Union League Club of Chicago Elects Charles H. Jesser, C.P.A., to its Board of Directors

Charles H. Jesser, C.P.A., was elected to the Board of Directors of the Union League Club of Chicago at the 134-year-old non-partisan, civic, cultural and philanthropic organization’s recent annual meeting.

The Deerfield, Illinois resident, who has served as a member of the Union League Club of Chicago’s finance, budget and house committees, will chair the Club’s admissions committee.

The Union League Club of Chicago traces its roots to 1862 when Chicago Tribune editor Joseph Medill and other Midwest civic leaders launched a movement in support of a somewhat fragile federal union under the banner, “Union League of America.” In December, 1879, the Chicago Club of the Union League of America was incorporated and in January, 1882 changed its name to the Union League Club of Chicago.

Today, the Club’s members are men and women who take an active role in a broad range of public, civic, cultural and philanthropic affairs that impact the Chicago metropolitan area, Illinois and surrounding states and the nation. The Club also is recognized as owning the oldest and most important collection of American fine art, more than 800 pieces, held by a private organization in the Midwest. 

Jesser, a Chicago native, is a graduate of DePaul University and a founding partner of Jesser, Ravid, Jason, Basso and Farber, LLP, a certified public accounting firm. Previously, he founded the accounting firm of Jesser and Farber, LLP in 1998. Earlier in his career, Jesser served as an auditor for the United States Treasury Department and the Harris Bank.

A member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, the Illinois CPA Society and the South Carolina Association of Certified Public Accountants, Jesser also serves in independent fiduciary positions for families, for-profit and not-for-profit organizations.

Throughout his professional career, Jesser has been an advocate of childhood civic causes. He is a founding board member of the William Guy Forbeck Research Foundation, of Hilton Head, South Carolina, a not- for- profit organization that focuses on pediatric oncology research through collaboration between scientists and clinicians to shorten the cancer research timetable.  He is also the former chairman of the board of Arden Shore Child and Family Services, Waukegan, Illinois, a philanthropic organization that serves foster and abused children.

 Jesser is a founding board member of Lukaba Productions, developer of the Belmont Theater District venue, Stage 773, home for hundreds of Chicago-based performing arts groups.

Jesser and his wife, Barbara, are the parents of Sara and Aaron along with daughter-in-law Darcy and grandparents of three: Lucy, Finley and Peyton.