Our Staff at BrightStar Care® Barrington & McHenry County

Karen Pinderski, President and Owner of BrightStar Care® of Barrington and McHenry County, has extensive healthcare experience at Abbott Laboratories, PharMEDium Healthcare, and Pfizer. Home care services and medical staffing services align with her prior work and passion for improving patient safety in medical settings such as Intensive Care Units. Karen holds patents for intravenous infusion labeling and packaging innovations to help reduce medication errors. In her free time, Karen is a soccer enthusiast and the happy care giver of her mom, Avelina. Karen has a BA and MA from the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee and MBA from Northwestern Kellogg Graduate School of Management.  

Gina Maki is our Director of Nursing. With over 30 years of healthcare experience, Gina understands the continuum of care, including the many situations where a health diagnosis doesn’t need to take you from your home or community. In her leadership role, Gina meets with clients, advocates with a personal touch when needed, and provides clinical oversight of every case. She heads our expert care team of RNs, Licensed Practical Nurses (LPNs), Certified Nurse Assistants (CNAs), and others, strongly believing training and mentoring are key to clinical success. Gina is known for demonstrating a great deal of compassion, critical thinking and problem-solving skills, particularly in the most traumatic situations when strong emotional stability from an expert RN is a must. Gina is a leader of maintaining the unmatched care standards of our organization validated by The Joint Commission accreditation. Our accreditation is to the same high quality standards as the best hospitals in the country.

Prior to joining our team, Gina distinguished herself in leadership roles specializing in Congestive Heart Failure (CHF), mentoring nursing students, and as a Director of Nursing in a 92 bed facility. Gina is an active member of the Infusion Nursing Society and is on the advisory board of Clearbrook Choice Program serving individuals with Intellectual Developmental Disabilities. Gina earned her BSN from Northern Michigan University.

Stephanie has worked in the medical field for the past 20 years and is a life-long McHenry County resident. She earned her Medical Assistant certification and previously worked as a Clinical Manager in a pain management practice. Currently working as our Sr. Customer Care Manager for the past 4 years, she has earned high praise from many clients and employees due to her laser-focus on positive customer and employee experiences. She collaborates with clients to be sure the schedule developed fits their specific needs. In her free time, Stephanie enjoys the outdoors, gardening, animals and music.

With over 40 years of business and human resource experience, Cindy is responsible for overseeing HR management to adhere to organizational policies and procedures. In addition, she is responsible for recruiting and hiring the nursing and caregiver staff and joined the BrightStar Care team 5 years ago. Prior to joining the team, Cindy focused on recruiting and hiring internal and external employees at a major financial services company. She was also responsible for employee and customer experience for multiple business lines there which allows her to bring valuable perspective to the team in building strong employee relationships. 

In her free time, Cindy is a Chicago sports team enthusiast and likes to garden and scrapbook. She has a BA in Business Management and MS in Organizational Leadership from National Louis University.

Sarah has worked extensively for 13 years in recruiting for Health Care, Administrative and Information Technology industries. She has previously worked for a major recruiting firm in the three major markets of Chicago, New York and Dallas. She currently functions as our Recruiting Manager overseeing many miscellaneous HR functions including management of critical job boards. She is the first BrightStar Care ‘voice’ who interacts with our applicants and many candidates comment on the smile in Sarah’s voice.

Sarah earned her Bachelor of Arts and Design Education from Northern Michigan University and her Masters in Teaching from the Relay Graduate School of Education in New York City. In addition to working for BrightStar Care for the last 7 years, she also works as an Art Teacher for grades K through 5 in the Lake Zurich school district. In her spare time, Sarah follows the Wisconsin sports teams including the Packers, Brewers and Bucks. She loves to travel; especially to New York City.

We are elated to announce our Caregiver of the Year, Jake Hendon!  Jake is a Certified Nursing Assistant providing care for our clients since 2020.  Jake’s clients unanimously say that he is a dedicated and compassionate care provider “Making It Great” not only for the clients but for the families too!  We agree with Jake’s clients who have said, “Jake is truly an asset to BrightStar and always brightens our days!  No words can express how grateful we are for the quality help we are getting.   He treats us like family, looking after every need and safety - which in turn relieves our daily stress.  He is attentive and cultivates a one-on-one relationship…we couldn't ask for more!!”

Thank you, Jake, for the care and support you have provided which has impacted so many families in such a positive way.  You are a wonderful representation of our Caregiver of the Year.  Congratulations Jake!