Profiles

Without a doubt, comics have emerged as a much-loved 21st-century art form. Could it get any better? When native Italians apply their mastery and artistic acumen to the task, there can only be one answer — and you don’t need Superman to skywrite it for you. Better still, a successful Italian school that trains future comic book artists and storytellers recently landed in the United States. The International School of Comics (known in Italy as Scuola International di Comics) is up and running in Chicago. Founder and president Dino Caterini chose the city because of its reputation for nurturing new …

During the holiday season, I met at one of my favorite Chicago landmarks, the Palmer House, with the three women who founded the lifestyle blog “The Sister Project.” When Nicole, Michelle, and Lauren Massarella walked in, I immediately knew we would become fast friends. Although I knew quite a bit about them already from reading their blog, it was another experience entirely to watch them interact with each other. Each in their own way is unique and beautiful, and together the whole is far greater than the sum of its parts. We settled in for a fun few hours surrounded …

Photo by Mark Seliger. At least the story starts in familiar fashion: Christian Picciolini’s parents emigrated from Italy to the United States, where they would meet, marry, raise a family and work hard at building a successful small business. But without his parents around to attend his school functions and sports game, Picciolini turned to a heartbreaking place to find his identity: the American white supremacist skinhead movement. He wasn’t even 14 at the time. “Hell, I had no idea who I wanted to be — aside from Rocky Balboa, of course,” says Picciolini, who has Italian lineage on both …

This month we highlight the distinguished career of a bright young man from our community, Michael E. Matarazzo, a dynamic professional in the financial field. Michael has a wealth of educational and professional experience, presently serving as a Regional Vice President of Nationwide Financial. No small feat for such a young person. In this capacity, he manages the distribution of Nationwide Mutual Funds to all the major investment banks and broker dealers in Chicago. He consults and partners with financial advisors on asset allocation, security selection and financial planning concerns. Michael has been recognized in his field, an example of …

This month we highlight the distinguished career of highly respected academic leader, John P. Pelissero. John P. Pelissero, Ph.D., became interim president at Loyola University Chicago on July 1, having previously served as provost. He is also a political science professor at Loyola, where he has been a member of the faculty for 30 years. He joined Loyola’s Department of Political Science as an assistant professor in 1985, was promoted to associate professor in 1988, and then to professor in 1993. He served as chairperson of the Department of Political Science from 1999 to 2002. Dr. Pelissero’s university leadership roles …

At a time when too many comics try to wow an audience through rapid-fire delivery, Chicago comic Jimmy Carrane has honed the slow burn, winning audiences with sly subtlety, and leaving them in stitches. Then again, Carrane had to figure something out as a kid. The son of a Calabrese father and a half-Calabrese, half-Irish mother, Carrane was one of five siblings vying to take center stage. “It was a very boisterous loud Italian family, and the thing is we loved to laugh,” he recalls. “They had so many kids we were kind of neglected, but making them laugh was …

This month we highlight the distinguished career of prominent lawyer, litigator and government leader James P. Montana. Montana’s father, James Sr., was also a lawyer, highly respected attorney and community leader, truly beloved and well known and a moving force for decades in the successful growth of the 97-year-old Justinian Society of Lawyers. Of his dad, Jim says, “He had a neighborhood office and one downtown. He mostly represented individual clients. He did a good job for them. That influenced me the most about becoming a lawyer.” One of the things that makes him most proud is when he walks …

If you think it’s a long way from the Chicago to the South Pacific, then you haven’t watched Lawrence E. DiStasi making magic on stage. And magic isn’t too strong a word: As a founding member of Lookingglass Theatre, DiStasi helped conjure from thin air a theater company that has become a Chicago gem. And it’s with that troupe that he took to the stage as Long John Silver. To pirate from Shakespeare, it was a question of to argh, or not to argh. Here’s why: For the production, which ran through Jan. 31, DiStasi did his digging to find out whether …

            Umberto Davi of Willowbrook, a principal in the Western Springs Law Firm of Umberto S. Davi P.C., was installed as president of the Illinois State Bar Association at the organization’s 139th Annual Meeting on June 19 at the Grand Geneva Resort in Lake Geneva, Wis. “Umberto is not only a lawyer’s lawyer, he is a gentleman’s gentleman,” Illinois Supreme Court Justice Thomas Kilbride stated as he swore Davi in as president. “He brings to the presidency a classic combination of leadership, professionalism, humor, compassion, and the heart and soul of a hardworking small law …

Dr. Victoria Ursitti of Arlington Heights was recently elected to the Board of Trustees of the Illinois State Dental Society, a professional association of over 7,000 members. She was installed into office at the Society’s Annual Session at the Westin Chicago North Shore in Wheeling. Born in Brooklyn, New York, Dr. Ursitti received her Bachelor’s Degree from Cornell University in Nutritional Sciences and then earned her Doctorate of Dental Medicine from Tufts University in Boston. She spent two years in New York City practicing General Dentistry at Cornell University-New York Hospital before completing her advanced specialty training in Pediatric Dentistry …