Fireside: Chicago

Shelton Banks is CEO of re:work training, a Chicago-based non-profit that is reshaping hiring trends by training and supporting individuals from underrepresented, underserved, and non-traditional backgrounds; empowering them to start and keep careers in sales & technology.  Shelton joined re:work in July of 2018 to drive the organization’s vision of solving three major problems: the growing wealth gap between Chicago’s South and West Sides and the rest of the city, the tech industry’s staggering lack of Black and Latinx professionals, as well as the way companies have historically thought about hiring candidates who may not check all the typical boxes. Under his direction, re:work candidates on average jump from making around $19,000 to $55,000/year base salary with full benefits - not including commission and bonuses - and the nonprofit has helped create $3M and counting in earned income that empowers not only alumni, but their families and neighborhoods as well. 

 

His efforts have been recognized by major local news outlets, like Fox News Chicago, WGN News Radio, Money Matters with Adam Torres, and tastytrade’s Bootstrapping in America.

Since its founding in 2011, Orazio Buzza has been the Founder & CEO of Fooda. Headquartered in Chicago, Fooda manages food service programs for 2000+ employers across 24 metro areas. Before Fooda, Orazio was a C-Level

executive on the founding teams of two Chicago companies that IPO’d: President at Echo Global Logistics (2005-2010) and CFO/COO at InnerWorkings (2003-2005). Orazio is a CPA and has degrees in Accounting and Supply Chain Management from the University of Illinois.

As a motivated business leader, Casey is a passionate entrepreneur who got his start owning a home service franchise. After nearly a decade, he successfully exited his role with 90+ franchise owners and over 600+ employees. Casey went on to co-found Cultivate Advisors, one of the largest small business advising firms in North America. As the CEO of Cultivate, his team has helped thousands of business owners reach their growth objectives through core business skill development and scalable systemization. 

In both 2019 & 2020, Cultivate ranked within the top 800 fastest growing businesses in the United States on the Inc 5000 list. The mission of Cultivate Advisors is to partner with committed entrepreneurs to propel their business beyond expectations. In 2019, the average business within the Cultivate portfolio grew by 68% in year over year revenue and 108% in profit, proving that when you prioritize the growth of your clients, the business grows as well.

Desmond Clark has built a strong professional reputation as a Former NFL player for the Denver Broncos, Miami Dolphins and Chicago Bears. His leadership on the field and now, off the field, is shown in his keynote addresses and seminars.

Desmond is now leading his own companies as CEO of Desmond Clark Investment Group, The Insurance People along with Des Clark Speaks. He is the author of Principles of Winning: 5 Keys to Create a Standard of Excellence. With “Standards over Feelings” as the mantra for Desmond, he leads his audiences through real-life personal and professional experiences to help shine a light on effective leadership. Desmond’s 5 keys to Why Others Will Follow will undoubtedly unlock even more leadership potential.

J’ai Brown serves as an HR Director for HUB International, leading the HR function for the Midwest-West division. Additionally, she is the Executive Sponsor for the Midwest-West Diversity & Inclusion Council and a member of the organizing team for the HUB Women Network ERG. Prior to joining HUB, J’ai worked in roles of increasing responsibility in claims administration and human resources at Allstate Insurance Company before continuing her career in human resources at BMO Financial Group. J’ai received an MBA and B.S. degrees in HR Management and

General Management from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga and has her PHR and SHRM-CP designations. J’ai resides in Bronzeville with her husband, Frank, and daughter, Kylee.

Lauryn grew up in the Southern United States and in high school had a confrontation with race in America that changed her life and directed her future. In 2003, Lauryn graduated from the University of Florida with a Bachelor in Psychology with a focus on race and multicultural studies. She was committed to racial equality through educational transformation and began individual work to become anti-racist. In 2007, as a part of Teach for America, Lauryn began facilitating sessions for other teachers on Diversity and Achievement, Instruction as well as Classroom Culture, that would continue for the duration of her career.

For thirteen years, Lauryn worked for KIPP Chicago, the highest performing school district in Chicago and a national network of charter schools focused on college completion. During her time there, she served as the School Leader of KIPP Ascend Middle School in North Lawndale and, before that, as the Assistant Principal and an ELA teacher. 

Lauryn is also an inspiring public speaker who has been asked to speak at the National Charter School Conference in Minneapolis, as a keynote speaker for Teach for America’s Induction Ceremony, as well as at North Park University, Columbia College and Indiana University-Purdue on Leadership, Consciousness, and Education. Lauryn has a Masters in Curriculum Planning and Design from National Louis University, a National Board Certification in Literacy, and completed the KIPP School Leadership Training Institute at New York University.

In 2009, Lauryn was awarded Teacher of the Year for Chicago Charter Schools and in 2011 was a finalist for the Teach for America Distinguished Leader Award. Last June, she was certified as a 15 Commitments Conscious Leadership Coach and left her16-year education career to work as a leader; speaker, consultant, and coach who partners with individuals and organizations to support the emergence of more conscious cultures.

Corey Haynes is a thought leader, passionate about people, and a lover of tech. He is the new District Manager at SHI - the leading minority and women-owned tech VAR partner in North America - where he is focused on total tech solutions, business optimization, client strategy, and more. 

Corey has since moved to downtown Detroit where he has started to rediscover the city, continues to engage in volunteer activities (virtual of course), and continues his work to foster diverse, collaborative communities and partnerships.

Bobby founded Accelerated Growth (AG) in 2009 to help entrepreneurial organizations drive sustainable growth. He and his 60+ person team have built and executed financial, operational, and technology infrastructure within 300+ companies in multiple industries over the past 10 years. Bobby also serves as a Director on 4 corporate boards of companies ranging in size from $5MM-$50MM in revenue. In addition, Bobby is an Adjunct Faculty Member at Northwestern University and Co-Chair of

Northwestern’s University’s Field Studies Employer Advisory Board.

Ablorde is the CEO of 4Degrees, a Chicago-based technology company, applying machine intelligence to help teams in relationship-driven industries manage their most important source of opportunity - their professional networks. When he's not doing that, you can usually find him lifting weights, reading books, or eating BBQ.

Elliot grew up in a family of recruiters and started working in the industry when he was 16 years old. His entire career has been spent in tech recruiting. In addition to running his own tech recruiting business for many years, Elliot has also lead tech recruiting at Groupon as well as co-founding Dev Bootcamp in Chicago, which was acquired by Kaplan.

Elliot's take on tech in the recruiting industry: computers can never replace people in a human-centric business, but they can help when used to solve the right problems.

Kenny is a serial entrepreneur...and more importantly a serial boutique investment fund manager.  With his new platform, Diffuse, he is incubating and running select venture funds.  They help new GP's get to market quickly, without making costly mistakes, and all funds on the platform share their infrastructure, deal flow, and resources...freeing the managers to focus on helping entrepreneurs build great businesses.

Ed is a fifteen-year serial technology entrepreneur. Founding his first company, Total Attorneys, at the age of 25 in 2002.  Ed is currently the Founder & CEO of Bridge Legal and a Mentor at Techstars. He was inducted into the Chicagoland Entrepreneurship Hall of Fame in 2009, the Inc 500, was listed in Crain's Chicago Business 40 under 40,

named Collegiate Entrepreneurs Organization's Young CEO of the Year and was a Midwest Finalist for the Ernest and Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award.