City Club of Chicago

October 14, 2026

City Club event description:

As safety nets are being frayed and efforts to address longstanding inequities are being challenged, business leaders are stepping up in Chicago. Smart leaders recognize that reducing economic and racial inequity is not only the right thing to do, but also good for business, employees, communities, and the region. Hear from Chicago business leaders who are expanding talent pipelines, investing in under-resourced neighborhoods and building diverse partnerships to advance shared opportunity and grow our economy.

As Managing Director of the Corporate Coalition, Brian is leading a collaborative of more than 50 Chicago companies committed to rethinking business processes to address economic and racial inequities in the region.  Among other initiatives, participants in the Coalition are changing practices to hire Chicagoans with arrest and conviction records, developing new ways to invest equity capital in the South and West sides, and connecting local developers and small businesses with potential business partners. 

As a Sr. Fellow at NORC, Brian is helping one of the world’s pre-eminent survey and research institution use its assets and capabilities to make Chicago a safer, more prosperous region for everyone. 

For the previous fifteen years, Brian served as Chief Executive Officer of Civic Consulting Alliance. In that role, he built an organization that worked with more than 300 partners and most major public institution to address many the region’s biggest challenges and capturing some of its most exciting opportunities over 15 years.  

Before joining CCA, Brian was Senior Vice President at National Louis University and before that Associate Principal at McKinsey & Company, where he co-led the formation and growth of the North American Product Development Practice and was a leader in Chicago’s Healthcare Practice. Brian was also active in bringing the resources of the firm to government and not-for-profit organizations on a pro bono basis. 

Brian began his career as an assistant professor of materials science and engineering at the University of Arizona, where he was promoted to associate professor, with tenure, in 1993. He was awarded the University-wide Burlington Foundation Faculty Achievement Award for Excellence in Teaching in 1993. Brian earned B.S. and Ph.D. degrees in materials science and engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1984 and 1987.  

Brian lives in Wilmette. He officiates more than 200 youth and college ice hockey games annually, and is a founding member of the Ice Donkeys, an elite men’s hockey team on Chicago’s North Shore. 

Mark S. Hoplamazian has been Chairman of the Board of Directors of Hyatt Hotels Corporation since February 2026 and President and Chief Executive Officer since December 2006. He first joined Hyatt’s Board of Directors in November 2006. 

Before taking on leadership of Hyatt, Mr. Hoplamazian was President of The Pritzker Organization, LLC, the principal financial and investment advisor to certain Pritzker family business interests. Over his 17 years with the organization, he advised a wide range of Pritzker family-owned companies, including Hyatt Hotels Corporation and its predecessors. Earlier in his career, he worked in international mergers and acquisitions at The First Boston Corporation in New York. 

Beyond Hyatt, Mr. Hoplamazian is a member of the Board of Directors of VF Corporation and serves on their Talent & Compensation and Finance Committees. He is also active across the hospitality, travel and business communities as a member of the Board of the American Hotel & Lodging Association, the World Travel & Tourism Council, the World Bank’s Private Sector Investment Lab, the Business Council and The Business Roundtable. 

A recognized civic and business leader, Mr. Hoplamazian is Vice Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Aspen Institute and a member of the Discovery Class of the Henry Crown Fellowship. He also participates in World Business Chicago and the Civic Committee of the Commercial Club of Chicago, where he co-chairs the Committee’s Public Safety Task Force.

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Jennifer W. Steans is the President and CEO of Financial Investments Corporation (“FIC”), where she oversees private equity investments and the family office operations.  

Ms. Steans’ business affiliations include serving as a Director of Valley National Bank, as well as past Chair of the Board of Directors of USAmeribancorp, Inc., a privately held Tampa Bay area middle market bank.   

Ms. Steans actively helps lead several nonprofit entities, currently serving as Chair of the Civic Consulting Alliance, Life Trustee and past Chair of the Ravinia Festival, past Chair of Navy Pier and the Illinois Venture Capital Association (IVCA). Ms. Steans also serves as a Trustee for The Steans Family Foundation, DePaul University, Rush University Health System, World Business Chicago, The Civic Federation, The Commercial Club of Chicago, and the Phoenix Pact. 

Ms. Steans holds a B.S. degree in Mathematics from Davidson College and an MBA from the J. L. Kellogg Graduate School of Business at Northwestern University.  She was named as one of American Banker’s 25 Most Powerful Women in Finance. 

Gil Quiniones leads ComEd, an Exelon company, which powers the lives of more than 9 million residents in Chicago and across most of northern Illinois. He is responsible for the management of an electric grid that delivers safe, reliable electricity to those customers and for empowering them to manage their energy use.  

Under Quiniones’ leadership, ComEd was named the most reliable utility in America by PA Consulting, based on analysis of system reliability statistics, including the frequency and duration of customer outages. With roughly 7,000 employees, ComEd is one of the largest employers in the region, maintaining numerous workforce and education partnerships with the diverse communities it serves. 

Before joining ComEd, Quiniones served more than a decade as president and CEO of the New York Power Authority (NYPA), the nation’s largest state-owned electric utility. Under his leadership, NYPA played a key role in New York State’s Reforming the Energy Vision initiative to use market forces and new technology to empower customers and encourage the growth of clean renewable energy and energy efficiency. 

Before joining NYPA in 2007, Quiniones held several positions in the administration of New York City Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, including more than four years as senior vice president of energy and telecommunications. He started his career at Consolidated Edison (Con Edison), one of the nation’s largest investor-owned energy companies and an electric and gas utility serving parts of southeastern New York and northern New Jersey, including New York City. He worked for 16 years at Con Edison, where he cofounded Con Edison Solutions, the utility’s unregulated energy services company. 

Quiniones serves as an Executive Committee for the Chicago Community Trust, a philanthropic foundation that promotes equity, opportunity and prosperity in the region. Since April 2025, Quiniones has been a member of the Advisory Group for the World Resources Institute Polsky Center for the Global Energy Transition, dedicated to overcoming barriers to realizing cleaner, more affordable and reliable energy future. In July 2024 he was named to the board of the Greater Chicago Food Depository, which is working to address food insecurity in the metropolitan region. In June 2024, he was named to the Board of Directors for Intersect Illinois, now known as the Illinois Economic Development Corporation, which promotes the state as a location for business investment. He is the Co-Chair of the Corporate Coalition of Chicago, dedicated to addressing racial and economic inequities in the city. 

Quiniones also serves on Civic Federation Board of Trustees and the board of World Business Chicago. He is a member of the Commercial Club of Chicago and the Economic Club of Chicago. 

In August 2022, President Joseph Biden named Quiniones to the President’s National Infrastructure Advisory Council, which advises the White House on how to reduce physical and cyber risks and improve the security and resilience of the nation’s critical infrastructure sectors.  

In past years, Quiniones has served as a board member for a number of leading energy industry organizations including the Alliance to Save Energy, GridWise Alliance and the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI).  

Quinones attended De La Salle University in the Philippines where he received a Bachelor of Science in mechanical engineering. He has performed graduate coursework in engineering at the Stevens Institute of Technology. He has completed the Executive Education Program at Columbia Business School and the CEO Academy at The Wharton School. Quiniones earned the Corporate Director Certificate at Harvard Business School’s Executive Education program. 

October 1, 2026

City Club event description:

For more than a century , City Club Chicago has brought people together for open, nonpartisan conversations about the issues shaping the city. Our mayoral candidate forums continue that tradition by giving Chicagoans an accessible and inclusive way to hear directly from those seeking to lead. City Club does not endorse candidates, and these events are presented to inform and engage the public.

John Kelly is a local businessman and political newcomer running for Mayor of Chicago in 2027. For Kelly, developing and protecting Chicago is personal—it is part of his family’s history and a responsibility he believes in deeply.

Kelly’s connection to public safety runs through generations of his family. His late grandfather, Thomas V. Kelly, was a Chicago Police sergeant, while one uncle served with the Chicago Police Department and another was a Cook County Sheriff’s deputy. Several of his cousins have also worked in law enforcement, including a current Chicago Police detective.

Kelly was born and raised in Chicago. His parents, Jack Kelly and Alice “Kitty” Buckendahl, were both Chicago natives and married at St. Cajetan’s Church in Beverly in 1970. Twenty-seven years later, John married his wife, Julie, at that same church.

His parents owned a currency exchange on Chicago’s Southeast Side, serving working-class families in the 10th Ward. They instilled in John and his sister—the two-time-plus decades Chicago Public Schools teacher—the importance of hard work, responsibility and understanding the value of a dollar. Their sacrifices helped send John to Mount Carmel High School, where he played on four state championship football teams in the 1990s.

John and Julie Kelly continue to call Chicago home. They have two adult daughters, one living in Miami and another in Chicago, and their family remains deeply connected to the city they love.

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Kelly is an entrepreneur and longtime Chicago businessman. He owns All-Circo Inc. and co-founded Sentinel Security, a private security company. He also spent years as a lobbyist, representing major Chicago institutions and businesses, including the Chicago White Sox, United Center and Bally’s Casino. His work included helping negotiate the agreement that brought Bally’s Casino to Chicago. Kelly ended his lobbying work with Chicago City Hall when he launched his mayoral campaign.

Kelly entered the 2027 Chicago mayoral race in July 2026, bringing a business background and an outsider’s perspective to the campaign. His campaign centers on public safety, accountability and rebuilding confidence in Chicago’s ability to protect its residents. Among his primary proposals is hiring 1,000 additional Chicago police officers during his first year in office and bringing back ShotSpotter technology as part of a broader strategy to detect and respond to gun violence.

For Kelly, the campaign is about more than politics. It is about the city where his family built their lives, where he raised his own family, and where he believes Chicago can once again be a safer, stronger and more prosperous city.

September 30, 2026

City Club event description:

Brandon Johnson was sworn in as the 57th Mayor of the City of Chicago on May 15, 2023. Mayor Johnson began his career as a public school teacher, first at Jenner Academy in Cabrini-Green and then at Westinghouse College Prep on the West Side, where he experienced firsthand how school closures, unemployment and gun violence impacted his students and their communities. He then went on to become an organizer with the Chicago Teachers Union, where he led multi-racial coalitions to defend neighborhood schools from privatization, reduce high-stakes standardized testing and expand access to state funding. Mayor Johnson was elected Cook County Commissioner of the 1st District in 2018. During his five years on the Cook County Board, he led efforts to pass the Just Housing Ordinance which prohibited housing discrimination against formerly incarcerated people, legislation to secure legal representation for immigrants facing deportation, and coordinated COVID-19 resources for low-income seniors in nursing homes.

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In 2018, Mayor Johnson was elected Commissioner of the 1st District of Cook County. Here he led the effort to pass the Just Housing Ordinance, which prohibited housing discrimination against formerly incarcerated people. As commissioner, he also collaborated with colleagues to eliminate the gang database, secure legal representation for immigrants facing deportation and advance recognition of Indigenous Peoples’ Day. In the wake of civil uprisings in the summer of 2020, he organized the Cook County Board to commit to the “Budget for Black Lives,” bringing new investments in health care, public transportation, internet access, and affordable housing. Mayor Johnson and his wife Stacie live in the Austin community, where they are raising their children Owen, Ethan and Braedyn.

September 23, 2026

City Club event description:

Marlene Hopkins was nominated by Mayor Brandon Johnson and confirmed by the City Council as Commissioner of the Chicago Department of Buildings in April 2024, taking the helm of the nation’s third-largest building department. She brings more than 25 years of City service to the role, including 18 in DOB leadership, and a deep commitment to safety, economic development, and community reinvestment.

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Hopkins has been a driving force behind the rewrite of the Chicago Construction Codes, modernizing them to reflect current industry standards while strengthening enforcement to protect safety and quality of life citywide. As First Deputy Commissioner, she oversaw day-to-day operations in the office and in the field, managed departmental budgets, and ensured compliance with local, state, and federal regulations. She has long championed a streamlined permitting process that reduces barriers for developers, contractors, and homeowners without compromising rigorous standards.

As Commissioner, Hopkins has made tenant safety and housing accountability central priorities, working to ensure all Chicagoans have access to safe, habitable housing and that negligent property owners are held accountable. Her approach pairs proactive enforcement with targeted reinvestment in historically underserved neighborhoods, shaping both policy and practice within the department.

September 22, 2026

City Club event description:

Chicago is at the center of a new era in local news, with community-based outlets helping fill critical gaps in coverage on issues like education, immigration,  and neighborhood life. This conversation will explore how these organizations are strengthening Chicago’s media ecosystem, the business models helping them grow and why supporting local journalism is essential to the civic health of the city.

Kayce Ataiyero is the chief external affairs officer at the Joyce Foundation, where she oversees the Foundation’s strategic communications, the Journalism Program and the Lend A Hand community grants fund. She is also a member of the Foundation’s leadership team. She previously served as director of external affairs for the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office, and led communications for U.S. Congresswoman Robin Kelly, the Illinois Governor’s Office, and the Illinois State Treasurer’s Office. Kayce previously worked as a staff writer for the Chicago Tribune, The Raleigh News and Observer, Philadelphia Inquirer and Washington Post. She is a Leadership Greater Chicago Daniel Burnham Fellow, a Notable Black Leader and Executive by Crain’s Chicago Business and one of Chicago’s most influential Black leaders by the Chicago Tribune. 

Tracy Baim is executive director of Press Forward Chicago, a pooled fund for community journalism based at The Chicago Community Trust. Baim is co-founder and owner of Windy City Times. She is former publisher of the Chicago Reader. Baim has received Lifetime Achievement Awards from the Chicago Headline Club and the Chicago Journalists Association. In 2014, she was inducted into the NLGJA: The Association of LGBTQ Journalists Hall of Fame. She is also in the Chicago LGBT Hall of Fame. She has won numerous LGBTQ community and journalism honors, including the Public Narrative Studs Terkel Award in 2005 and the Lambda Legal Bon Foster Award in 2023. Baim has written and/or edited 14 books, her newest is Liberating Healthcare, a biography of Howard Brown Health. 

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Tracy Brown is chief partnership officer at Chicago Public Media, where she has strategic oversight in building key partnerships with corporate and community organizations, local and national newsrooms and media organizations. She also leads innovative initiatives at CPM focused on sustainability and the news ecosystem. Tracy joined Chicago Public Media in 2019 as managing editor at WBEZ. In 2021, she became chief content officer, overseeing newsrooms at WBEZ and The Chicago Sun-Times, along with broadcast programming, talk shows, podcasts, community. engagement/events, audience development and Vocalo. 

Becky Vevea is the Chicago bureau chief for Chalkbeat, a nonprofit newsroom covering education in America. She edits and manages a team of reporters, directs local editorial strategy, and leads collaborations and partnerships. Before Chalkbeat, Becky spent a decade at WBEZ, reporting on city politics and schools, as well as filling in as anchor and host. She is an award-winning journalist whose work has also appeared in The New York Times, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, and USA Today. 

Colin Boyle is the director of photography at Block Club Chicago. A lifelong resident of the North Side, Colin has worked with Block Club since 2020. In 2025, Boyle was promoted from photographer and reporter to his current position, where he now oversees freelance photojournalism assignments and visual coverage at Block Club, while continuing to document news in his hometown daily. He also teaches a graduate school-level photojournalism class at Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism, which he has done for the past five years. 

September 15, 2026

City Club event description:

Chicago has never been afraid to think big. 

From reversing the river to building the Riverwalk, some of the city’s greatest achievements began as bold ideas. World Business Chicago’s Horizon Lines: Visions for Chicago 2050 continues that tradition by challenging people to imagine what Chicago could become over the next 25 years. 

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Nearly 200 teams submitted ideas spanning housing, transportation, sustainability, public space and more. In June, six finalist concepts advanced. 

Now, World Business Chicago will unveil the winning Horizon Lines vision. WBC CEO Phil Clement will also discuss the response from Chicago’s design and civic communities and how ambitious ideas can help shape the city’s next chapter.

September 9, 2026

City Club event description:

Chancellor Juan Salgado has focused his career on improving education and economic opportunities for Chicago residents. 

As Chancellor of City Colleges of Chicago, he oversees Chicago’s community college system, serving more than 73,000 students across seven colleges, more than three-quarters of whom are Black or Latine students. Under his leadership, City Colleges of Chicago has become Chicago’s most accessible higher education engine for racial and socioeconomic mobility, having achieved: 

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From 2001 to 2017, he served as CEO of Instituto del Progreso Latino, where he worked to empower residents of Chicago’s Southwest Side through education, citizenship, and skill-building programs that led to sustainable employment and economic stability. 

Chancellor Salgado is a community college graduate himself, earning an associate degree from Moraine Valley Community College, prior to earning a Bachelor’s degree from Illinois Wesleyan University, and a Master’s degree in Urban Planning from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, with honorary degrees from DePaul University and University of Illinois at Chicago. 

Chancellor Salgado has been nationally recognized for his work, including as a 2015 MacArthur Fellow. Among his civic commitments, he serves as board chair of the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, a board member of the Obama Foundation and a Class C Director for the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago.

July 30, 2026

City Club event description:

Sheriff Tom Dart has dedicated his career to challenging injustice, fighting the violence plaguing our communities, and bringing new, thoughtful approaches to public service. After serving as a prosecutor and an Illinois state legislator, Sheriff Dart was elected by the people of Cook County, and has brought his reformative vision, and his commitment to action, to his role as sheriff. Sheriff Dart has rewritten the book on what a sheriff can accomplish, looking inside and outside of the conventions of law enforcement for nuanced and thoughtful solutions to help people.

Sheriff Dart’s skills in management, accountability, and forward-thinking leadership was critical in the success of the Cook County Jail being released from almost 40 years of oversight by the U.S. Department of Justice’s federal consent decree, making it the only large jail to ever complete such a task.

Sheriff Dart has been a leader in reforming the criminal justice system and transforming correctional settings into more humane, trauma-informed environments. Sheriff Dart has developed a framework to identify and engage all persons detained in his custody with incustody service plans and discharge plans tailored to each person’s unique needs and goals. Sheriff Dart has instituted extensive programming at the Cook County Jail, seeking to give individuals in custody skills that help to stop the revolving door of incarceration. The Sheriff has sought out creative programming within the jail in the areas of art, chess, construction, cooking, gardening, parenting, and literacy, all of which help foster social and emotional growth for individuals in custody while they await trial. In addition, after collecting data which showed that much of the population in Cook County Jail needed mental health treatment, Sheriff Dart worked, and continues to work, with Cermak Health Services to provide individuals in custody with mental health treatment plans. Sheriff Dart has implemented Trauma-Informed Training for his staff as a tool to engage with the men and women detained in the Cook County Jail as well as their family members who come to visit at the jail.

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For people outside of the jail, Sheriff Dart created the Cook County Sheriff’s Office’s Community Resource Center (the CRC), which seeks to help fill the large void that was left when mentalhealth facilities around Chicagoland closed by connecting those in need of mental health treatment in the county to available providers. The CRC assists residents of Cook County with finding housing, job opportunities, and other medical care as well.

Sheriff Dart also formed the Cook County Sheriff’s Office’s Treatment Response Team (the TRT) to provide support and assistance (available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week) for those in the community struggling with substance abuse issues. Offering treatment to those who suffer from mental illness has reduced the jail’s population, including reducing recidivism rates. Sheriff Dart continually has prioritized reducing violence in Chicago, creating programs that build community and connection between law enforcement personnel and the people they serve. At the jail, the Sheriff’s Anti-Violence Effort (SAVE) program provides intensive therapy and life-skills training for those men between the ages of 18 to 24 years old who are incarcerated from neighborhoods with the most violence in the city. Outside of the jail, the Sheriff’s Chicago Initiatives program uses a community policing model, which works to remove guns from the street while reconnecting law enforcement with communities. Led by Sheriff Dart, Sheriff’s Officers regularly create community events that provide health care and offer other necessities so that the people who live in these underserved communities can have some of their needs met.

Under Sheriff Dart’s administration, the Cook County Sheriff’s Office and Cermak Health Services received the 2021 Achievement Award from the National Association of Counties for their collaborative and forward-thinking efforts to control the spread of COVID-19 in Cook County Jail. Sheriff Dart also has received the Community Service Award of the Year from the National Alliance on Mental Illness Southwest for his efforts at providing necessary mental health services for individuals in custody.

Sheriff Dart has been named one of the 100 Most Influential People in the World by TIME Magazine, and a Public Official of the Year by Governing Magazine. He and his wife, Patricia, live on Chicago’s South Side and are the proud parents of five children.

July 16, 2026

City Club event description:

The inaugural class of Hope Scholars is graduating debt-free, marking a major milestone for Hope Chicago’s bold two-generation investment in education and economic mobility. Launched in 2022, Hope Chicago provides students from five Chicago neighborhood high schools, along with one parent or guardian, the opportunity to pursue postsecondary education at no cost to them. 

Join a conversation with Hope Scholar and Hope Parent Scholar graduates, Hope Chicago CEO Dr. Aaron Kuecker and Illinois State Representative Kam Buckner as they discuss the impact of Hope Chicago’s model and what it means for the future of higher education, workforce development, and economic opportunity in Illinois. 

Representative Kam Buckner is a native of the Southside of Chicago, the 4th child of a Chicago Public School Teacher and a law enforcement officer. He represents the 26th Legislative District in the Illinois House of Representatives. The District, completely situated in the City of Chicago contains parts of South Chicago, South Shore, Washington Park, Woodlawn, Hyde Park, Kenwood, Bronzeville, the South Loop, Downtown, River North, Streeterville and the Gold Coast.

He previously served as Executive Director of World Sport Chicago, the non-profit legacy of Chicago’s bid for the 2016 Olympic Games; an organization that uses sports as a tool to provide positive life skill training and opportunities to youth in Chicago’s most under-resourced communities. Buckner previously worked in the Front Office of Major League Baseball’s Chicago Cubs, where he led the team’s government and neighborhood relations efforts; serving as an integral part of the contingent that successfully negotiated a deal to renovate and expand historic Wrigley Field; a first of its kind stadium deal that is expected to yield $1.2 billion in economic activity. He previously spent a number of years in the public sector on the staffs of Mayor Mitch Landrieu of New Orleans, LA and U.S. Senator Dick Durbin of Illinois.

He attended the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where he was a member of the Fighting Illini football team and received a B.A. in Political Science. He holds a J.D. from DePaul University

College of Law. Kam has served as an adjunct professor in the Undergraduate College of Public Policy at the University of Chicago and has been a contributor for the political newspaper and website the Hill and Crain’s Chicago Business. He formerly served on the Board of Trustees of Chicago State University. He was a fellow with the Chicago Council on Global Affairs as well as the Chicago Urban League’s IMPACT Leadership Development Program and a member of the Economic Club of Chicago, the Business Leadership Council, the Illinois Advisory Board of the U.S. Global Leadership Coalition, the Leadership Circle of the Illinois Democratic County Chair’s Association and Major League Soccer’s Chicago.

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Dr. Aaron Kuecker is the Chief Executive Officer of Hope Chicago, an economic mobility initiative that removes barriers to postsecondary success for two generations of South and West Side Chicago families.

He previously served as president of Trinity Christian College. Under his leadership, Trinity advanced bold institutional transformation focused on increasing affordability, access, and student belonging. Over more than two decades in higher education, Dr. Kuecker has served as a professor, academic dean, provost, and president, with a leadership style shaped by his earlier experience as a youth and associate pastor. He is a recognized thought leader in reimagining higher education economics, a Locke Innovative Leader Awardee from Wesleyan Impact Partners, a frequent national presenter on community economic development, and a convener of influential conversations in collaboration with the Aspen Institute’s Financial Security Program.

His work has often centered on building partnerships between institutions and local communities to address systemic challenges, from student loan debt to equitable workforce development, in ways that create mutual benefit for students, neighborhoods,and employers.

Dr. Kuecker holds a Ph.D. from the University of St. Andrews in Scotland, a master’s degree from Western Theological Seminary, and a bachelor’s degree in political science from Central College in Iowa. His academic work has examined how communities build identity and foster collaboration across differences. This focus on connection and opportunity continues to guide his approach to expanding access to education and economic mobility through Hope Chicago.

July 1, 2026

City Club event description:

Ten years ago, the Partnership for Safe and Peaceful Communities was formed to reduce gun violence in Chicago. Over time, we have demonstrated that community-led efforts can make a real impact. In 2025, Chicago experienced its lowest homicide rate in six decades and saw a nearly 50 percent decline in shootings since 2021. Despite this progress, the urgency of our work has not diminished. Gun violence and public safety remain top concerns for residents, underscoring the ongoing need for our collective efforts.

A coalition of more than 50 funders and foundations is now “one table” of partnerships forged among Chicago’s business community, local and state government, faith-based and community organizations. Join us during Gun Violence Awareness Month to learn how philanthropy and public-private partnerships have fostered evidence-based, community-driven public safety solutions that serve as a model for the nation. The conversation will also provide opportunities for attendees to learn how to take action and get involved.

Grace Hou has served as Deputy Governor for Health and Human Services for Governor JB Pritzker since October 10, 2023. As the Deputy Governor, Grace oversees twelve Health and Human Services cabinet agencies, boards or commissions whose impact touches every corner of Illinois. Under her leadership, the Health and Human Services team tackles several critical initiatives such as implementing the state’s plan to eradicate medical debt, coordinating public health approaches to decreasing gun violence, establishing a Multi-Sector Plan on Aging, creating a cross-agency Justice Cabinet, amongst others.  

 Previously, Grace served on Governor Pritzker’s Cabinet as the Secretary of the Illinois Department of Human Services. Notable achievements include leading Illinois with one of the highest response rates for the U.S. Census; launching the state’s inaugural gun violence prevention office; providing access to meals and public health insurance for Illinois families and children; and elevating awareness of mental illness patients and their path to recovery. Grace also served as the Assistant Secretary and was an architect of the nationally recognized Immigrant Integration New American’s Gubernatorial Executive Order.  

Grace is a child of Taiwanese immigrants and has dedicated her career to advancing non-profit and public service sectors. Grace has served as the President of Woods Fund Chicago and as the Executive Director of the Chinese Mutual Aid Association where she became an advocate for immigrants’ rights. She is Board Chair of the American Public Human Services Association, a member of The Commercial Club, the 2001 Leadership Greater Chicago Fellow, and a German Marshall Fellow.  She was inducted into the Lyons Township High School Hall of Fame in 2025. 

John Palfrey is the President of the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. Palfrey is a well-respected educator, author, legal scholar, and innovator with expertise in how new media are changing learning and education. Prior to joining the Foundation, he served as Head of School at Phillips Academy, Andover. Palfrey is the board chair of the United States Impact Investing Alliance; co-chairs the Disability and Inclusion Forum’s Presidents’ Council on Disability Inclusion in Philanthropy; and serves on the board of the Fidelity Non-Profit Management Foundation. He is a member of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences and serves on the governance council. And he is the former board chair of the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation. Palfrey holds a JD from Harvard Law School, an MPhil from the University of Cambridge, and an AB from Harvard College. Palfrey is an accomplished author; his most recent book is Wired Wisdom: How to Age Better Online, which he co-authored with Eszter Hargittai. His other books include Safe Spaces, Brave Spaces: Diversity and Free Expression in Education and Born Digital: How Children Grow Up in a Digital Age, co-authored with Urs Gasser.

Philip Rojc is Senior Editor, News and Features at Inside Philanthropy. Philip previously worked as a contributing editor for the city planning website Planetizen and as a consultant for nonprofit organizations in Los Angeles. He is a graduate of the University of Chicago. 

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Esther Franco-Payne joined the Partnership for Safe and Peaceful Communities (PSPC) as its inaugural Executive Director in December of 2022. Esther’s personal commitment has been to serve as a voice for underserved communities of color and to be a champion for equity. Growing up in Chicago’s Englewood neighborhood, Esther has been front and center to the issues that permeate communities impacted by crime, poverty, and disinvestment. As a social worker by training, she is a long-time advocate who has engaged the public in the development of effective adult criminal justice and youth justice policies.

Esther is the immediate past executive director of Cabrini Green Legal Aid (CGLA), where she led the organization’s strategy, management, and fundraising, doubling its budget, increasing staff capacity and expanding its service offerings. Through her work with CGLA, Esther has amplified CGLA’s impact throughout Chicago, Cook County and the State of Illinois. She has also held senior leadership roles with the Public Welfare Foundation and the Illinois Justice Project, where she was co-founder and Deputy Director. Esther served for ten years as a member of the Illinois Juvenile Justice Commission; was appointed co-chair of the Families Committee in support of the Illinois Department of Juvenile Justice’s Advancing Transformation Task Force; and participated on the Cook County Equity Fund Taskforce. She was a lead advocate in the fight for equity as part of the Cannabis Act and has participated in several efforts to advance public safety and remove barriers to employment, education and housing for those impacted by the criminal legal system.

Previously, Franco-Payne worked for Chicago Metropolis 2020 and Metropolis Strategies where she was a staff member with the Justice and Violence Group, the predecessor to the Illinois Justice Project. She also worked with the Illinois Center for Violence Prevention and the Circuit Court of Cook County Family Violence Coordinating Councils.

Franco-Payne has a master’s degree from the University of Chicago – School of Social Service Administration. She is a Fellow of Leadership Greater Chicago, an alum of the Harvard Business School’s Executive Education Program and has participated in several cohort training programs focused on nonprofit management.

Esther resides in Chicago with her husband, Mark Payne and their three children.

In January of 2025, Curtis Reed was named the head of Government and Healthcare, Higher Education and Not-for-Profit (HHN) Banking for the Commercial Bank, overseeing the Government and HHN Banking teams. 

A 20-year veteran of the firm, Curtis has held significant roles across Commercial Banking (CB), including as Arizona and Nevada Region Manager and, most recently, as Chicago Region Manager for Middle Market Banking since 2017. 

The Government and HHN portfolios support vital institutions such as hospitals, governments, not-for-profits and schools that are essential to the health, stability and vibrancy of our communities. Curtis also plays a central role in the Commercial Bank’s community impact banking efforts, including leading the CB’s work on the firm’s heartland expansion strategy, further building out the CB’s volunteerism initiatives and partnering with stakeholders to drive outcomes through our work with vital institutions and financial intermediaries. 

Curtis currently serves on the boards of the Civic Consulting Alliance, the Griffin Museum of Science & Industry, Local Initiatives Support Corp (LISC), the Morton Arboretum, the Chicago Community Trust’s Bank Trustees Committee, and the University of Iowa Tippie College of Business Advisory Board. He’s also a member of the Chicago Civic Committee, the Commercial Club of Chicago, the Chicago Economic Club and is a member of the Young President’s Organization. 

A native of Naperville, IL, Curtis earned his Bachelor of Arts Degree in Finance at the University of Iowa in June 199

Fatimah Loren Dreier is a nationally recognized expert in health equity, preventative public health strategies to address gun violence, and trauma-informed care delivery. Fatimah serves the inaugural Executive Director of the Kaiser Permanente Center for Gun Violence Research and Education and Executive Director of The Health Alliance for Violence Intervention (HAVI). The HAVI trains and expands hospital-based violence intervention programs (HVIPs) to treat violently injured patients in over 100 cities in the United States. 

Fatimah’s work and thought leadership has appeared on CNN, Washington Post, NPR, TIME, NY Times, Health Affairs, Politico, AP, and more. She is a psychotherapist by training and holds an MBA from Yale School of Management.