Chicago Council on Global Affairs Announces the 2025 Class of Emerging Leaders

November 21, 2024

The Chicago Council on Global Affairs announced its 2025 class of the Emerging Leaders program today. Selected from a pool of highly competitive applicants, the class includes 21 of Chicago’s best and brightest from some of its most prominent organizations, including Chicago Public Schools, World Business Chicago, Rotary International, Aon, and Northwestern University, among others.

Over the next year, the 2025 Emerging Leaders will engage in a rigorous program to further their knowledge of US foreign policy and strengthen their leadership skills. Participants will deepen their understanding of global affairs and policy through a year of skills trainings, site visits, and discussions with a wide array of experts.

"As we look ahead to an imminent change in the US presidential administration, there is no more important time to discuss the impact of that transition, in every arena and at every scale,” said Ariel Schwartz, executive director of the Council’s global leadership programs. “From climate crisis to migration, cybersecurity to global supply chains, global challenges manifest locally, and our efforts at home in Chicago can impact national policy and international solutions. It is incumbent upon us to work collaboratively and creatively to shape a better world."  

The 2025 class will participate in briefings with Council experts and Emerging Leaders alumni to explore clean energy, weaponized interdependence, food insecurity, emerging technologies, health inequity, and other topical global issues defining US engagement abroad. They will meet with policymakers in Washington, D.C., attend Council events, and train in facilitation, collaborative problem-solving, policy analysis, and media skills. 

This year's class participants are:    

  • Elizabeth Andrews, Director, mHUB 

  • Logan Booth, Senior Vice President, Trident DMG 

  • Shaska Chirinos, Senior Responsible Investment Manager, UN supported Principles for Responsible Investment 

  • Dion Dawson, Chief Dreamer and President, Dion’s Chicago Dream 

  • Edgar Delgado, Eastern Region Director, Federal Executive Boards 

  • Johannes Favi, Deputy Director, Illinois Community for Displaced Immigrants 

  • Aida Flores, Elementary School Assistant Principal, Chicago Public Schools 

  • Anas Ghazi, Adjunct Professor / Investor / Advisor, Northwestern University 

  • Kenneth Gilkes Jr., Associate Director, Acquisitions, Cook County Land Bank Authority 

  • Katie Hanlon, Executive Director, Project C.U.R.E. 

  • Amiel Harper, Founder and Principal, The Morpheus Consultancy, LLC 

  • Michael R. Jarecki, Founder / Principal Attorney, Jarecki Law Group, LLC 

  • Sam Kendall, Strategic Relationships Officer, Rotary International 

  • Rebecca Knight, Assistant General Counsel, Aon 

  • Matt Meltzer, Founder & CEO, Sage Corps 

  • Karla Ruth Orozco Toledano, Director of Foreign Direct Investment, World Business Chicago 

  • Ryan Schomburg, Associate, HSBC Asset Management 

  • Birju Shah, Professor of Product Management and AI, Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University 

  • Nathan Uldricks, Township Chairman, Porter County, Indiana 

  • Diane Williams, Adjunct Faculty Instructor, Columbia University 

  • Ghanem Zureikat, Global Senior Product Manager - Building Quality & Compliance, UL Solutions 

Emerging Leaders program alumni include Umi Grigsby, policy director for Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson; Congressmen Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL) and Sean Casten (D-IL); Brent Neiman, undersecretary for international finance for the U.S. Treasury; architect and 2019 TIME 100 honoree Jeanne Gang; Bria Scudder, deputy governor for public safety, infrastructure, environment, and energy in Illinois; Katherine Maehr, CEO of the Greater Chicago Food Depository; Founding Executive Director of the University of Chicago Crime Lab and Education Lab Roseanna Ander; Illinois State Representative Kam Buckner; and Kelwin Harris, chief civic engagement officer at the Cook County Assessor’s Office.

The Emerging Leaders program was established in 2008 and has graduated 297 participants to date. The application for the class of 2026 will open in summer 2025. More information about the Emerging Leaders program is available at globalaffairs.org/EL.