With more than 300 members, the Emerging Leaders community is a dynamic cross-sector network of Chicago’s visionary, globally minded, locally committed leaders.
Alex Kruzel is an author, entrepreneur, business advisor, and CEO and founder of Telesto Strategy, a Chicago-based management consulting firm. Her recent book, The Courage to Continue: Stay the Course on Sustainability to Secure our Future, explores how businesses can integrate sustainability into risk management as well as align environmental security with national security priorities.
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 over a decade, she has overseen significant growth of the fund’s academic programs in order to increase access to high-quality education.
Before joining Brooks, Chris Lyons was a vice president and general manager at Prince Castle, a foodservice equipment business within the Marmon Retail Technologies Company. In this role, he led 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.
In her previous role, Absera Melaku provided overall direction for the University of Chicago's Center for Global Health by managing its long-term strategy, developing numerous educational programs, and overseeing the operational infrastructure. She developed collaborative relationships to further the mission to broaden global health education, training, research, advocacy, and engagement.
Before her time at UI Health, Yamilé Molina was an associate 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. She's led multiple studies characterizing and intervening upon the disproportionate burden of cancer that Latinx, African Americans, and rural populations face.
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.
Nalini Prakash Hart is a principal at KPMG, after previously serving as a managing director in the firm'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.
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.
Scott Stern, now a senior manager at Meta, was previously the director of innovation and insights at the American Marketing Association (AMA). He led 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 non-member customers worldwide.
Allison Tingwall previously served as the principal of Curie High School, the third-largest school in Chicago. She began her career in education as a Spanish and math teacher at North Lawndale College Prep and further developed her instructional leadership as an adjunct lecturer at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) and a resident principal at Back of the Yards College Prep.
