Harry Eng named Board Chair

We are happy to announce that Harry Eng has been named the Chair of our Board of Directors, serving a three-year term.

Harry, who has served on the ESO Board since 2024, brings a wealth of financial and tax experience to his role on the Board, having spent his second career as a tax practitioner and advisor, where, since the mid-1990s, he has helped countless families and owners of small and medium-sized businesses develop and implement tax saving strategies while also advising on a broad range of financial and tax matters.

Harry’s outlook on life and his dedication to giving back is rooted in what could be perceived as a failure – “flunking out” of his first year of college, despite having had graduated from Senn High School with high honors. That performance during the draft years of the Vietnam War led him to his first career as an enlisted trainee in cryptographic repair and the “good fortune” he had throughout his distinguished 30 years with the U.S. Army, where he climbed the ranks before retiring in 1994 as a colonel. (Read more about Harry’s military career – including how his skill at bowling factored into his first night on base – in this story that accompanied Harry’s celebratory Honor Flight Chicago trip earlier this month.)

“I had a series of circumstances that could have turned out badly turn into good fortune,” Harry said. “What have I done in my life to receive this good fortune? I feel I have an obligation to reciprocate and do something good if I can.”

Harry credits Lorraine Gornick, a longtime ESO subscriber and Harry’s former colleague at Sears Headquarters in Hoffman Estates, with introducing him to the ESO.

With a lifelong appreciation of music – he was first chair clarinet in his school band – support of the ESO came naturally.

“I know and appreciate how much goes into putting together a successful orchestra,” he said. “I look forward to learning from all who proceeded me about this organization so I can contribute in some small way.”

Harry Eng, Board Chair of the Elgin Symphony Orchestra, on the day of his honorary trip with Honor Flight Chicago.