CONTACT:CHRIS RUYS COMMUNICATIONS, INC.
Chris Ruys (312) 337-7746
E-mail: chris@chrisruys.com

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Attorney John E. Thies has been elected secretary of the Illinois State Bar Association (ISBA) by the organization's 25-member board, which directs the operations and activities of the state's largest bar association.

Thies is a shareholder in the Urbana law firm of Webber & Thies, P.C. where he concentrates in business representation, general litigation, employment law and health insurance law.

A member of the ISBA Assembly since 1996, he was elected to the board in 2001. Thies has served on numerous bar association committees and has been a frequent speaker at bar functions. He is a Fellow of the Illinois and American Bar Foundations, and was recently appointed by Chief Justice Mary Ann McMorrow of the Illinois Supreme Court to committee of bar association leaders to evaluate judicial election reform. From 2000 to 2004, he served on the "Campaign for Land of Lincoln" for the Land of Lincoln Legal Assistance Foundation.

Active in the community, Thies is president of the Cunningham Children's Home Foundation; a past chair of Champaign-Urbana Community Schools Foundation, Volunteer Center of Champaign County, and Education Committee of Urbana Chamber of Commerce; and a past co-chair of Urbana High School Alumni Association. He also served on the board of the Champaign-Urbana Kiwanis Club and United Way of Champaign County, and was a Board of Trustees member of First Presbyterian Church of Urbana.

The 30,000-member Illinois State Bar Association, with offices in Springfield and Chicago, provides professional services to Illinois lawyers, and education and services to the public.

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