Dr. Katarina Adam is a Professor of Engineering at HTW Berlin in their Business Administration and Engineering Department, lecturing in the fields of corporate finance, accounting and controlling. Her personal quest is to enable students in our complex and numerically orientated world to understand and effectively communicate the language of numeric data. 

She focuses her research and teaching activities on blockchain technology and its diverse practical applications in the business world, especially its power as a financial tool. She is most fascinated by the link between technology and economic transfer for real world application. To this end, Katarina organizes the annual Blockchain@HTW Conference to bring together diverse groups from Academia, Industry and Government.

In the context of her research work, among other things, she delves into transparency of donation distributions for both small and island nation states. One of her other projects specifically aimed at improving the health of our planet, centers on making industry emissions traceable via various tracking systems. 

Katarina is a board member of the International Association for Trusted Blockchain Applications and a member of their Working Group on Education. The purpose of the Working Group is to identify and provide recommendations on the definition and standardization of blockchain education, both at the academic and professional levels. Her pro-bono work also includes the evaluation of applicants for the Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst (DAAD) Student Exchange Programs. She is especially active in the Hilde Domin Programme, which supports at-risk students, offering them an opportunity to begin or complete their studies and/or research degree at a German institution of higher education.

Katarina has written the definitive textbook on Blockchain Technology for Business Processes, published by Springer. Translated into English, the revised version enabled her work to reach the international market. She is also the author of the white paper “Project Hurricane”, which deals with the transfer of real estate ownership.  

Additionally, she is the founder of SimLinck UG, a start-up that delivers a blockchain-based property ID card for the real estate industry market. Prior to her academic work, Katarina successfully led her own Berlin-based real estate company.

Photo © HTW Berlin/Camilla Rackelmann

Suzanne believes that a strong economy does not preclude a healthy environment– and vice versa! Rather, they are important partners in a resilient region.

Suzanne’s career has been centered on stakeholder engagement and sustainability action, drawing from a balance of principles in environment, equity, and economy. Suzanne possesses deep knowledge and experience in climate mitigation and resiliency, regulatory efforts, workforce development, ecological restoration, urban forest management and industrial redevelopment. She led strategies and programs for over 17 years at the Chicago Department of Environment, culminating as Commissioner. Key accomplishments included the launch and oversight of: the Chicago Climate Action Plan; Greencorps Chicago; Chicago Center for Green Technology and Green Tech University; the Chicago Conservation Corps; the Calumet Initiative; comprehensive stormwater management, air, and soil and rubble reuse ordinances, the launch of Nature Chicago; restoration and expansion of North Park Village Nature Center; Action H2O; and hiring and leading an amazing cohort of environmental leaders who are out there, rocking it, across the region and the world.

In 2019, Suzanne co-chaired Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s environmental transition committee and served as Interim CEO for the Great Lakes St. Lawrence Cities Initiative. Suzanne has 13+ years of nonprofit and business experience at regional organizations such as Openlands, Jasculca Terman, Chicago Wilderness, and Quercus Consulting, and currently works with ConTextos and Audubon Great Lakes. Suzanne holds a B.S. in horticulture from University of IL, Urbana-Champaign, and a Masters and Ph.D. in communications from Northwestern University.

Kari Lydersen is a Chicago-based reporter, author, and journalism instructor. She is a lecturer in the graduate program at the Medill School of Journalism, Media, Integrated Marketing Communications at Northwestern University, where she leads the Social Justice & Investigative Specialization and is co-director of the Social Justice News Nexus, a fellowship program that brings together graduate students and professional reporters.

Kari is also a staff writer for Midwest Energy News and writes for publications including The Washington Post, The Guardian, The Chicago Reader and In These Times, with a focus on environment and energy; housing; the opioid crisis; and labor.

From 2013-2014, she was a research associate at the Medill Watchdog Project at Northwestern.
Through 2009 she was a staff writer in the Midwest bureau of the Washington Post; after that she wrote for the Chicago edition of the New York Times through the Chicago News Cooperative. Her work has also appeared in publications including Discover Magazine, Crain’s Chicago Business, The Economist, Newsmax, People Magazine, the Christian Science Monitor and High Country News.

In 2011-2012 she was a Ted Scripps Environmental Journalism fellow at the University of Colorado, studying energy and mining issues and working on an ongoing project regarding hard rock mining in the U.S. and abroad. She is the author of five books including Shoot an Iraqi: Art, Life and Resistance Under the Gun (City Lights, 2008), Revolt on Goose Island: The Chicago Window Factory Takeover and What it Says About the Economic Crisis (Melville House, 2009) and most recently Mayor 1%: Rahm Emanuel and the Rise of Chicago’s 99% (Haymarket Books, 2013).

She also has taught journalism at Columbia College Chicago and the School of the Art Institute of Chicago; and worked with youth from marginalized communities through the non-profit journalism program We the People Media. She graduated from Northwestern University with a journalism degree in 1997. She is a former national champion in marathon swimming (15 kilometers and 25 kilometers) and a national team member in pool swimming. Today she competes in marathons and triathlons; and lives in Chicago’s Pilsen neighborhood where she also leads mural tours.

Adele Simmons is President of Global Philanthropy Partnership which works to strengthen the infrastructure that supports global philanthropy. She also focuses on global cities and sustainable cities.  Ms. Simmons coordinated efforts to develop Midwest strategies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, co-chaired the taskforce that developed Mayor Daley’s 2010 Climate Action Plan for the City of Chicago, and at the request of Mayor Emanuel, co-chaired the task force that prepared and implemented Sustainable Chicago 2015. She was Vice-Chair of the regional planning group Chicago Metropolis 2020, and co-chaired the Council on Global Affairs’ study group that produced The Global Edge: an Agenda for Chicago’s Future. She helped to found the Urban Sustainability Director’s Network, which brings together sustainability leaders from 124 cities in the U.S. and Canada. Ms. Simmons manages a network of sustainability officers from 24 of Chicago’s global corporations, and another of 11 Chicago area universities.

Ms. Simmons was President of the MacArthur Foundation between 1989 and 1999, overseeing grants of $1.5 billion, focusing on the environment, population, international peace and security, inequality among nations, and climate change. After leaving the MacArthur Foundation, she was Vice Chair of Metropolis Strategies leading their work on sustainability and early childhood education. Mrs. Simmons is currently on the Board of the Field Museum, The Chicago Council on Global Affairs, The American Prospect, CERES, the Union of Concerned Scientists, the Synergos Institute, and the UN Foundation.

She served on the World Bank Institute Global Equity Initiative, President Carter’s Commission on World Hunger, President Bush’s Commission on Sustainable Development, the Commission on Global Governance, and the UN High Level Advisory Board on Sustainable Development, and a number of non-profit and corporate boards. She was a member of the Board of Marsh & McLennan Cos. From 1977 – 2015.

Simmons was President of Hampshire College, a dean at Princeton and Tufts Universities, and a member of the Harvard Board of Overseers. Simmons received her bachelor’s degree from Harvard University and her doctorate from Oxford University in African studies. She also served as a reporter for The Economist in North Africa from 1968-1969. She has lived in Oxford, Mauritius, Kenya and Tunisia, where she served as The Economist correspondent for North Africa.

Olufunmilayo(Fumi) Olopade, MD is aNigerian-bornand raised expert in cancer risk assessment and individualized treatment for the most aggressive forms of breast cancer. Olopade has excelled at integrating research into patient care at the University of Chicago Medicine since 1987, with a focus on risk reduction, early detection and prevention in high-risk populations. She helped develop treatments for young women, including women of African ancestry, that are significantly more effective with less side effects. She also serves as the Director of the University of Chicago’s Centerfor GlobalHealth (CHG) which connects university students and faculty to a variety of globalhealth-related opportunities. CGH sponsors seminars, workshops, and lectures that relate to globalhealth topics, and advocates for increased course offerings on related subject matter.

A recipient early in her career of a MacArthur Fellowship, she has been honored by the National Academy of Medicine, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the American Philosophical Society. She served on the board of directors for the American Board of Internal Medicine, the National Cancer Advisory Board, and Susan G. Komen for the Cure. She currently serves on the boards of Lyric Opera, the MacArthur Foundation, and two Chicago-based companies in healthcare, CancerIQ and Tempus.

Mary Bunn, PhD, LCSW is a clinician-scholar with extensive experience developing and delivering mental health and psychosocial services for survivors of war and torture in resettlement contexts and in post-conflict and humanitarian settings globally. Her work in this area began in earnest in 2003, just after completing a master’s degree in social work at the University of Chicago and travelling to Cambodia to undertake a year-long immersive fellowship focused on exploring the impact of the Cambodian genocide and community-based approaches to trauma healing. This experience was deeply influential and set her on a professional path working with survivors of violence from which she has never looked back.

After fifteen years of domestic and international practice, she returned for doctoral studies and received her PhD from the University of Chicago. She is currently a Research Scientist at the University of Illinois at Chicago, Department of Psychiatry. She is also a core faculty member and Co-Director of the Global Mental Health Research and Training Program in the UIC Center for Global Health and a clinical faculty member in the Mood and Anxiety Disorder Program where she runs an outpatient therapy clinic for refugees and asylum seekers.

Her research program focuses on community-based mental health prevention and care interventions for survivors of war and political violence across the migration continuum. This involves bridging prevention and intervention research to integrate a spectrum of services that are used for communities with diverse needs. She is particularly interested in family and group-based models of care and how to best mobilize social and family resources through interventions to enhance coping and wellbeing. Currently, she is conducting research with Syrian refugee families and communities in Chicago and Jordan to understand multi-level risk and protective processes and to inform development of family-based mental health prevention services. She is also co-leading a new study called, The Afghan Family Strengthening Initiative, which focuses on adapting an evidence-based whole family mental health promotion intervention for newly arrived Afghan families and scaling up the home visiting model using a multi-state learning collaborative approach. Dr. Bunn’s research priorities are deeply shaped by her ongoing clinical practice delivering mental health care to survivors of war, torture and forced migration. Her work over the course of her career has led to a strong conviction that the roots of healing from the wounds of war and violence are found in relationships and a sense of social connection with others.

Rhonda Stevens Grayer is the President of WT Stevens Construction, Inc. Rhonda grew up in the business as her family has operated a successful construction company for the past 30 years. During this time, she was involved in all aspects of the family construction business. She has performed at every level, from working in the field, to managing all of the business’ contracts and functions.

Over the last three years, Rhonda has successfully taken WTS from having revenues of $750K to having revenues over 10M. During this time, she has established partnerships and collaborations with Mott Community College, and Metro Youth Build to provide training and skills enhancement for the youth of the city of Flint. The future of the WT Stevens construction and Rhonda Grayer are very bright and she has some awesome plans for expansion and development in the forthcoming years.

Rhonda is a graduate of Iowa State University. She has a Bachelor of Science Degree in Finance and a Master’s Degree in Accounting from Walsh College of Business. She has twelve years of experience in financial analysis and 10 years of experience in project development and project management in a construction environment.

Zoraida Sambolin, an Emmy winning journalist, is the Weekday Edition co-anchor of NBC 5 News Today. She rejoined the morning team in March of 2013 after spending two years as co-anchor of CNN‘s Early Start.

While at CNN Sambolin covered numerous breaking news stories including the Colorado Theatre shootings, the Boston bombings and the Cleveland kidnappings, and she field-anchored the Newtown Connecticut school massacre. In April of 2012, Sambolin was diagnosed with breast cancer and chose to return to her hometown of Chicago explaining to her colleagues and viewers at CNN that “tomorrow is not
promised.”

Sambolin returned to the familiarity of the station where she began her career. She originally joined WMAQ in the summer of 2002 and began reporting for Telemundo the following year. As the first Chicago on-air broadcaster to work at both English and Spanish language stations simultaneously, she broke new ground for Latinos in the No. 3 market in the country.

She has served as host of Un Buen Doctor, a weekly Spanish language medical series airing on cable stations worldwide and has won numerous awards for work on two parenting programs created for cable distribution.

Sambolin volunteers for numerous organizations and has a special interest in raising awareness about breast cancer in underserved communities.  Returning to NBC5 News has been “like coming home,” Sambolin has said. She is happy to return to her morning show seat and the Chicago viewers she missed. Sambolin lives in Chicago with her husband Ken Williams and her 2 children Nicolas and Sofia.

Your artistic purchase helps support progressive women artists shaping society and ongoing Genesis Women’s Leadership Salons.

Mary Beth Liccioni began her studies in the culinary arts at Washburn Trade School where she entered into the Chef’s Training Program. Her departure from Washburn lead to a job under the tutelage of Chef Guy Petit at Crickets in Chicago , this was followed by a term with Jean Banchet at Le Français in Wheeling. Eventually Mary Beth took up artistic residence as Chef de Pâtisserie at Carlos’ in Highland Park, Illinois. It was at Carlos’ that Mary Beth met and formed her partnership with Roland Liccioni. In 1989 Mary Beth and her former partner Roland acquired Chef Banchet’s Le Français, raising the bar at this already renowned destination, the Liccionis gained critical acclaim almost immediately..

The list of awards they earned included: AAA Five-Diamond, Mobil Travel Guide Five-Stars, and Wine Spectator’s One of the Greatest Wine Lists in the World, induction into the prestigious Relais & Châteaux, and Traditions & Qualité’s Les Grandes Tables du Monde, as well as numerous other distinctive accolades. Also, Mary Beth was ranked among the top ten pastry chefs by Chocolatier magazine. In 1990 Mary Beth formed Chocolats Le Français as a satellite company to the restaurant. It was around this time that it became necessary for Mary Beth to branch-out further with her talents such that she could both see to administrative details and look after the front of the house, nurturing her businesses as a mother nurtures her children. Mary Beth’s tireless ambition led her further still; she acquired the then private Les Nomades from Jovan Trboyevic in 1993, and has been director of Les Nomades since that time. Once Ms. Liccioni completed her tenure at Le Français in 1999, she focused her energies on Les Nomades, leaving it sole heir to her talent.

Along with her keen business sense and gracious personal style, Mary Beth has an insatiable desire for knowledge. She has become fluent in the French language, regularly attends wine courses and is regarded by many as a connoisseur of wine and gastronomie.

Katherine Davis’ life as a singer, songwriter, actress, and teacher is imbued with music. Whether she is portraying Bessie Smith or Ma Rainey on stage, appearing with piano accompaniment at a nightclub, fronting a large band, or singing for the Lord, Katherine steers her own course. Her command of various musical styles is saturated in blue. Katherine’s unique musical approach was nurtured from within by her circle of family and close friends. 

Her Mother was from a family of jazz performers and opera singers.  She loved to sing and wanted to be a professional vocalist, though she dedicated her life to her family. Katherine remembers hearing her Mother’s side of the family recount the stories of her Grandfather, Earl Campbell, performing with legends Louis Armstrong and Count Basie. Katherine’s father’s side of the family threw house parties all the time, during which the children were the only live performers.  If a child sang or danced, family and friends would throw money at his or her feet. She was raised on the music of Ella Fitzgerald, Pearl Bailey, Nancy Wilson, Dinah Washington, Brook Benton, Howlin’ Wolf, Muddy Waters, Mahalia Jackson, Etta James, and Arethra Franklin.  Katherine was also exposed to and inspired by the opera singers in her family. 

She studied opera at the Sherwood Conservatory of Music under the direction of Maria D’ Albert. In studying opera, Katherine was laying the groundwork for her repertoire’s singular and all-encompassing musical style and diversity.  Raised in Chicago’s infamous Cabrini-Green housing project on Chicago’s North side, Katherine and her family moved to the Englewood on Chicago’s South side in 1967. The move proved a good one for Katherine, as it provided exposure to an array of jazz and blues clubs. Within the jazz scene, there was a subscene wherein singers and musicians would perform for stage productions. A friend suggested that she audition for an acting part in a play produced by Kuumba Theatre for which Katherine was cast. She went on to play Ma Rainey and Bessie Smith to critical acclaim in Kuumba Theatre’s production of In the Heart of the Blues, garnering the attention of luminaries who advanced her career.  She was soon singing in jazz and blues clubs, festivals and concerts throughout the U.S., Canada, Japan, Europe, the Caribbean and Venezuela. Her appearance with the Blues in the Schools children at the 1997 Chicago Blues Festival led to ongoing involvement as an instructor in the Blues in the Schools Program right alongside harmonica virtuoso, Billy Branch. 

Within the course of an evening, Katherine’s voice can span the gamut from sweet and sultry to lowdown and dirty. She can phrase like Billie Holiday, scat like Ella, and growl like Howlin’ Wolf.  Katherine is accompanied throughout Dream Shoes, her first CD (Chicago’s Southport Records)  by some of Chicago’s top jazz and blues musicians, such as piano players Erwin HeIfer and Joe Johnson, bassists Nate Stuart, Tatsu Aoki, John Whitfield and Cecile Savage, saxophonist Will Sims, and Isaac Redd Holt, Phil Thomas and Casey Jones on drums. John Barrett of Jazz USA wrote of the CD: “While apparently simple, this album speaks volumes – that’s true of the best music, and the best dreams.” Noted Chicago Tribune critic Dan Kening added, “If there’s any justice in this world, the delicious melange of vintage blues and jazz on Dream Shoes will raise the profile of veteran Chicago singer Katherine Davis as a recording artist.” 

Katherine continues to perform at clubs and concert venues at home in Chicago, and around the world. In January 2000, she was chosen to accompany Mayor Richard J. Daley to help represent the City of Chicago at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. She performed there at the diplomatic reception. In the late 1980s her visage was immortalized on a 16-foot tall billboard that adorns the corner of Ohio and Orleans recognizing her contributions. Mayor Lightfoot recently bestowed upon her the 2020 Chicago Esteemed Artist Award.

Yoko Noge, a transplant from Osaka, Japan melds an incredible mix of Chicago blues, jazz, Japanese music, and her very own compositions. For well over 15 years her band, composed of Yoko and five legendary Chicago musicians played every Monday at Chicago’s famed HotHouse; they also were frequent talent at Andy’s Jazz Clubs and The Green Mill.

Yoko has performed at the Chicago Blues Festival, the Chicago Jazz Festival, the Asian American Jazz Festival and many special events throughout the United States, Japan, China, and Europe. Among her many accolades, she was named Chicagoan of the Year by the Chicago Tribune.  Chicago author and historian Studs Terkel called her “wonderful Yoko—a jazz for joy Artiste.”  Howard Reich, The Chicago Tribune’s music critic wrote of her: “Yoko Noge offers a fascinating synthesis of cunning jazz improvisation, bona fide blues exhortation, and the cultural rituals of her Japanese origins.” 

In 2014 she was the Recipient of the Foreign Minister’s Commendations in Japan. Additionally, Newsweek Japan did a cover story entitled 100 Japanese the World Respects which featured Yoko as a revered Chicago blues singer/ band leader and newspaper correspondent.

Ms. Goss Graves has served in numerous roles at the National Women’s Law Center for more than a decade and has a distinguished track record working across a broad set of issues central to women’s lives—including income security, health and reproductive rights, education access, and workplace justice. Ms. Goss Graves is currently overseeing the Center’s administration of the Time’s Up Legal Defense Fund, which connects those who experience sexual misconduct including assault, harassment, abuse and related retaliation in the workplace or in trying to advance their careers with legal and public relations assistance. Prior to becoming CEO and President, she served as the Center’s Senior Vice President for Program, where she led the organization’s broad program agenda. Prior to that, as the Center’s Vice President for Education and Employment, she led the Center’s anti-discrimination initiatives, including work to promote equal pay, and address harassment and violence at work and in school, with a particular focus on outcomes for women and girls of color.

She is widely recognized for her effectiveness in the complex public policy arena at both the state and federal levels, regularly testifies before Congress and federal agencies, and is a frequent speaker at conferences and other public education forums. Ms. Goss Graves appears often in print and on-air as a legal expert on issues core to women’s lives, including in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, AP, Chicago Tribune, LA Times, San Francisco Chronicle, CNN, MSNBC, PBS and NPR.

Deb Haaland is the 54th Secretary of the U.S. Department of the Interior. She formerly served as New Mexico’s First Congressional District and is one of the first Native American women serving in Congress. As a 35^th generation New Mexican, single-mom, and organizer Haaland knows the struggles of New Mexico families, but she also knows how resilient and strong New Mexico communities are.

In Congress she was a force fighting climate change and for renewable energy jobs as Vice Chair of the House Natural Resources Committee, a powerful supporter of military personnel, families, and veterans on the House Armed Services Committee, and continues to advocate for dignity, respect, and equality for all on the House Oversight Committee and as Secretary of the U.S. Department of the Interior.

Monica Lewis-Patrick (aka The Water Warrior)is a mother, educator, entrepreneur, and human rights activist/advocate. She is co-founder of We The People of Detroitand has served as their Director of Community Outreach & Engagement since 2009.  She was unanimously elected by the Board to become their President & CEO in 2014.

As one of the leaders at the forefront of the water rights struggle in Detroit and beyond, she presented before the United Nations Secretary- General’s Advisory Board on Water and Sanitation-DESA alongside several other national and international leaders in the global water crisis. She is the visionary, co-designer and co-author of the current We The People of Detroit: Community Research Collective that published and released “Mapping the Water Crisis: The Dismantling of African-American Neighborhoods in Detroit” (August 2016)as volume one of a three-part series documenting the effects of austerity and its relationship to race in Detroit. We The People of Detroit co-hosted the United Nations Rapporteurs on Water/Sanitation and Housing in Detroit in October 2014 to challenge the Human Right to Clean, Safe and Affordable Water which was being denied to Detroit residents.

Lewis-Patrick and her organization have won numerous awards including: River Heroes 2019 (River Network), Freshwater Future Hero 2018 (Freshwater Futures), United Nations/ Detroit Chapter- Humanitarian Award 2018, Michigan League of Conservation Voters- Advocates of the Year 2018.  They have been featured on several radio and television programs; such as, “Wake Up Detroit”, “The Roland Martin Show – TV One”, MSNBC News.  Newspapers and magazine articles range from EBONY to The Washington Post, Guardian Magazine, and The Hindustan Times, among others.

She is an active member of the People’s Water Board Coalition, US Human Rights Network, Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), HOW (Healing Our Waters)/ Equity Advisory Action WeCouncil, PolicyLink-WERC, Flint Strong Stones (Co-founder), Freshwater Futures/All About Water (Advisory Committee), Lead and Copper Rule Advisory Group at University of Michigan/ Ann Arbor- Water Center, The Nature Conservancy and Michigan State University Water Fellow 2019, Michigan Water Table: PFAS Workshop, Michigan Water Unity Table, Water Affordability- Flint/ Mayor Karen Weaver, Detroit Equity Action Lab (Fellow 2016), Michigan Lifestage Environmental Exposures and Disease Center- StakeholderAdvisory Group.  Acknowledging her expansive leadership, in 2015 she was named to the World Water Justice Council.

Patrick-Lewis is actively engaged in every struggle on behalf of Detroit residents.  As a former Lead Legislative Policy Analyst for Detroit City Council under the mentorship of former City Councilwoman, the Honorable JoAnn Watson, Monica authored legislation, conducted research and delivered constituency services to tens of thousands of Detroit residents.

Lewis-Patrick attended the historic Bennett College and is a graduate of East Tennessee State University where she earned a Bachelors of General Studies degree in Social Work and Sociology as well as a Masters of Arts of Liberal Studies degree with a concentration in Criminal Justice/Sociology and Public Management.  She was a Ron McNair Scholar.

Alexandra Salomon is a senior editor for WBEZ’s podcast team. Currently, she edits and often hosts Curious City, a weekly podcast whose mission is to include the public in the editorial process and make journalism more transparent.  Curious City has covered everything from Chicago’s lead water issues to the history of its Japanese neighborhood.

Along with her work on Curious City, Alexandra was the editor/reporter for Motive Season 2, an investigative podcast that examined allegations of sexual assault during study abroad in Spain.

Alexandra was a senior producer for WBEZ’s global affairs program Worldview for eight years and before that, she spent nearly a decade reporting overseas. She reported on a wide range of international and investigative news stories including the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the death of Pope John Paul II and sexual abuse in the Catholic church. She was a producer for ABC News, based in Rome, Italy. In Europe, she also reported for a number of other news outlets including The Boston Globe, The Economist, The Jerusalem Post and the BBC.  

Alexandra was awarded a Knight International Press Fellowship, which took her to Nigeria and Moldova in 2006. 

She has an M.A. in International Affairs from Columbia University and a B.A. in Art History from the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor.

Dr. Marshall is the Founding President and President Emerita of the Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy®–the nation’s first three-year public residential institution for high school age students academically talented in science, mathematics and technology. She was also the founding president of the National Consortium for Specialized Secondary Schools in Mathematics, Science and Technology, and was a president of the Association of Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD). Today she is internationally recognized as a pioneer and innovative leader and teacher and an inspiring speaker and writer on leadership, learning and schooling, STEM education and talent development, innovation, and the design of generative and life-affirming learning organizations.

Dr. Marshall has worked in every level of education: superintendent of schools, a district curriculum administrator, a graduate school faculty member, and an elementary and middle school teacher. She earned a B.A. from Queens College, M.A. from the University of Chicago, and a Ph.D. from Loyola University of Chicago. She received four honorary doctorates in science and in arts and letters. She is the author of over 35 published journal articles, an author for the Drucker Foundation’s series Organizations of the Future, an editor/author of Scientific Literacy for the 21st Century, and a contributor to Learning and Understanding: Improving Advanced Study of Mathematics and Science in U. S. High Schools. She is featured in the book, Leaders Who Dare: Pushing the Boundaries and is the inspiration behind the novel, Smart Alex, a story of an adolescent girl talented in mathematics. Her book, The Power to Transform: Leadership that Brings Learning and Schooling to Life, received the 2007 Delta Kappa Gamma Society International Educator’s Award.

A partial list of honors include: Woman Extraordinaire Award from the International Women’s Association, the Distinguished Citizen of the Year Award from the Boy Scouts of America, the Distinguished Alumni Award from Loyola University of Chicago and the Pioneer Award from the Board of Trustees of IMSA. Dr. Marshall received two resolutions from the Illinois General Assembly for outstanding contributions to Illinois education, and she was elected into the Illinois Hall of Fame and into the inaugural Hall of Fame of Chicago Women’s Today. The Chicago Sun Times selected her as one of the ten most powerful women in education and one of the 100 most powerful women in Chicago. She was recognized by the R J R Nabisco Corporation as one of the nation’s most innovative educational leaders and by the National Association of School Boards as one of North America’s “100 Top School Executives.”

At the invitation of Mikhail Gorbachev, she became a member of the State of The World Forum, an international “think-tank” designed to study and resolve issues impacting global sustainability. President William Jefferson Clinton invited her to become a member of the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI). Her current CGI work involves a partnership with Free The Children to build/equip the first residential secondary school for girls in the Masai Mara in Kenya, which will open in 2011. She is a fellow of the Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufacturers, and Commerce in London, England and serves on the board of the Queen Noor Jubliee School’s Foundation in Amman, Jordan, among others. She is a Trustee of the Society for Science and the Public, a member of the Advisory Board of Games for Change, and a charter member of the Advisory Board for AECT’s Initiative FutureMinds: Transforming American School Systems and The Innovation Council of Chicago.

As a result of her achievements, she was inducted into the Lincoln Academy of Illinois and was designated a Laureate of the Academy, the state’s highest award for achievement that “contributes to the betterment of mankind.”

Dr. Elizabeth Alvarez was born and raised on the Southwest side of Chicago. She is a first-generation Mexican and first-generation college graduate. She received her B.A. at the University of Illinois at Chicago in Education with a Minor in Psychology.  She continued with her education, completing two masters and a Ph.D. at the University of Illinois at Chicago.  Her Ph.D. in curriculum and instruction focused on narrative, race and science pedagogy. The title of her dissertation is “Rabbit on the Moon: An Urban Mexican Curriculum Story.”

Liz began her career as a teacher in the Little Village Neighborhood where for 13 years she taught upper-grade science. She was privileged and honored to serve as principal for six years at John C. Dore Elementary, a pre-K through 8th-grade elementary school in Chicago’s Clearing neighborhood where she led the school to Level 1+ status. Prior to being an administrator, she coached district principals in math and science and was an adjunct professor at Concordia University.

Active with the Network of Hispanic Administrators in Education for Chicago Public Schools and a member of the Illinois Association of Latino Administrators and Superintendents, IALAS, she is also part of the 2019 cohort of the Superintendent Leadership Academy of ALAS and a 2015 Fellow of Leadership Greater Chicago and Corwin reviewer for book proposals.  Liz is a member of the CPS DREAMERS Fundraiser supporting DACA students wishing to achieve their college dreams. She is also a board member of the Latino Leadership Pipeline that coaches and supports future Latino leaders as they work to become future leaders in education.

Liz currently serves as Network 8 Chief of Schools in Chicago Public Schools supporting 18 schools to achieve growth and attainment of high-level performance against grade-level standards while preparing students for college and career readiness. As a leader, she encourages staff, community, and students to achieve greatness in all they do and take pride in their school climate and culture. More importantly, she aims to instill a sense of belonging with a developed understanding of the importance of social-emotional learning to shape schools as safe educational environments wherein learning is at the forefront and increased student achievement becomes inevitable.

Originally from Liberia, Mamayan Jabateh immigrated to the United States at the age of 10. She is a writer, a reader, and an activist for social change. Throughout high school, Mamayan has advocated for youth voices in larger political conversations and has immersed herself in dialogues about immigration laws, Black Lives Matter, LGBTQ+ rights, and indigenous culture. She has worked with youth programs such as Mikva Challenge’s Youth Safety Advisory Council to examine and create reforms for the Chicago Police Department and public officials like Jadine Chou, Chief of Safety and Security for Chicago Public schools, to advocate for police reform and accountability. As an advocate for youth voices, she led her own youth program at her school called Youth 2 Youth and was the director of outreach for Chicago’s largest non-profit tutoring organization, Bridge Tutoring. In the future, Mamayan hopes to work for the United Nations to encourage humane foreign interactions and the enforcement of international rule of law. Mamayan recently graduated in 2021 from Chicago Math and Science Academy. On a Questbridge full scholarship, she is continuing her education as a University of Chicago freshman majoring in international relations and economics. Her Genesis internship will focus on global non-profit management and strategic partnerships with policymakers. 

As the founder and creative engine behind Genesis at the Crossroads, Wendy designed all programs to date and continues to oversee production and implementation of performance/artistic programs, education and humanitarian initiatives worldwide. She forged national/international partnerships with over 45 institutions and founded Saffron Caravan, Genesis’ professional world music ensemble uniting artists from Iran, Afghanistan, Cuba, Morocco, Israel, India, Brazil, Venezuela and the US for cross-cultural collaborative performance and educational programs.  Since 2011, Sternberg has created and produced a body of inquiry-based salon programs on the intersection of human rights, human development and the role of the arts to help shape and inform a humanistic society and transform conflict. One annual salon series focuses on women’s leadership. She masterminds the creative development/management of the current Genesis Academy Summer Institutes for international youth leaders from areas of conflict as well as the future Genesis Peace Hub. (Due to the pandemic, the Peace Hub began virtually in 2020 with Sounds of Healing; its physical campus place-making on Chicago’s South side is in the process of coming to fruition for a slated 2023 opening.) 

Affectionately called a Doctor without a Border, her prior 20+ year career as a primary care internal medicine physician informs the healing aspects at the heart of Genesis at the Crossroads. Under her leadership, Genesis boasts over 150 award-winning programs, internationally acclaimed by the UN, The Kennedy Center, Rotary, The King of Morocco, the British Council, the US Institute of Peace and the US Department of State. A Rotary Peace Fellow and a Salzburg Global Seminar Fellow, Today’s Chicago Woman Magazine featured her as a Woman to Watch. She was named one of the 10 Jewish Chicagoans of the Year and was a 2011 Charles Bronfman Prize Nominee. Sternberg is a member of the Chicago Chapter of the Woods Fund – Kellogg Foundation’s Truth, Racial Healing, Transformation Task Force. On the celebratory occasion of the 150^th anniversary of Gandhi’s birth, Sternberg was deeply honored to be chosen as the closing speaker, following the remarks of Gandhi’s Granddaughter, Nelson Mandela’s Daughter and Cesar Chavez’s Grandson at the Gandhi 150: A Legacy of Peace 2019 program in Chicago. She keynoted the Gandhi King Foundation’s 2020 virtual peace program in India at the University of Hyderabad.

In the face of the pandemic, she retooled Genesis’ 2006 Art of Healing initiative into a cross-cultural collaborative health and wellness program with a focus on arts, trauma and healing. It features multiple virtual and in-person programs over the next few years (Sounds of Healing). Among other written work, publications include: For the Sake of Humanity; Research on Cross-Cultural Collaborative Arts for Public Health, Chapter in The Oxford Handbook of Methods for Public Scholarship, Oxford Press (2018).

Sternberg graduated magna cum laude from the University of Pennsylvania with a BA in French Literature. She received her Doctor of Medicine from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine with field work in public health in Chennai, India. She completed her Internal Medicine Residency Program at the University of Chicago.

Because of her shared life with her Husband Sir Georg Solti, Valerie Solti has, since his death, continued to be involved with the international world of classical music and opera, both as an advisor and as a fundraiser. Trained at Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, she started her professional acting career in the West End and went on to work in television as an interviewer and presenter with the BBC. She is credited as being one of the BBC’s original team of television presenters during the 1950s. Lady Solti appeared on children’s television, as a presenter of Play School and then at Granada Televisions series for older children, ExtraOrdinary, about true stories involving science and the arts. After marrying Sir Georg Solti, she continued her television work on a freelance basis, specializing in arts and music programs. For several years, she was a regular panelist on the musical quiz program Face the Music.  Following her Husband’s death in 1997, she continued her Husband’s work of giving advice to young musicians at the start of their careers.

Lady Solti served on the board of several music organizations, including: The Chicago Symphony Orchestra, The Mariinsky Theatre Trust, The Hungarian Cultural Centre, The Liszt Academy Budapest, The Solti Foundation, The Frankfurt Conducting Competition and the Solti Accademia Bel Canto. Her principle commitments are to the Mariinsky Theatre St. Petersburg, Sadler’s Wells London and the Liszt Academy Budapest. In 2007, Lady Solti was appointed Cultural Ambassador to the Hungarian Government. She is the patroness of the World Orchestra for Peace, which her Husband founded and whose first concert at the United Nations he conducted.  In the past, she also proudly served in senior leadership positions and on the boards of many organizations from the Royal College of Music and the Jewish Music Institute to the London Philharmonic and the Rolex Global Mentor & Protege Initiative. She has been a Trustee of Music Preserved, Music in Country Churches and Opera 80 (now English Touring Opera).  The renowned recipient of The Order of Merit of the Republic of Hungary and The Montblanc de la Culture Arts Patronage Award 2013, she was bestowed with the Arts & Business Award for Service to Arts in the UK.

Abha Joshi-Ghani served as Senior Adviser for Infrastructure, Public Private Partnerships and Guarantees at the World Bank and lead the program on Infrastructure Analytics.  From 2012-2016 she was the Director of the Leadership, Learning and Innovation (LLI) Department in the World Bank Group, and Chair of the WBG Learning Board where she pioneered the World Bank’s Open Learning Campus. Before joining LLI in 2012, she headed the World Bank’s Urban Development Anchor where she oversaw the World Bank’s work on Urban Policy and Strategy and led the World Bank’s Strategy on Urban and Local Development. She is the co-editor with Edward Glaeser of the book “The Urban Imperative: Towards Competitive Cities” (OUP, 2014).

She was Co-Chair of the World Economic Forum Global Future Council on Cities. She worked primarily on infrastructure finance and urban development at the World Bank. Her regional experience includes South and East Asia, Africa and the Middle East. She holds a Masters of Philosophy from Oxford University, UK as well as a Masters from Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, and a Bachelors from Lady Sri Rama College, Delhi University. 

Abha sadly passed away in the fall of 2021.  Her tireless efforts to build a better world will live on, but we will surely miss her keen intelligence, strategic thinking, warmth and wit. She was a champion of the Genesis Peace Hub for the time she was with us. May she rest in peace.