SPRINGFIELD – The Illinois Manufacturers’ Association (IMA) announced Dec. 3 that former Champaign County Clerk Gordy Hulten has been hired as IMA’s vice president of external affairs, which is a new position within the association.
As vice president of external affairs, IMA said Hulten “will oversee its communications and advocacy efforts to help advance policy objectives and grow the IMA brand.”
“Gordy’s unique talents and expertise will help strengthen the IMA’s brand at the state capitol and throughout Illinois,” income IMA President and Chief Executive Officer Mark Denzler said in the statement. “We’re in a new era of advocacy with rapidly changing communications.”
Gordy Hulten
| ima-net.org
In addition, Denzler said Hulten “has a record of accomplishment and is well respected for his innovation and strategic vision in the public and private sector.”
Hulten comes to the IMA after having served two terms as Champaign County Clerk. While serving as Clerk, Hulten was president of the Illinois Association of County Clerks and Recorders and was named County Clerk of the Year in 2016.
Hulten also served eight years in the U.S. Army Reserve as a combat engineer.
“I’m excited to be joining one of the most respected and effective business organizations in the country,” Hulten said in the IMA release. “Manufacturing is the backbone of our economy and critical to our state’s success. I look forward to enhancing the IMA’s profile and presence in Illinois.”
The IMA said it is focused “on building an influential, innovative, and respected advocacy program that will advance policies designed to grow the state’s manufacturing sector that currently employs 570,000 men and women on factory floors today.”
According to the release, the IMA is the only statewide association of its kind and is the largest state manufacturing trade association in the country. The association represents nearly 4,000 companies and facilities throughout Illinois.