HH_012518

8 | January 25, 2018 | The Homer Horizon news
homerhorizon.com
Homer Glen woman named to editorial, university boards
Murer shares
thoughts on her
career, advice for
other women
F. Amanda Tugade
Freelance Reporter
Throughout the years,
Cherilyn Murer has accepted
different roles and titles
under her name.
First and foremost, she is
devoted to her family. She is
a wife, a mother of two and
a grandmother of three.
In her professional circle,
she is a distinguished, trusted
colleague and a businesswoman
who has advocated
for quality, cost-effective
health care through her consulting
firm.
For Murer, that firm
pushed her career forward,
which blossomed into nearly
32 years of service and
gained clientele across the
United States, Europe and
the Middle East.
But that path did not present
itself to the Homer Glen
woman, who graduated
with a law degree. It was
her interest in operations
and experience at Northwestern
Memorial Hospital
that planted a seed of opportunity,
and she saw a need to
help and care for people.
Murer sold her firm last
January, only to launch a
new endeavor, CGM Advisory
Group LLC, a few
months later. And her efforts
to share her knowledge and
create awareness about the
issues that mean the most to
her have not stopped.
Last year, Murer became
the newest member of the
executive editorial board of
Chicago Woman magazine
and an officer for Lebanese
American University’s
Board of Trustees. In both
roles, Murer hopes to tap
into her own experiences
and build a platform for
other women, so they can
achieve and be successful
in their all sectors of their
lives.
In an interview with The
Homer Horizon, Murer candidly
opens up about her
positions, reflects on her
experience as a woman in
the workforce, and shares
lessons on her personal and
professional growth.
The Homer Horizon:
You have been named to the
executive editorial board of
Chicago Woman magazine.
What does that nomination
mean to you?
Cherilyn Murer: I’m
very excited about that. I’m
very impressed with the
direction of the magazine.
Kendra Chaplain is the
founder of the magazine,
and this is certainly a very
important time for women.
It is a time for us to deal
with issues that we’ve had
for decades. I’m very optimistic.
I think it’s a great
opportunity for leadership
for women, and I think Chicago
Woman magazine is
the voice of women from
all different sectors dealing
with multiple issues, both
positive and difficult. It’s
the era of the woman, and I
think this is a great vehicle
for discussion.
Homer Glen resident Cherilyn Murer was named the
newest member of the executive editorial board of Chicago
Woman magazine and an officer for Lebanese American
University’s Board of Trustees. Photo submitted
HH: What challenges do
you think that the women of
today face, especially in the
workforce?
CM: I think we’re facing
a lot of the things that
we’ve been facing, and that
is striving for true equality,
that women should be treated
no differently than men,
with flaws and issues and
strengths and assets.
But we haven’t gotten
there yet.
I hope we don’t get too
reactionary; there’s a lot of
pressure right now. This is
a good time. We’re talking
about issues of discrimination
and harassment. We’ve
been talking about this for a
long time, but we’re really
coming to a head right now.
And I think this is a time
for women to take a leadership
role to bring some
balance back because we
cannot really thrive in our
environment of negativity. I
think that’s very important.
We don’t thrive in negativity.
So, what we have to do,
is we have to turn things
around.
I’d like to see women on
boards; I’ve been an advocate
for that for a long, long
time. I think some of the European
countries — Germany
and France — have taken
a much stronger stance on
mandating the percentage of
women to be on corporate
boards. I think, perhaps, we
might not have had these issues
of harassment if there
had been a great balance of
women on boards.
So, this is an opportunity,
and what we need to
do is turn this into something
very positive and help
women not only address
the difficulties that they’re
facing but use this to be
able to make change. And I
hope we have a great deal of
change.
I think this is important:
We have to do it in partnership
with men — with our
husbands, our sons, our
brothers. And our bosses —
whether a man is a boss or
people report to you — we
need to come together and
address these problems, not
just as men and women, but
we need to do it together.
HH: I appreciate that you
say women work together
with men to create change,
but I think there’s something
to be said about women
supporting other women,
as well.
CM: Listen! Oh, absolutely!
I think that it is a
responsibility and an obligation
that women help and
support each other. That’s
why being on the editorial
board of the Chicago
Women is very important to
me because I’ll be writing a
column for the magazine on
leadership, for women on
leadership. So, absolutely.
I think that has to be
something that goes through
generation after generation.
It has to be practiced. My
daughter is an anesthesiologist,
and I’ve always said
to her, ‘You’ve had great
opportunities and great
successes. Put your hand
down and help someone
else.’… I think women need
to support each other. That
doesn’t mean that we can’t
disagree, that we can’t be
competitive, but we need to
be supportive.
HH: You are also the
first woman officer recently
elected to the Board of
Trustees of Lebanese American
University. What does
that accomplishment mean
to you?
CM: I’m very excited
about that. This is a university
that was founded in
1865 as a women’s college
in Beirut. It’s charted in
New York, so it’s an American
university … The campuses
are in New York, Beirut
and Byblos.
I think that this is just very
important, and I don’t think
it was anything deliberate in
not having a woman officer
before. It had always been
and continues to be predominantly
men on a 24-member
board. It is a wonderful
university; it is one that is
sensitive to women’s issues.
… It does wonderful
work around the work, and
I think this is just a reflection
of how LAU continues
to be forward thinking and
working diligently to ensure
equality in the truest sense
of the word.
HH: What advice do
you have for professional
women, both young and
seasoned, on cultivating
their careers or confronting
hardships?
CM: I smile when you
say that because that’s so
important to me. I think it
is very important to look
at life as the glass half-full
and to have a passion and to
have an energy and to look
at things, like what’s going
right instead of what’s going
wrong.
And understand that it’s
hard work, and sometimes
life’s not fair, but rather on
focusing on that, make life
a little more fair. I have always
loved what I do. I love
what I do today. I love what I
did with my firm. It’s an energy
that I think transcends
to other people, and I think
it’s also very important that
there’s a consciousness of
responsibility to family.
We have two children. We
have a son and a daughter. I
mentioned my daughter’s an
anesthesiologist. Our son is
a professor of political science
at [the University of]
St Andrews in Scotland. We
have three grandchildren.
I think, you know, that
how you live your day, every
day, will help the next
generation determine how
they will live their day,
every day. So, if they see
respect, if they see joy, if
they see when you have difficulties,
well how do you
deal with that? Do you take
it one step at a time? And
some things are more difficult
than others.
Hopefully, you have a really
strong support system.
Call on that support system.
Don’t try and do everything
yourself. Those things are
really keys to not only being
successful, but being happy.
HH: And if you could
give your former self some
advice, what would you
say?
CM: I’d probably surprise
you with this answer.
If I look back, I think that
I’ve learned from every-
Please see Murer, 13