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Gaston Armour is originally from Chicago. He is currently with the Illinois Department of Human Services (IDHS) as the Statewide Emergency Preparedness Coordinator, in the Office of Security and Emergency Preparedness. In this role he assists, coordinates and provides direction for the emergency preparedness and readiness programs with the agency's 13,000 employees.
Prior to his current assignment he held various positions with IDHS. While in the Office of Strategic Planning he was liaison for the governor’s Team Illinois initiative. His responsibilities were to coordinate state agencies to raise the quality-of-life for two of the six (6) most underserved communities Illinois. He has represented IDHS on the Illinois Food Policy Council and the Illinois Food Task Force, regarding food access, food security and insecurity.
Gaston started working in his family’s business, Armour’s Certified Foods while in grammar school. After college he ran the day-to-day operations for four years. He later worked for several Fortune 500 companies; Merrill Lynch, Motorola, Simon and Schuster in Chicago, New York and San Francisco. He relocated to Atlanta and was responsible for half of the state’s business activity, as regional manager for launching the lottery in Georgia. He served an assistant professor in the General Education Department at DeVry Institute of Technology while in Atlanta.
He graduated with a BS in Business Administration from De Paul University and with his MS in Human Resource Development, from National Louis University. Gaston served in the United States Army Reserve as an enlisted soldier and retired as a Major. He is especially proud of his daughter, Vernice Armour that served two tours of duty in Iraq as a Captain in United States Marines. She is the first African American female Combat Pilot in the United States Marines and the US Department of Defense History.
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