With more than 300 members, the Emerging Leaders community is a dynamic cross-sector network of Chicago’s visionary, globally minded, locally committed leaders.
Elizabeth Andrews has lived and worked across Africa, Asia, and Europe for the past 15 years representing award-winning newsrooms, startups, international nonprofits, and the United Nations. Currently, she's building and leading philanthropic strategy and partnership work at mHUB, a Chicago-based innovation center focusing on climate tech, med tech, and sustainable manufacturing.
Joyce Coffee is an entrepreneur and founder of Climate Resilience Consulting, which helps public, private, and philanthropic clients turn climate risk into opportunity through practical, scalable resilience solutions. Previously, she led climate action for the City of Chicago and guided strategic corporate sustainability across the Midwest at the public relations firm Edelman.
Erin Delawalla leads regional sales and business development in the Upper Midwest for Resource Environmental Solutions, LLC, the nation’s largest operational ecological restoration company. She works to develop new markets and innovative funding strategies for environmental restoration and conservation of sensitive natural resources, particularly through the development of ecosystem credit markets.
Lauren Densham supports public sector, higher education, and nonprofit clients in evolving their organizational strategy and processes to more effectively achieve their mission and better serve constituents. She has experience supporting leading public and private sector organizations with strategy development, organizational transformation, and sustainability initiatives.
Josh Ellis founded SUM, a company that creates restorative outdoor experiences for groups throughout Chicagoland—from staff retreats to wellness outings and beyond. By offering safe, inclusive, and welcoming experiences, SUM helps people pause, connect, and recharge—while also making nature more accessible and enjoyable for those often marginalized in outdoor spaces.
Alicia Farag is the co-founder and president of Locusview, which provides mobile and geospatial technologies to support integrity management, regulatory compliance, and cost reductions for the natural gas industry. Previously, they worked at the Gas Technology Institute, where they were responsible for the development and commercialization of mobile and geospatial technologies.
As Ferrara’s sustainability manager, Vanessa Flores Andersen plays a central role in shaping the company’s sustainability vision and transforming it into action. She leads cross-functional initiatives that move the organization toward a more responsible future—while overseeing a multi-million-dollar capital budget for resource-efficiency upgrades across manufacturing sites.
Amy Francetic's career spans over 20 years of high-technology entrepreneurship, private equity, and research. She previously founded and led Energize Ventures, a $165 million venture fund that invests in digital energy technologies. She also held roles at the Stanford Research Institute, where she worked on an early version of the voice recognition technology that became Siri.
In his previous role at engineering consulting firm Sargent & Lundy, Jon Horek advised clients and delivered projects in the electric utility, gas utility, heavy industry, institutional, and commercial building sectors. He broadly focuses his work on three trends transforming global energy infrastructure—efficiency, decarbonization, and resiliency.
Kevin Johnson is an accomplished executive, entrepreneur, and investor in the clean energy and power generation industries with over 15 years of experience managing government relations, corporate development, and capital fundraising. In addition to his work at Caelum Ventures, he also serves as a senior advisor to the Department of Defense Innovation Unit (DIU) and NanoGraf, among others.
