the new building is planned for the first week in June, to be followed by a gala opening celebration, Out & Open, on June 8.
In addition to numerous programs, the new Center on Halsted will house many LGBT community organizations, including the Association for Latino Men for Action ( ALMA ) , Amigas Latinas, 4+1 Productions, the Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce, and the Windy City Rainbow Alliance of the Deaf.
See www.centeronhalsted.org .