With more than 300 members, the Emerging Leaders community is a dynamic cross-sector network of Chicago’s visionary, globally minded, locally committed leaders.
Alexander Ross is a certified financial planner and a principal at Main Street Investment Advisors, LLC, as well as the owner of Pallas Investments, LLC. Daily, he works closely with a wide variety of multi-generational families to manage their wealth, and is actively involved in his local community through his service on Winnetka's Caucus Council and as a member of the Vestry of Christ Church.
Juan P Rossi (JP) is a vice president for the nutrition division at Archer Daniels Midland, based out of Chicago. He has over 20 years of combined international experience in the agricultural, food, and beverages industries with a relevant background in general management, strategy, commercial, trading, supply chain management, sales, and marketing.
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.
Maryiam Saifuddin is a strategy-oriented leader in healthcare analytics, passionate about using data to improve member experience and retention. At Centene, she leads a cross-functional team that translates complex insights into strategies that reduce churn and elevate care for more than five million Affordable Care Act members.
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.
Now with Kirkland & Ellis, Mark Schneider was previously an assistant US attorney for the Northern District of Illinois and served as chief of appeals. A federal prosecutor based in Chicago, he also handled a multi-year national security investigation that resulted in the first successful prosecution for a violation of the Intelligence Identities Protection Act in 27 years.
