With more than 300 members, the Emerging Leaders community is a dynamic cross-sector network of Chicago’s visionary, globally minded, locally committed leaders.
Rebecca Knight is an assistant general counsel with Aon's law and compliance team. She is a business-focused attorney with over 15 years of experience partnering with leaders to meet strategic objectives, mitigate risk, and drive growth. She regularly negotiates complex commercial agreements and counsels the businesses she supports on the development of innovative offerings.
Loukas Kozonis is an attorney, CPA, and civic leader bridging law, business, and public service. He's the founding partner of Kozonis Law, Ltd., a boutique law firm focused on real estate, corporate governance, and tax matters. He also serves as a director of a Chicago-based real estate firm that owns and manages retail and mixed-use properties throughout the Midwest, among other roles.
Seth Kravitz is the former co-founder of Technori, a publication that celebrates entrepreneurship, and Bow Truss, a premium coffee roasting company. After falling in love with the Chicago entrepreneur community, Kravitz started mentoring at the Coleman Center at DePaul University, the Knapp Center at IIT, Excelerate Labs, and Code Academy.
William Krehbiel is the founder and CEO of Topography Hospitality, LLC, and co-managing partner of Ballyfin Demesne, a luxury hotel in Ireland. He previously founded and led A Better Chicago, a venture philanthropy fund supporting high-impact nonprofits serving low-income communities.
Natasha Krol's work has included facilitating collaboration across distributed higher education systems, supporting the government of Nigeria in reducing poliovirus cases, and designing innovation labs. Recently, Krol supported Chicago and UILabs in their winning bid to launch a $320M public-private "Digital Lab" to support advanced manufacturing technology research, development, and demonstration.
Shermin Kruse is also a TEDx speaker; an accomplished negotiator, facilitator, and mediator; the author of the critically acclaimed, best-selling novel Butterfly Stitching; a contributor to the Huffington Post; a director of the ACLU of Illinois; cofounder and director of Pasfarda Arts and Culture Exchange; a director of Heshima Kenya; and a mother of four.
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.
Seema Kumbhat's experience includes directing medical device innovation, in addition to performing due diligence for strategic alliances and risk management activities, for the global pharmaceutical and medical device company Hospira. She's licensed to practice medicine and surgery in the state of Illinois and has traveled the world to examine healthcare disparities in other countries.
Marc Lacher is a managing director and wealth advisor with William Blair’s private wealth management group. He leads a team that provides bespoke financial planning and investment management services to high-net-worth, multinational, and global-oriented investors. He works to leverage the firm’s resources to implement asset allocation strategies that meet clients’ complex multigenerational needs.
Ashish Lal is a vice president at BDT & Company, a Chicago-based merchant bank that combines a $3 billion investment fund with advisory services to address the strategic and financing needs of companies. He was involved in establishing BDT’s strategic joint venture with one of India’s most highly regarded conglomerates and continues to establish relationships with business owners outside of the US.
