Emerging Leaders Class of 2019
Each year, the Chicago Council on Global Affairs selects a highly competitive cohort of Chicago’s up-and-coming professionals to participate in its Emerging Leaders Program. Meet the class of 2019.
Emerging Leaders at the Chicago Council on Global Affairs become part of a network of globally fluent leaders who will continue to raise the bar for Chicago as a leading global city.
Class of 2019
Chief, Bureau of Administrative Services, Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office
Garvin Ambrose is an alumnus of the Council’s Emerging Leaders Program (class of 2019) and leads union and non-union administrative professionals in operating the second largest Prosecutor's office in the country. Prior to this role, he served as both Chief of Staff to Cook County State's Attorney Anita Alvarez and Assistant State's Attorney.
Lecturer, School of Art Institute of Chicago
Silvia Beltrametti teaches at the School of the Art Institute and advises on matters related to intellectual property in the creative industry. Her research focuses on art law, as well as international antitrust and intellectual property. She has published works in the Journal of Law and Economics, among many other publications.
Founder, VestedWorld
Euler Bropleh is the founder and managing director of VestedWorld, a venture capital fund focused on spurring sustainable economic growth in underserved regions around the world. In this role, he is responsible for sourcing, vetting, and structuring transactions with early-stage companies poised to achieve significant growth and impact.
Supervisory Financial Analyst, U.S. Department of the Treasury
Zachary Brown worked at Milliman for ten years, where he led a team of analysts to implement risk management strategies for banks, asset managers, insurance companies, and pension plans. In this role, he was a named portfolio manager on a dozen mutual funds with over $20 billion in assets.
Founder, Translate.com
Anthos Chrysanthou is the founder and CEO of Translate.com, a tech startup whose mission is to eliminate the world's language barriers through the use of artificial intelligence and professional linguists. He's also an active member of the Hellenic American Leadership Council.
Senior Director of Programs and Policies, United Nations Association of the USA, United Nations Foundations
In her role at the UNA-USA, Farah Eck oversees national programs, chapter support, communications strategy, and member engagement. She brings with her 7+ years of experience as a UNA-USA volunteer, serving as a chapter president (UNA Chicago) and board member, and as a UNA-USA National Council Member for the Great Lakes Region.
Partner, Sidley Austin LLP
At Sidley Austin LLP, Chris Hale's legal practice focuses on the representation of public and private companies in corporate law matters, including mergers and acquisitions, corporate finance, and corporate governance issues. Through his work, he has gained considerable cross-border experience, including working with organizations in the UK, Switzerland, China, and Brazil.
Portfolio Manager, Thrivent Mutual Funds
Prior to joining Thrivent Mutual Funds—a subsidiary of Thrivent Financial—Michael Hubbard was an analyst covering U.S. small cap financials and real estate at William Blair Investment Management. While in this role, he founded and led the company’s veteran business resource group and served as one of the founding board members of the Alliance Board.
Senior Counsel, The Boeing Company
Sherene Awad Jodrey is senior counsel at Boeing, where her practice focuses on employee benefits and executive compensation matters. She represents Boeing on all matters relating to the company’s US retirement, health, and welfare programs, executive compensation programs, global equity plans, and employee-related aspects of mergers, acquisitions, and divestitures.
Program Officer, Robert R. McCormick Foundation
Emanuel “Manny” Johnson joined the Robert R. McCormick Foundation in 2016, where he serves as the program officer for the Veterans Program, managing a $3 million portfolio of 35 grantees. Additionally, he serves on the Foundation’s Racial Equity Committee, a group that works to pave the way forward to more equitable grant-making.
CEO, Telesto Strategy
Throughout her almost 15 years in consulting, Alex Kruzel has been assisting companies and public sector organizations to develop and execute their growth strategies. She specializes in helping her clients identify and prioritize opportunities for growth and then implement strategic initiatives.
Senior Director, Academics and External Affairs, Big Shoulders Fund
Working with the Big Shoulders Fund, Rebecca Lindsay-Ryan uses her education background and nonprofit management experience to help improve communities and prepare students for lifelong success. For a decade, she has overseen significant growth of the fund’s academic programs in order to increase access to high-quality education.
Vice President & General Manager, Prince Castle
Chris Lyons is a vice president and general manager at Prince Castle, a foodservice equipment business within the Marmon Retail Technologies Company. In his current role, he leads a business focused on developing proprietary technologies for some of the largest global brands in the restaurant industry with an emphasis on automation and Internet of Things (IoT) connectivity.
Program Manager, University of Chicago Center for Global Health
In her role, Absera Melaku provides overall direction for the Center for Global Health by managing its long-term strategy, developing and managing numerous education programs and initiatives, and overseeing the operational infrastructure. She develops interdisciplinary, collaborative relationships to further the mission to broaden global health education, training, research, advocacy, and engagement.
Assistant Professor, University of Illinois at Chicago
Yamilé Molina is an assistant professor with affiliations to the School of Public Health, Center for Research on Women and Gender, and Cancer Center at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC). Since beginning these positions in 2015, Molina has led multiple studies characterizing and intervening upon the disproportionate burden of cancer that Latinx, African Americans, and rural populations face.
Partner, Grant Thornton
Jeff Pajauskas is an audit partner at Grant Thornton LLP, where he has spent the past 15 years of his career. Pajauskas leverages his extensive industry and technical knowledge to serve a variety of clients including those that are global in scope, public or private in the manufacturing, distribution, and retail industries.
Managing Director and Major Market Leader, Economic & Valuation Services, KPMG
Nalini Prakash Hart is a managing director in KPMG’s Economic and Valuation Services practice, with a specific focus on transfer pricing. She has over 15 years of experience assisting multinational corporations and has built and delivered complex transfer pricing solutions.
Partner, Franczek P.C.
Tejas Shah serves as primary outside counsel to Fortune 500 companies, small businesses, school districts, and universities, advising them on strategies for hiring top international talent, complying with workplace mandates in a high-risk environment, and ensuring educational opportunities for vulnerable populations.
Director, Innovation & Insights, American Marketing Association
Scott Stern is the director of innovation and insights at the American Marketing Association (AMA), where he has worked since May 2016. He leads an interdisciplinary team responsible for AMA's national analytics program and for converting customer insights into innovative experiences for AMA's 30,000 members and 250,000 nonmember customers around the world.
Principal, Curie High School
Allison Tingwall is an alumnus of the Council’s Emerging Leaders Program (class of 2019) and is the principal of the third largest school in Chicago. Since she joined as principal in 2015, Curie High School has seen a reduction in on-campus fights and in arrests and an increase of freshmen on-track and in college enrollment.