With Naperville’s 2025 consolidated election approaching in April, several candidates are vying to snag seats on the Naperville Park Board and on the Naperville District 203 and Indian Prairie District 204 school boards.
Naperville Park Board
Six candidates have filed to run for one of four seats open on the Naperville Park Board of Commissioners in the spring, according to district spokeswoman Sameera Luthman.
Commissioners whose seats are up for election are Rhonda Ansier, Mary Gibson, Leslie Ruffing and Alison Thompson. All but Gibson, currently the board’s president, have all filed for reelection. Gibson has instead filed to run for Naperville City Council.
Ansier, Ruffing and Thompson were all elected for their first terms in 2021.
Outside of her work on the board, Ansier is a nurse practitioner for Suburban Gynecology & Urogynecology.
Ruffing has been a Naperville resident since 2012. She spent 15 years working as a structured settlement annuity broker before becoming the district director for state Sen. Laura Ellman, D-Naperville, according to her LinkedIn page.
Thompson, who grew up in Naperville, runs her own business, Alison Thompson Photography. She also works as an administrative assistant for Stern Cassello & Associates, per her LinkedIn profile.
Rounding out the field of candidates are three newcomers: Zachary W. Jarrell, Natalia Dagenhart and Aishwarya Balakrishna.
Naperville D203 board
Six candidates, including two incumbents, have filed to run for four seats on the Naperville District 203 board.
Candidates include incumbents Amanda McMillen and Charles Cush who are joined on the ballot by Holly Joy Blastic, Margaret Collins, Jillian Langer and Marc Willensky, according to the DuPage County Clerk’s Office.
Voters will select four people for four-year terms.
Incumbents Donna Wandke and Kristin Fitzgerald did not file to run for reelection.
Cush, appointed to the board in 2016, is the parent of two District 203 graduates. He currently serves on the board’s diversity and finance committees. Professionally, Cush spent more than 20 years in the health care industry as a marketing and sales executive. He has also authored and self-published a children’s book, “From Acorns to Oak Trees.”
McMillen was first elected in 2021 and has children who attend Lincoln Junior High, Jefferson Junior High and Naperville Central High School. A licensed clinical social worker, she is the executive director of the Alive Center for Teens.
Blastic is a Naperville volunteer with the Illinois chapter of Moms Demand Action. Langer, a Realtor and veteran, is a member of the Rotary Club of Naperville.
Indian Prairie D204 board
At Indian Prairie, five candidates — including four incumbents — have filed to run for four, four-year terms.
Candidates include Naperville residents Susan Demming, Laurie Donahue, Allison Fosdick and Supna Jain and Aurora resident Allison Albert, according to the DuPage County Clerk’s office.
Demming, Donahue, Fosdick and Jain are all incumbents. Donahue is the current board president with Demming serving as vice president and Jain the board secretary.
Donahue, a retired senior director in the telecom industry, has lived in Naperville for more than 40 years. She has served as an active volunteer and leader in several community organizations, including the animal-assisted therapy program at Edward Hospital, the League of Women Voters and Naperville’s Sister City Commission.
Demming is a public relations, marketing and workforce development consultant. She’s been an active member of Indian Prairie since her children entered the district in 2001, with experience serving as a charter member of the Project Arrow PTA and a member of the district’s Citizens Communications Advisory Committee.
Jain is a senior lecturer for North Central College. She is also the director of North Central’s Speaking Center, which provides one-on-one public speaking assistance to students. Jain previously taught at Illinois State University and College of DuPage.
Fosdick is an adjunct professor of English at Aurora University. In addition to serving on the school board, she has also been vice president of Neuqua Valley High School’s Orchestra Parents Association and is an active member of Magical Starlight Theatre, which is part of the Naperville Park District.
Michelle Mullins is a freelance reporter for the Naperville Sun.
