Michael T. Tokarz was born in Chicago, Illinois in 1949. He graduated from Fenton High School, Bensenville, Illinois and received a BA in Economics, with High Distinction, from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He earned an MBA in Finance at the Graduate School of Business Administration, University of Illinois, Champaign, and subsequently earned a post-graduate certificate as a Certified Public Accountant.
Mr. Tokarz joined Continental Illinois National Bank & Trust Company of Chicago in 1973, rising to the level of Vice President and Manger of the New York and Philadelphia Offices in 1984. Prior to that, 1981 through 1984, he was Manager of the Bank's Miami Office. At Continental Illinois, Mr. Tokarz' responsibilities included numerous managerial and commercial lending activities.
Mr. Tokarz joined Kolhberg, Kravis, Roberts & Co. as an Associate in 1985, and was made a General Partner, effective January, 1993. He has participated in diverse leveraged buyouts, financings, restructurings and dispositions. Mr. Tokarz currently serves on numerous corporate boards of directors including Walter Industries, Inc., IDEX Corporations, PRIMEDIA Inc., KSL Recreation Corporation, Evenflo Company, Inc., and Spalding Holdings Corporations. He is also on the board of directors of KAMAZ Inc., located in Neberezhnye Chelny, Republic of Tatarstan, and Lomonosov Porcelain Company, St. Petersburg. Mr. Tokarz is also active on the endowment committee and Board of Directors of the Rye YMCA in Westchester County.
Mr. Tokarz continues to be proactive in the development endeavors of the University of Illinois serving on the Board of Directors at the UI Foundation. The list of committees and boards that Mr. Tokarz has served is far too expansive to list in the allotted space, suffice it to say that he has donated generously of his time. A list of his financial contributions is equally lengthy including Loyalty Circle and Presidents' Council memberships and most recently a seven-figure gift in support of the basketball practice facility.
