People Profile: Charlene Coulombe-Fiore

Charlene Coulombe-Fiore is a certified professional with over 22 years of experience in economic development. She has led the since 2009. MEDC is a not-for-profit corporation supported by the village of Montgomery and the business community.

Coulombe-Fiore’s experience includes all phases of the development process, from recruiting and marketing to negotiating and attracting businesses. When she was executive director for the Winnebago County Regional Planning and Economic Development Office from 2001-2004, she launched projects which increased investment in the community by $38 million, creating 1,213 new jobs while retaining 3,807 jobs, she says. She also implemented a $5.6 million bond program for first-time homebuyers.

Coulombe-Fiore was born in Chicago,  but her family moved to Berwyn when she was in second grade. She graduated from Morton West High School, and earned two associates degrees, one in marketing and one in travel and tourism. She worked at Continental Bank in Chicago for 11 years, in various positions: sales, marketing, consumer credit and customer service.

Her mother passed away five years ago, so she spends a lot of her time caring for her disabled sister. Her son Christopher is 21, and a student at Rock Valley Community College in Rockford.

Coulombe-Fiore has seven members serving on a board of directors, who assist her in decision-making that benefits the entire Montgomery community.

"The economic realities of today have meant that both the village and the membership of MEDC have gone down," she said. "Most not-for-profit organizations have been hurt with this recession. Developers and tradespeople have no new  buildings to construct, so their ability to assist us is reduced. But I know that prosperity will return and on that hope, I don’t plan to fail or to give up."

Dr. Neil Schlupp is the chairman of the MEDC, and he said that Coulombe-Fiore came on board with "the three E’s."

"She had the experience, the energy and the enthusiasm," he said. "She saw a lot of opportunities and took the community under her wing. Char saw that a lot of things were happening in Montgomery. She has the ability to work with local banks and to work with property owners to free up funds. She helped Fox River Foods to relocate, for example. Char is strong and in her position, she can effectively bring great resources to the village."

Brian Dolan, of Dolan and Murphy Real Estate (an MEDC member), agreed.

“The MEDC matches people and city hall for village economic growth," Dolan said. "Job retention is so important. Business retention and promotion for this local community generates tax revenues also.”

Dolan’s firm has been involved in annexing and zoning thousands of acres in Montgomery, Aurora and Kane County.

Coulombe-Fiore also said she wants to "create a strong foundation to redirect and raise funds and awareness to keep things moving along."

"When I was executive director of the Bolingbrook Local Development Corporation from 1995-2001, I increased job count by 11,560, the industrial base by 8.7 million square feet and retail base by 1 million square feet," she said. "I helped turn that bedroom community into the hottest suburb in Will County, and ranking No. 32 as one of the best places to live by Money Magazine.”

“My efforts in Cicero, where I was director of economic development from 1988-1995, changed an 87-percent vacancy rate to about a 28-percent rate," she said. "I like to accentuate the positive and build a team so that the results are much more than going it alone."

Christine Cione, a Buona Restaurant sales and marketing associate who has worked closely with Coulombe-Fiore, said she is "a dedicated professional who wants to improve the financial growth of the Montgomery community. She shows that by her strong will and determination to add a variety of businesses in the village.”

During her tenure with the MEDC, Coulombe-Fiore has assisted in business expansion, which kept employers from leaving the village and resulted in an additional $5 million investment in the Montgomery community. This effort also brought 60 new jobs and helped keep more than 440 existing ones.

Coulombe-Fiore has also reduced the MEDC's expenses by 30 percent. By all accounts, her professional relationships throughout Illinois, Wisconsin and Minnesota are valuable and valued.