(“Jon”) is the President/Founding Partner of Howe & Hutton, Ltd., a law firm with offices in Chicago, St. Louis and Washington, D.C.  He has written hundreds of articles, papers and books, and has spoken to organizations all over the world on all manner of legal issues.  He received his Bachelor of Arts degree majoring in diplomatic history and international political science with honors from Northwestern University and his Juris Doctorate from Duke University where he was first in his graduating class.  

 

He has received numerous awards and recognitions for his contributions to the not-for-profit community as well as for other civic and charitable organizations.  He is a Fellow of the American Society of Association Executives.   He is a life member of the Duke University School of Law Board of Visitors.  In addition, Jon is a Life Fellow of the American Bar Association Foundation as well as the Chicago Bar Association Foundation.

 

The Association Forum of Chicagoland honored him as its Associate Member of the Year.  He is a founder, Past President and board member of the Academy of Hospitality Industry Attorneys.  In 2008 he was named the Hospitality Industry Attorney of the Year.

 

On the “volunteer side,” Jon is a Past President of the National School Boards Association and served four years as the President of the Illinois Association of School Boards.  He served as an elected school board member for 21 years, ten of which he was president of his board.  He served as the founding chair of the National School Boards Foundation.

 

He was a founder and past chair Board of Trustees on the National School Boards Foundation.

 

He has been honored for his leadership in public education by the Illinois Curricular Council.  He is the recipient of the Illinois State Board of Education Outstanding Achievement Award for service to Illinois Education and it’s Those Who Excel Award.

 

The Chicago Tribune named him “Mr. Association Lawyer of the U.S.”  He is one of the four draftsmen of the Illinois General Not For Profit Corporation Act, deemed the model not-for-profit law.  Jon has served as an adjunct professor at DePaul and Roosevelt Universities for association management and hospitality law courses.  For many years he taught legal issues for the U.S. Chamber Institute programs and his firm continues to do so.

 

He was the founding chair of the Chicago Bar Association Trade and Professional Association Law Committee, a past vice chairman of the American Society of Association Executives Legal Committee, a founder and past chair of its Legal Section and he is also a Fellow.  Active in the American Bar Association, he served on its task force for membership benefits for disabled lawyers and as a long-standing member of its committee on not-for-profit organizations.  He is the special advisor to the American Bar association Standing Committee on Meetings and Travel.

 

He is one of the few lawyers in the United States to have argued before the United States Supreme Court.