Paul Sacaridiz is the Executive Director of Ragdale located here in Lake Forest. Ragdale is a nonprofit artist community located on the former country estate of Arts & Crafts architect Howard Van Doren Shaw and his wife, poet and playwright, Frances Wells Shaw. 

Each year it offers 150 residencies and fellowships to creative professionals of all types, making Ragdale one of the largest interdisciplinary artist communities in the country. Paul joined Ragdale in April. He brings 25 years of experience to the organization, with a background that includes art making, teaching, and administration. 

He has held leadership positions in both higher education and the nonprofit sector.

Chris has lived in Lake Forest since 2011 with his wife and two sons. Born and raised in Chicago, Chris graduated from Purdue University with a B.S. in Computer Science.  He has spent his career in the telecommunications and technology industries.

Founded in 1935, the mission of the Lake Forest Caucus is to recommend qualified citizens to serve in Lake Forest government and on the School Boards via an independent, nonpartisan process. All Lake Forest registered voters are members of the Caucus. 

Susan has authored four historical books: Downtown Lake Forest, West Lake Forest, Legendary Locals of Lake Forest and Billy Caldwell (1780-1841) Chicago and the Great Lakes Trail.  Previously, Susan was the Economic Development Officer for the City of Lake Forest for ten years where she worked with commercial property owners to recruit businesses to Lake Forest.  Susan and her family have lived in Lake Forest since 2006.  Prior to moving to Lake Forest, Susan lived in the Sauganash neighborhood on the north side of Chicago.  She was involved in Chicago politics for two decades as the 39th Ward Committeeman and Commissioner of the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Chicago.  It was living in Sauganash, the land that Billy Caldwell received in the 1829 Treaty, that sparked the interest in Billy Caldwell and began the research that has lasted over 33 years. Susan is currently President of the Mitchell Museum of the American Indian in Evanston

Matthew Montgomery, Superintendent of Districts 115 and 67 and John Noble, President of the District 115 School Board.  Dr. Montgomery and Mr. Noble first appeared on this podcast last November. We’re having them back today to catch up on recent events at Lake Forest High School.

Paula Turelli serves as the Executive Director of Mother’s Trust Foundation, which offers immediate aid to low-income children in Lake County during crises. Peggy Talbot, an early supporter and former Board Chair of Beacon Place in Waukegan, IL, champions programs fostering academic growth, better health, and skill-building for children and families. Anne McAveeney, a founder of Fill A Heart for Children, collaborates with educators and social workers to support the most vulnerable children in their community.

Rick has written for newspapers and magazines as varied as Esquire, National Wildlife, Premiere, TV Guide, Playboy, Men’s Journal, PTA Magazine, American Libraries, Baseball Digest, Outside, and others. In 1972, Sports Illustrated published his first national article. It was about the jolt of being done with football, and being forced to, as Kansas City head coach Hank Stram advised him, “get on with your life.” That article would eventually become a book and later be made into a film.

Rick was a Special Contributor for Sports Illustrated for eight years, before joining the magazine full time as a Senior Writer in 1981. In 1995 he left SI to become the senior sports columnist for the Chicago Sun-Times, a position he holds to this day. He has written nine books and has had his articles collected in over two dozen anthologies. His work was nominated three times for the Pulitzer Prize. He has been named Illinois Sportswriter of the Year eight times and has had eight stories named to the Best American Sports Writing anthology. In 2018 he received the Sigma Delta Chi Award from the Society of Professional Journalists for a series he wrote on violence in inner city Chicago high schools and the saving force of sport. In 2020 he received the Dan Jenkins Excellence in Sports Writing Lifetime Achievement Award from the University of Texas. And in 2021 he was voted into the National Sports Media Hall of Fame.

If being a college athlete and award winning writer wasn’t enough, Rick is a musician and part of a band, the Del-Crustaceans, that started when he was a senior in college with buddies from a poetry class. They are still performing to this day.  He is also an artist with his work ranging from pen and ink drawings, to sketches, Day-Glo signs, and even spray-painted graffiti on urban walls. In 2018 he had his first showing at the Adventureland Gallery in Chicago

Dr. E, as she’s known by audiences around the world, is a sought-after keynote speaker, author, and coach. She helps people identify how critical moments of high stress, what she refers to as “The Red Zone”, is shaping their behaviors, decisions, health, and overall performance.

Dr. E has helped teams at many Fortune 500 companies unleash performance, profits, and untapped potential by showing them how to make sure stress gets the best from them—and not the best of them.

Dr. Lombardo is also a well-known media expert with hundreds of TV and radio appearances on shows like Good Morning America, Dr. Oz, The TODAY Show, CNN, Fox Business News, and others. She also regularly contributes to The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Fortune, SUCCESS, Fast Company, Huffington Post, Forbes, and other respected publications. She is also the author of several books: “Get Out of The Red Zone”, “Better Than Perfect” and “A Happy You”

Mark McMahon is a lifetime resident of Lake Forest. To say he comes from a creative family would be a massive understatement. His father Franklin was a globally recognized artist and his mother a writer. Five of his eight siblings pursued art professionally in various forms. His wife Carolyn and children Elise and Drew are also professional artists and two of his grandchildren are active in the arts.

Mark attended Lake Forest High School where he is recognized on the Alumni Wall of Fame. He went on to Adams State College in Colorado and Loyola University where he studied art and art history.

You can find examples of Mark’s murals at the Gorton Center and the Lake Forest High School Library. Mark has been exhibiting his work annually at the Lake Forest Art Fair since the age of 10. He serves on the Board of Directors of the Deerpath Art League who organizes the Fair. You can view and purchase Mark’s work, as well as that of other family members, at mcmahongallery.com
 

Jennifer Karras has lived in Lake Forest for 22 years. She has held senior marketing positions for several organizations, including most recently at Guggenheim Partners. Jennifer is a former Ward One alderman and has served as president of DPM’s APT, Chairman of CROYA, and executive member of LFHS Foundation and LFHS Boosters. She is the founder of YD3, a college recruiting company focused on Division 3 athletic programs.

Susan Sailor Daly is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Indiana University-Bloomington and has been a tv reporter, district staffer for a congressman, a banker and software salesperson. She and her husband, Richard, have two grown sons and have resided in Lake Forest since 2007. Susan served on the Lake Forest Caucus Committee for three years and is a past Ward 1 Chair. And, fun fact, Susan represented her home state of Indiana in the 1986 Miss America Pageant

John Trkla has been a resident of Lake Forest since 1966 when his family moved to Lake Forest. He and his wife Kathleen, also a Lake Forest native, have raised three children here who attended the School of St. Mary and Lake Forest High School.  John has been a long time youth sports coach for both St Mary’s and the City of Lake Forest Recreation department.  John has owned a digital marketing company for over 20 years.

Learn more about Lake Forest for Transparency at https://lf4t.com