What’s going on at Amcore Bank these days? The Rockford-based middle market banker has established a significant footprint in suburban Chicago the past three years. But recently two local market presidents, Kevin Brown in Wheaton and Brian England in Woodridge, have joined the competition. Then, last month, CEO Ken Edge announced his retirement. England has been named the president of Leaders Bank’s new Naperville office.

Other high profile bankers who have moved on recently were Frank Slocumb, who retired from Harris Bank, and Hugh McLean, who left PrivateBank & Trust Co. Slocumb, who spent his entire career at the Harris, served as president of Harris Bank Naperville for 13 years and was well known in the community as someone who willingly gave his time on local boards and volunteer organizations. McLean opened the first Private Bank office in Oak Brook 12 years ago. He plans to continue working in the industry.

PrivateBank has experienced some significant personnel changes recently having hired numerous bankers from LaSalle which was sold to Bank of America. BofA, meanwhile, has notified its new LaSalle customers that rebranding will take effect May 5, with the Bank of America name replacing LaSalle’s. News early on was that the best known LaSalle sponsorship, for the Chicago Marathon, will be carried on by BofA, hence, next fall, the Bank of America Chicago Marathon.

We were saddened by the recent death of Jerry Nelson, publisher and founder of Nelson’s Today, the Wheaton-based lifestyle publication. Nelson had a diverse career as a reporter for the Detroit News, working in public relations for major agencies and his own company, and wrote travels books. Our condolences to his wife and business partner Sherry and their family.

Continuing signs of the decline of Krispy Kreme was the recent shuttering of its first Chicago area store on Harlem Avenue at 58th Street in Summit. It wasn’t all that long ago when there were lines of cars around the block filled with people who had driven miles for the sugary treat. No matter how sweet, it’s a sure bet that no business model is safe from a changing customer environment.

Chicago area handball players, admittedly a small group, have been organizing to protest the planned demolition of outdoor handball courts at Gordon Park in LaGrange. The courts are adjacent to the property of the former West Suburban YMCA, which has been sold for a condominium development. The courts are on park district land and annually host several tournaments attracting top players from throughout the U.S. and Europe. Also slated for the scrap heap are the grand old tobaggon runs down in Palos Hills, which for years have drawn enthusiasts for winter fun.

Guess what Jack Ryan is up to now? The one-time Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate has very quietly launched six suburban community newspapers in the fast-growing far southwest suburbs. His company, 22nd Century Media, LLC, delivers 100,000 newspapers each week to households and businesses in Orland Park, Tinley Park, Mokena, Frankfort, Homer Glen and New Lenox following a business model not seen since the 1970s before most suburban communities matured.

And, speaking of community newspapers, the four struggling newspapers that represented the last of the once great Lerner Newspaper chain on Chicago’s north side have been sold to Wednesday Journal Publishing of Oak Park.

Barbara Dwyer, the well-known and well-regarded Community Development Director for Benedictine University, has reduced her time commitment in anticipation of leaving before the end of the year to spend more time with family. It seems as if we saw Barb at every local business event. She will be missed.

The Naperville Area Chamber of Commerce hosted a very successful regional economic forecast event in March at the Holiday Inn Select. The attendance and the panel discussion of economic and financial experts were excellent. But NACC also proved that you can only keep business people so long before they get itchy pants and need to get back to the office. One and a half hours max is about it. By the time this three-hour event was over, you could almost count the people in the room on your fingers.