Multi-faceted Maritess Verin-Wynkoop Overall Chairperson, Philippine Independence Week Committee 2023-24

Maritess Wynkoop was born May 31, 1958, in the small town of Tabaco in Albay, Philippines to parents Maria Teresa Castilla Verin and Nestor Verin. She is the third among siblings of four girls and one boy. She is married to a very loving and supportive husband, Craig, and is a mother to three boys and three girls. She enjoys reading books, singing, ballroom dancing, and volunteering in community service.

She migrated to the United States in 2001. In 2004, she decided to re-invent herself and went back to school as a certified nurse assistant, then as a Phlebotomist. In 2006, she was admitted to the Nursing Program at Malcolm X College where she graduated on top of her Nursing Class in 2009 with an Associate Degree in Nursing. Her nursing career started as a Home Health Nurse and within two years, she became Director of Nursing for one of the Home Health Agencies providing services in the Chicagoland Area.

In 2015, she transitioned as a Dialysis Nurse at Fresenius. In July 2018, she got promoted to Charge Nurse II at Fresenius River Forest where she is busy running the day-to-day operation of the Dialysis Unit. Last July 2020, she received her Bachelor of Science in Nursing at Chamberlain School of Nursing. On January 2021, she finally got promoted to Clinic Manager of River Forest Dialysis Clinic, overseeing three modalities, namely, In-center Dialysis, Home Hemodialysis, and Peritoneal Dialysis. On May 8th this year, she will embark on a new journey as the Outpatient Dialysis Practice Manager at Loyola Medical Center in Maywood.

She keeps herself busy in the Filipino-American Community where she is a very active member of several organizations, such as, Chicago One World Centennial Lions Club as the Charter President; Philippine Independence Week Committee, where is currently the Overall Chairperson; member of the Philippine Nurses Association of Illinois (PNAI, and is one of the Board of Directors. She is currently the President of the International Circle Foundation, a newly-formed foundation geared toward humanitarian services. She also supports different fundraising projects of different organizations.

Her principle in life is, “When you are right with God, you are right with me; when you are not right with God, what does it matter.”