Introduction
Our impact extends beyond our platforms—it is multiplied by the civic leaders who grow through working with us. Individuals in our partners’ pro bono teams and Civic Consulting Alliance’s staff work closely with high-level public and private sector officials to form a deep understanding of the most important issues of the day and develop plans to address them. Because of our unique scope and access, we are an incubator for Chicago’s next generation of civic leaders.
This is more than valuable experience—it often inspires a lifelong passion for service that impacts Chicago long past the end of an individual project. Civic Consulting Alliance alumni go on to get big things done across the public, private, and social sectors.
Incubating Civic Leaders
Civic Consulting Alliance’s staff alumni include:
Christina Anderson
Deputy Commissioner, COVID Response Bureau
City of Chicago Department of Public Health
Elaine Armstrong
Principal
Slalom
"Since leaving Civic Consulting Alliance, I’ve had the amazing opportunity to lead diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) assessments, retreats, and mediations for Fortune 500 companies, national nonprofits, and other organizations as a DEI Senior Strategist at @Justice Informed. Most recently I was honored to lead a DEI retreat for one of the largest nonprofits in the nation, which led to the creation of several new tactics and strategies they could pursue to advance equity. I would not be able to direct such high-impact work had it not been for the project management and strategic thinking skills, confidence, and support I received while at Civic Consulting Alliance!"
— Kevin Nigarura, DEI Senior Strategist, Justice Informed
Brian Battle
Chief Finance and Operations Officer
The Handy Kenlin Group
Christopher Bordoni
Senior Lecturer of Strategy & Business Economics
Cornell Johnson Graduate School of Management
Paul Bourdillon
Internal Medicine Resident
University of Washington
Erica Bredle
Ann Bruton
Program Manager, Government
Innovation
Centre for Public Impact
Kelsey Burr
Financial Market Utilities Supervision & Regulation
Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago
Reena Burt
Fulbright-Nehru Fellow
United States India Educational Foundation
Joanna Cannizzaro JD
Ernesto Castelnuovo
Senior Vice President and Head of Specialized Risk Group
TransUnion LLC
Lincoln Chandler
Founder and President
Chandler Decision Services, LLC
Hilton Clark
Julia Clemons
Program Analyst
Federal Emergency Management Agency
Andrea Clinton
MBA Candidate
University of Chicago Booth School of Business
Celia Cockfield
Senior Associate
Annie E. Casey Foundation
Tracy Cohen
Michael J. Collins
Policy Analyst
Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning
Daniel Comeaux
Senior Policy Analyst
Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning
Liz Coon
Engagement Manager
McKinsey & Company
Karen Corken
Vice President and Chief Operations Officer
Jewish Child and Family Services
Gillian Darlow
Chief Executive Officer
Polk Bros. Foundation
Alfonso de Hoyos y Acosta
Consulting Director
Gartner
Stephanie Dolan
Independent Consultant
Alexandra Dumitriu
Bank Supervision
Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago
Carol Elder
Independent Consultant
Carla Esteva
Area President, Lake Michigan Area
US Foods
Monique Etienne
Program Assistant
The Joyce Foundation
Brian Fabes
Managing Director
Corporate Coalition of Chicago
Rose Fealy
Chief Administrative Officer and Chief Financial Officer
Society of Actuaries
Hannah Fine
Assistant Director of Public Service and Pro Bono
University of Chicago Law School
Damien Flynn
President and Chief Executive Officer
ACTS-Aviation Security
Kim Forte
Director, Life Sciences
Amazon Web Services
Janet Froetscher
President
J.B. and M.K. Pritzker Family Foundation
Christian Gallegos
Shoham Geva
Senior National Analytics Manager
America Votes
Leslie Glotzer
Associate
Kearney
Malika Graham-Bailey
Director of Operations
Duke University Talent Identification Program
Helen Hailes
PhD Candidate in Counseling Psychology
Boston College Lynch School
Michelle Hallett
Melanie Halvorson
Vice President of Community Planning and Allocations
Jewish Federation of Cleveland
Melissa Hamann
Partner
Diploma Equity Project
Michael Hanowsky
Director and Practice Lead - Data Analytics
Woolpert Strategic Consulting
Danielle Harbison
Executive Director
Black Chicago Tomorrow
Valerie Hegarty
Stuart Henige
Senior Manager, MassHealth Premium Assistance
Commonwealth of Massachusetts
Wallace Hilke
Civil Rights Attorney
Loevy & Loevy Attorneys at Law
Christian Hines
Law Clerk
United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
Brock Huebner
JD Candidate
Stanford Law School
Shruti Jayaraman
Chief Investments Officer
Chicago Beyond
Djenaba Kelly
First Deputy Chief of Staff
Chicago Office of the Mayor
Jeff Kilpatrick
Independent Consultant
Constance Kresge
Consultant, Chief of Staff
vChief
Donald Laackman
Chief Program Officer
Heartland Alliance
"I've had the privilege of moving through multiple leadership roles across different social sectors thanks to the core foundational skills that were honed during my time at Civic Consulting Alliance. These technical and adaptive skills such as understanding the balance between quantitative analysis and qualitative data, working with and for the stakeholders, and the power of cross-sector collaborations have strengthened my ability to lead organizations and develop sustainable solutions to our region’s most pressing problems."
— Kelly Ruppel, Executive Director, Ronald McDonald House Charities® of Madison, Executive Director, Fund for Wisconsin Scholars (January 2023)
Allyson Laackman
Chief Strategy and Financial Officer
National Conference on Citizenship
Beth Lampson
Managing Associate
Next Street
Sue Lawler, PhD, CPA, MBA
Assistant Director, Comprehensive and Innovative Faculty Development Programs
American College of Surgeons
Samuel Leiter
PhD Candidate, Political Science
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Marisa Lewis
Chief Policy Officer and Board Liaison
Chicago Cook Workforce Partnership
Zhi Chen Lin
Alison Lo
Associate
Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan
Phyllis Lockett
Founder and Chief Executive Officer
LEAP Innovations
Constance McHugh Long
Management Consultant, Independent School Management
Rasmus Lynnerup
Initiative Director and Assistant Vice Provost
Arizona State University
Cathrine Lynnerup
Owner
Pontomos
Charles McCartney
Engagement Manager
McKinsey & Company
Wendy McCullough
Independent Consultant
Nell McKitrick
Director of Operations, Center for Childhood Resilience
Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago
Tom McKone
Chief Administrative Officer
Chicago Transit Authority
Jessica McMiller-Baptiste
Policy Director, Division of Covid-19 Containment
Philadelphia Department of Public Health
N'Gai Merrill
Chief Operating Officer
Triangle Package Machinery Co.
Michael Modak-Truran
JD and MBA Candidate
New York University
Lynne Moore
Executive Director
Institute of Continuing Judicial Education, The University of Georgia
Lydia Murray
Managing Director
Deloitte
Kevin Nigarura
DEI Senior Strategist
Justice Informed
Alec Noggle
MBA Candidate
University of Chicago Booth School of Business
Robert Owens
Chief Performance Analyst for Public Safety
Office of the Inspector General
Sally Park
Managing Director
Changing Our World, Inc.
Zarina Parpia
Avani Patel
Senior Director, Digital Innovation
Northwestern Mutual PLEC
Skylar Patterson
Director of Fact-Checking
South Side Weekly
Eric Patton
Senior Advisor
Corporate Coalition of Chicago
Dejah Powell
Frontloading Structure & Culture Coordinator
Sunrise Movement
Nicole Rakers
Development Director
CompTIA Spark
Patrick Quinn
Strategy and Operations Manager
McMaster-Carr
Daniel Reisner
General Partner
Pear Partners
Christine Richardson
Director of Administration
Pilot LNG LLC
Kelly Ruppel
Executive Director
Ronald McDonald House Charities of Madison
Andrew Schwarm
Manager, Strategy and Analytics
Deloitte
Steven Shaw
Community Engagement Director
Verizon Wireless
Alexander Shermansong
Co-Founder
Culture Cascade
Pranav Sidhwani
Vice President, Development (Social Purpose Projects)
Infrastructure Ontario
Stacia Smith
Owner and President
Seabrook Smith
Haley Sonenthal
Senior Consultant
Deloitte Consulting
Alex Spacht
Resident Doctor
Brigham and Women's Hospital
Gary Spiece
Senior Project Manager
Chicago Transit Authority
Suzy Stock
Executive Assistant
Ancora Associates, Inc.
Daniel Thiel
Associate
Virens & Partners
Jessica Thiesen
US Service Operations Lead
Choco
Meosha Thomas
Founder and Chief Executive Officer
One Savvy Veteran
Yen-Li Thompson
Revenue Operations
ShipBob
Elikem Tomety Archer
Chief Program Officer
Global Citizen Year
Susan Tompkins
Consultant
ThreePoint Consulting
Carmen Tomshack Brenner
Director of Development
Refugee Artisan Initiative
Marie Trzupek Lynch
President and Chief Executive Officer
Skills for Chicagoland's Future
Traci Udofia
Kristen Uyemura
Partner
BCG
Asheley Van Ness
Director of Criminal Justice
Arnold Ventures
Aliza Warwick
Product Manager
Airbnb
Owen Washburn
Vice President, Policy Center
JPMorgan Chase & Co.
Sara Wasserteil
Managing Director of Expansion and Integration
Cara Chicago
Dominique Williams
Senior Development Officer, LISC National
Local Initiatives Support Corporation
Kirstin Williams Smith
Senior Policy Analyst
Health & Medicine Policy Research Group
Richard Wu
MBA Candidate
University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business
“In the Innovation space, we don't just solve problems, we anticipate them, and try to head them off at the pass. Civic Consulting Alliance helped me hone that proactive, expansive mindset. We tackled some of the biggest issues of the day in a forward-thinking way, backing up our vision with rich data and deep analysis, and then building and implementing scalable, sustainable solutions. It was a master class in realizing the impossible, and a launching pad for everything I've done since.”
— Avani Patel, Senior Director, Digital Innovation, Northwestern Mutual PLEC
Stay in Touch
We love to hear from our alumni! Has your employer, job title, or name changed? Have you recently celebrated a professional accomplishment you’d like us to highlight on Civic Consulting Alliance’s LinkedIn page as part of our Alumni Spotlight series? Contact us below.
