With more than 300 members, the Emerging Leaders community is a dynamic cross-sector network of Chicago’s visionary, globally minded, locally committed leaders.
Girish Rishi is the former CEO of Blue Yonder, where he launched a cloud-based portfolio powered by machine learning and edge intelligence to help companies better forecast supply and demand. Before that, he led Tyco International’s global retail solutions and North American building automation businesses.
Justin Rose serves clients primarily in the industrial goods and energy industries. In addition to supporting his clients on a host of strategic and operational issues, he has also co-authored various high-profile reports, including the series of "Made in America, Again" reports focused on the return of manufacturing to the United States.
Christopher Roth directs a nationwide federal real estate team representing the US General Services Administration (GSA) and has testified about the GSA’s national broker contracts before the US Congress. He's also a registered architect, having studied vernacular housing in Guatemala and urban design in Italy.
Before joining S2G Ventures, Aaron Rudberg was a partner with Baird Capital, a venture capital and private equity firm that invests in the US, Europe, and Asia. He oversaw the firm’s relationships with current and prospective investors globally, as well as its business development, communication, sales, and marketing activities.
Ryan Ruskin serves as president and chief operating officer of the Ruskin Group, a 105-year-old family packaging company and industry leader in sustainability. He previously worked as a consultant with A.T. Kearney, focusing on supply chain and manufacturing strategies with several Fortune 50 companies.
Sean Ryan has over ten years of consulting experience with U.S. and European clients. He specializes in growth-related issues in consumer products and healthcare and leads the North America practice area. He has published articles on Europe, the global economy, and finance.
In 2009, after visiting his hometown of Jerusalem, Kais Salhut started a software development outsourcing company in Ramallah, Palestine, to tap into the largely underutilized talent pool Palestinian universities produced each year. The company he started later merged its operations into iConnect Technologies, where he served as chief executive officer.
Jason Schmitt is a global CEO with a track record of unlocking growth across Fortune 500 and private equity-backed companies in retail and consumer goods, most recently as interim CEO of a $100M Southern California 3rd-party omnichannel logistics firm with 600 employees. He currently serves on the board of two private equity-owned companies.
Ross Shelleman is the CEO of Aisle Rocket, after previously serving as president and CEO of Target Data, a venture-backed "Big Data" and analytics company focused on the life event of moving. Before founding Target Data, Shelleman held various senior business development positions across a multitude of industries, including technology, healthcare, and managed services.
J. Jordan Shields joined Juniper Advisory, a specialized investment banking firm that provides government-owned, non-profit, and faith-based hospitals strategic transaction support, in 2011, in part due to the work his class of Emerging Leaders did exploring the opportunities and risks of privatizing public infrastructure, specifically hospitals.
