Streator native Charles Bernardini answered his phone late Wednesday from Milan, Italy, and assured the weather was fine.

On Nov. 3, Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn appointed the Streator Township High School graduate chairman of the Global Markets Committee of Illinois' Economic Recovery Commission. The commission provides guidance to the state for dealing with the current economic downturn and providing long-term solutions.

That responsibility includes traveling thousands of miles overseas and attending meetings like the one Bernardini attended in Milan on Wednesday to encourage foreign companies to invest in Illinois.

"I'm here making a presentation for Illinois," Bernardini said. "This is a conference set up by the Italian government. They invited 40 leading regions of the world and of those, there are only three states from the U.S. — California, Massachusetts and Illinois."

Bernardini said Quinn tabbed him because of his experience in international business.

He was a past president of the Italian Chamber of Commerce of Chicago. He is a former alderman of Chicago's 43rd Ward and former Cook County Board member. He also served as managing director of the American Chamber of Commerce in Milan, Italy.

"Illinois has a lot to offer foreign companies. We have a strong work force. We're low cost compared to the coast, but we need to get the message out better,"Bernardini said. "We're trying to make better use of technology to send that message throughout the world."

Fluent in Italian, Bernardini's grandfather worked in the Cherry coal mine as an Italian-American immigrant. Bernardini visited Cherry this weekend for the centennial anniversary of the Cherry mine disaster.

While Bernardini lived and worked in Chicago since graduating from the University of Illinois, he said he owes part of his success to his education from the now-defunct St. Mary's Grade School and STHS.

"I stay in touch with Streator," said Bernardini, who said he recently attended a class reunion. "Streator is a great place to grow up and for children to grow up. I got a great education in Streator. Iremember that."