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.

Badi has played an array of international concerts/festivals including innovative collaborations with Bobby McFerrin, Yo-Yo-Ma, Sarah McLaughlin and others. She is also the Guitarist/Vocalist in Genesis at the Crossroads’ Saffron Caravan ensemble. With 15 albums released worldwide, her CD, Wonderland was selected by the BBC London as among the 100 Best and Amazon.com’s 30 Best. Guitar Player selected her as one of the guitar players that would revolutionize the world. In addition to reaching the Top 10 in Europe, her hit song, Waves was featured in the soundtrack of It Runs in the Family, featuring Michael and Kirk Douglas. Awarded Best Composer of The Year (APCA/BR) for her CD, Between Love and Luck, she was also distinguished by Rolling Stone Magazine to be among the Brazilian guitar masters of history.

Cantos de Casa, her children’s CD, won Trophy Cata-Vento for Best CD of the Yea and her Pega no Coco won first prize for Best World Music Song at the USA International Songwriting Competition. In 2014, Badi was commissioned by The Guitar Film Festival Marathon in New York, to compose for the remake of the Chinese silent film, The Goddess (1934). Invited to also serve in the role of Festival Curator, she not only performed her composition live at New York’s Merkin Hall, but also received a New York Times highlight as Best of the Festival.

She writes a weekly column about music for the online version of TOP Magazine and is the author of the newly released book, Around the World in 80 Artists (Pólen Livros). The film, BADI directed by Edu Felistoque was named Best Film by The FestCine Maracanaú in Fortaleza, Brazil and was featured at the 2018 Brazil Summerfest in New York.

Luca is a Chicago-based independent management consultant. A multi-cultural, complex-systems thinker, he has strong analytic skills and a track record of identifying growth opportunities for industrial companies across four continents, with a focus on service-intensive industrial businesses. A strategy and marketing specialist, Luca has deep expertise in the energy efficiency, smart grid, and oil & gas verticals.

Most recently, Luca was Chief Growth Officer John Crane, a Chicago-based global leader in design, manufacturing and servicing of mechanical sealing systems for the Oil and Gas sector, where his responsibilities included strategy, market intelligence, product management, pricing, corporate communications, and business development. Prior to John Crane, Luca was VP Global Strategy and Marketing for Honeywell Building Solutions (HBS), where he led the functionalization of the marketing team and developed his strong interest in the energy / IT / Smart Grid nexus. Before Honeywell, Luca was EMEA Strategy and Business Development Leader for GE Transportation, and Senior Manager, EMEA Customer Strategy Team at Siebel Systems. He started his career as a strategy consultant for Bain and Company in the Milan office.

Luca is a Fulbright Scholar, and holds a Ph.D. in Computational Mechanics and Master’s Degrees in both Aeronautics and Astronautics and Mathematics, all from Stanford University. He first graduated cum laude in Aeronautic Engineering at the University of Naples “Federico II”, Italy, majoring in Computational Fluid Dynamics.

He is an avid reader with eclectic interests, is passionate about espresso and Neapolitan-style pizza, and enjoys riding his 1999 Ducati on his spare time.

Stacy Keach is a pre-eminent American interpreter of Shakespeare, with notable performances as Hamlet, Henry V, Coriolanus, Falstaff, Macbeth, Richard III, and King Lear.  Recently, when the Coronavirus struck, and after zooming the title role in an adaptation of King Lear, he and his wife, Malgosia, formed StacyKeachZoomTheater. Since then he has zoomed Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Hughie, The Unexpected Man, and most recently, David Storey’s Home.

Performance honors include: a Best Actor Golden Globe, three Obies, three Vernon Rice Awards, two Drama Desk Awards, three Helen Hayes Awards, the Millennium Recognition Award, the Shakespeare Will Award, nominations for Emmy and Tony Awards, and most recently, the International Satellite Mary Pickford Lifetime Achievement Award.  In 2015, he was inducted into the American Theatre Hall of Fame and in 2019 he received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Filmography includes: Gotti, Truth, Gold, Fat City, Nebraska, If I Stay, Bourne Supremacy, Sin City: A Dame To Kill For, The Ninth Configuration, Doc, Up In Smoke, American History X, The Long Riders, and The New Centurions.

TV series: Mike Hammer, Titus, Two and a Half Men, Blue Bloods Prison Break, NCIS: New Orleans, The Blacklist, Man with a Plan, and American Greed.

He is the author of All in All, his award-winning memoir.

Since 2004, Stacy has served on the Artistic Advisory Board of Genesis at the Crossroads, a non-profit organization dedicated to the bringing together cultures in conflict through collaborative arts, education and social justice initiatives. He participates in Sounds of Healing with a dramatic reading of the poem, A House Called Tomorrow by Alberto Alvaro Rios.

Joel Berman is the founder and president of Joel Berman Architecture & Design, Ltd., a Chicago architecture firm specializing in hospitality, adaptive reuse and heritage restoration, and recording studio projects. A registered architect and a member of the Association of Licensed Architects (ALA), the City of Chicago designated him a Self-Certified Architect. He is also certified as an Accredited Professional in Building Construction and Design by the US Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED-AP BD+C).

Project work includes the South Loop renovation of a 1920s building into Chef Luciano, winner of the 2011 Landmark Award for Preservation Excellence and conversion of a 1906 historic turn-of-the-century Chicago firehouse into Plum Video Production Company, a major video production and editing studio. Built projects include Wicker Park’s, The Den Theater, which included renovation and expansions to multiple live theater venues and bars. Among other in design transformational work in Bronzeville and Englewood, Joel is completing a gut renovation of a southside existing mixed-use building on E. 75th, including James Beard award-winning chef Constance Simms-Kincaid’s, 5 Loaves Eatery, white box retail, and second floor apartments. The E. 75^th program was awarded matching construction grants from both Chicago’s Retail Thrive Zone Small Business Improvement Fund (SBIF) and Neighborhood Opportunity Fund (NOF).

Joel emphasizes the use of clear and fast sketching as part of the creative process, utilizing his notorious freehand drawings as conceptual design tools. He incorporates his extensive experience as an educator at The Ontario Association of Architects, the Royal Architect’s Institute of Canada and as adjunct faculty of architectural sketching at Columbia College Chicago. Spanning 2009- 2013 during multiple summer programs for the joint Chicago Architecture Foundation – National Endowment of the Humanities Landmark Series: The American Skyscraper, Transforming Chicago and the Nation, Joel instructed groups of 30 primary school teachers from across the US both how to freehand sketch and teach those techniques to future students.

A self-proclaimed, “River Rat,” Joel not only lives on the Chicago River, but also kayaks incessantly, rows crew with the Chicago Rowing Foundation and dragon boat races with the Greater Chicagoland Dragon Boat Club. 

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.

Recipient of the 2008 Mumbai Mayor’s Award for Excellence in Journalism, Neeta has served as a celebrated journalist in India for over 27 years. Her experience across sectors includes: violence and conflict, economic and social policies, national and international politics, infrastructure, and especially, coverage of peripheral communities and groups.

She was founding member of a social advocacy organization, Samarthan, in 1993. Since then, with a commitment to peacebuilding through media, she has focused her work on connecting and empowering people. The need to portray in-depth realities through different forms of storytelling in an ever-changing world motivates her to lend a platform to those whose voices need to be heard. Well-renowned for featuring communities and people belonging to minority groups living on the margin, in 2010 she co-founded TheReportLive in order to showcase their individual and collective efforts to be brought into the mainstream. She has previously been part of the group that conceptualized and formed, Saathi, an NGO to impact the lives of street children in Mumbai. She consistently strives for equal opportunities for all to participate in the peacebuilding process leading to equitable and sustainable global growth. To that end, she has interviewed many powerful decision-making persons of national and international stature.

Neeta currently serves as the City Editor for The Free Press Journal, one of the oldest newspapers. In addition, she authors a column highlighting both the subtle gaps and more overt holes in current social and economic policies divisive to society. Along with eight other journalists, she won a “reported judgement” against the gag order passed by a lower court, which had prevented the journalists from publishing any reports on the Sohrabuddin encounter trial in Mumbai. Her recent TEDx talk addressed issues regarding owning one’s locality.

Neeta received her BA in Anthropology-Sociology from St Xavier’s College, Mumbai and her MSW in Developmental Communications at Nirmala Niketan College of Social Work, Mumbai. She was a 2009 Rotary International Peace and Conflict Studies Fellow at Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok, Thailand.

Born and raised in France, Tunisia and Central Africa, Frédérique Lehoux is a graduate of the Lycée Bouchardon, University of Pennsylvania and the Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government.  Her 16 years of experience in the management and coordination of relief and development programs, includes over eight years in field postings with sectoral expertise in disaster risk management and conflict resolution.

She most recently served as the Pacific Islands Applied Geoscience Commission Project Manager supporting disaster risk reduction in the Pacific Overseas Countries and Territories. From 2005-2009, she was the Oxfam Australia, Pacific Humanitarian Coordinator managing all of their human security program (budget of A$ 3 million) with provision of technical advice to Oxfam’s Pacific country offices/head office and civil society organizations in disaster management and conflict resolution. Following the 2004 Sri Lankan tsunami, she developed financial and activity monitoring systems to ensure adequate monitoring, reporting, and donor accountability. Prior to that, she worked for CARE USA for the Congo in Action for Peace Program, in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo. In her capacity as Grants Manager for their peace and reconciliation program, she worked at removing obstacles to reunification of DR Congo and facilitating transition towards democracy. Funded by the United States Office of Transition Initiatives, she managed a portfolio of grants totaling in excess of US $6 million grants to local and international organizations to ensure good working relationships with key stakeholders including Congolese civil society groups, donors, government officials, rebel movement leaders, and the private sector.

From 2001-3, she functioned as the International Rescue Committee’s, Umbrella Grant Manager, in DR Congo, where she developed and managed a two-year war recovery & civil society strengthening program following the 2002 eruption of the Nyiragongo volcano in Goma.  For CARE USA In Port-au-Prince/Gonaives, Haiti, she served as Assistant Regional Director, managing and coordinating CARE programs with an annual budget of US$ 7 million with 250 staff and 8,000 metric tons of food. As a member of CARE Haiti’s Senior Management Team, she led the development of CARE Haiti’s Disaster Preparedness Plan. As Fellow/Program Officer for CARE USA in Madagascar she developed a five-year food security/water & sanitation program, began a start-up of field activities which included the set-up of a sub-office in the capital’s urban slums. She also coordinated gender training for CARE Madagascar staff with inclusion of gender-sensitive programs and contributed to the development of CARE Madagascar’s five-year strategic plan.

Steve Bynum joined WBEZ, NPR’s local station in Chicago in 1998. For over 15 years and counting, he has served as senior producer for Worldview, WBEZ’s weekday global affairs/news program. With Worldview, Steve’s responsibilities include creation of in-depth stories, features, series, film projects and outreach events that mutually connect listeners to Chicago’s global community with those around the world. He has won numerous awards in editing and producing including:

• 1996: Gabriel Award winning segment for Sandy Rios Live (Producer) – honoring “works of excellence in broadcasting that serve audiences through the positive, creative treatment of concerns to humankind.”
• 2010: Council of Islamic Organizations of Greater Chicago’s Excellence in Media Award winning series “Islamic Reform: Towards a Global Reformation Movement” on WBEZ (Producer and Editor)
• 2011: NABJ Radio Excellence Award (Worldview Race Series: “Black Images in film”) (Producer and Editor)
• 2012: Newswomen’s Club of New York’s 2012 Front Page Award in the radio feature category (Editor)
• 2013: Associated Press (Indiana) 1^st Place-Best Public Affairs Program “Afternoon Shift: Live From Crown Point” (Producer)

Prior to joining WBEZ, Steve worked as the Morning Show Producer for WMBI 90.1 FM in Chicago, as Program Manager for WYLL 106.7 FM in Elk Grove Village, IL and as a freelance sports reporter for the Chicago Tribune. In addition, he worked in marketing for the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (now Joint Commission) in Illinois.

Brian Sher serves as the Managing Partner of Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner’s Chicago office. He has been with the firm since 2004, when he was a co-founding partner of the Chicago office. His nationwide litigation practice covers the full gamut of business and commercial litigation. Whether it is claims of defamation, fraud or tortious interference, clients in the media, healthcare and technology industries appreciate his no-nonsense approach as they navigate their way through the litigation process – from depositions to appeals.

Brian’s matter-of-fact style not only serves his clients well in litigation matters, but in all facets of their business. Using his gift of foresight and relentless desire to learn about their business goals and objectives, Brian has a knack for helping his clients avoid any pitfalls today that would impact their future success tomorrow. He relishes the opportunity to serve as a trusted business adviser, often in the role of outside general counsel, identifying legal needs and assembling the appropriate talent to address those issues. He was recognized this year as among the nation’s top attorneys for delivering superior service to corporate clients in The BTI Client Service All-Stars 2019 report.

Brian received his J.D., cum laude from Duke University and his B.A. with high honors from the University of Michigan. He is a member of the Better Government Association’s Board and a past board member of the University of Michigan’s Hillel organization. Brian also has served as an executive officer of Oak Park Temple’s Board, where he received a Lifetime Achievement Award and has served on local school councils in Chicago and Oak Park. When he is not practicing law, Brian is an avid basketball player and cyclist (including commuting via bike to his office all year long).

Ismail is a social entrepreneur based in Pakistan whose work focuses on edTech, intercultural exchange, and reclamation of artistic space. His ventures include Takmeel, a school which grooms recent Pakistani computer science graduates to enhance their skillset as the industry continues to see unparalleled, non-linear growth. The program connects them to jobs on a shared-income basis with Google Launchpad’s affiliated incubation center entitled, Nest i/o. Ismail’s personal social venture, The Perfect Plan, focuses on giving young artists a platform to capacity build their talent and leadership while simultaneously raising funds to support both their artistry and impact.  Through this process, the artists not only get to bask in the limelight on the world stage, but also become featured talent for global corporate brands that are household names. Key success stories include: Nescafe Basement’s Ali Tariq and Pepsi Battle of the Bands’ Auj The Band. Ismail’s third venture, Saath Chal (which means Come Along in Urdu), focuses on an intercultural exchange between the diverse cultures within Pakistan and beyond its borders to promote peace.

Though technically oriented, Ismail chose to pursue his education at Habib University, Pakistan’s first liberal arts university that is committed to delivering a well-rounded civics education that fosters humanism.  Habib University boasts an array of prestigious community partners including Stanford University, Pitzer College, UC Berkeley and University of Michigan. Ismail received his Bachelor of Science in Computer Science in May 2020.  While a student there, he had the opportunity to compete for and become accepted into Stanford’s prestigious Technology and Innovation Intensive Studies Program. This allowed him a full quarter of study at Stanford’s Paolo Alto campus, for which he received a certificate of completion for all courses pursued and a 4.0 grade point average. He was both Dean’s listed and President’s listed at Habib University.

Additionally, Ismail studied tech entrepreneurship at University of Sussex, UK under Harvard faculty member, Dr. Stephano Denicolai. Other various NGO affiliations include Genesis at the Crossroads (USA), iEarn (Pakistan), and Youth Thinkers’ Society (Nepal) in the domains of peacebuilding and education for the former two and women’s empowerment, for the latter.

During the high school year he participated in the US Department of State’s Kennedy-Lugar Youth Exchange & Study Program, Ismail received the Presidential Award for Community Service by then President Obama.  Among his numerous other awards, he was the recipient of the 2015 Duke of Edinburgh Bronze Award and the 2013 Habib University Meritorious Award.

A passionate young man who always pursues big dreams, Ismail fully dedicates his life to making his mark bridging cultural differences for world peace. In 2016, at age 19, Dr. Wendy Sternberg, Genesis at the Crossroads’ founder and executive director identified him as next-generation youth talent in the field of peacebuilding and elected to mentor him ever since. He is deeply honored to be a critical part of Genesis at the Crossroads’ senior leadership succession plan.

Robin Monsky has provided senior communications counsel in the sports industry for over 30 years. Over the course of her career, she has amassed influential contacts on both a global and domestic basis with notable assignments including six Super Bowls, four World Series, one Davis Cup, the America’s Cup, several NCAA basketball tournaments and the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games. 

She focuses on finding the differentiator that makes a client stand out and then leveraging that brand’s customized identity to create added value awareness campaigns through sports and events. Equally adept at strategic planning and execution, her roster of current and former clients contains blue-chip commercial brands, sports properties, leagues, events and charities. The list includes names ranging from ESPN, The Chicago Marathon, TOPPS Baseball Cards and the Harlem Globetrotters to niche customers like The Laureus Sport For Good Foundation, Bowlers Journal Magazine and the American Contract Bridge League. 

Monsky is particularly skilled at searching out, identifying and/or creating key messages aligned to a brand’s business goals and then figuring out the best way to activate and amplify the message using all available assets. She has a knack for matching the objectives of different stakeholders to find common ground so all (internal or external partners) feel invested in a unified goal. Monsky is a highly proactive and effective communicator with a proven record for strategic planning, crisis control, detailed execution, event management, influencer and media relations. Her understanding and navigation of today’s ever-shifting media landscape consistently leads to impactful media placements for her clients across traditional and social platforms. 

A native Nebraskan, Monsky is a rabid Cornhusker football fan. She has passed her love of The Big Red on to the three at-risk young men she took in and raised/mentored over the past fifteen years as they became self-sufficient adults – qualifying as perhaps her greatest accomplishment to date! 

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.”

A two-time All American and East West Senior Bowl selection, Aleks became only the third player in NCAA Division I history to amass more than 40 goals and 40 assists in his career. Mihailovic’s 54 career assists rank sixth all-time in the NCAA record books. He also ranks in the top five all-time in NCAA career assists per game. In 1978, Aleks was invited to the U.S. Olympic Tryouts and the University Games. He was drafted by the Washington Diplomats and later played with the Jacksonville Tea Men prior to sustaining a career ending ankle injury. 

At the age of 29, Mihailovic turned his personal knowledge of the game into a vehicle to train players and coaches. He holds a USSF “A” license and a high-level international coaching license. He founded Soccer Made in America (SMIA), recognized today across the US as one of the finest consulting and training grounds for players and coaches. Aleks helped develop some of the best US players who have gone on to perform at Division 1 Collegiate programs, professional teams and US National Teams. Through SMIA, Aleks has worked with underprivileged children through the SAFE Foundation he founded in 1987. Since 1984 hundreds of thousands of children have kicked the ball for the first time in a SMIA training program.

He authored the SMIA and US Youth World Cup Coaching Manual, a highly effective individual player performance program used as a standard for technical development throughout the country. Aleks was recently invited to Shenzhen, China to conduct player training programs. He is also the author of the SMIA Coaches Manual, and producer of 6 SMIA DVD Training Series. two coaching manuals for US Soccer and US Adult Soccer Association. Aleks has served the soccer community as a scout for the US National teams for ages 12 through 18, and as a National Coaching Director for US Adult Soccer Association. In honor of his innovative technical and tactical training expertise, he was commissioned to pen the U.S. National Youth Soccer Coaches Handbook by M&M Mars/Snickers. In 1993, his jersey at Jacksonville University was retired and he became one of the first inductees to the Jacksonville University’s Sports Hall of Fame. In 2006, Aleks was named USASA National Coach of Year and in 2009, inducted in the Illinois State Soccer Hall of Fame and recognized as one of the top 75 most prestigious graduates in the history of Jacksonville University. 

Aleks takes tremendous pride in his Son Djordje who plays on the US National Team, the US Olympic Team, and the MLS Chicago Fire Soccer Club.

Bennie Currie is a principal of MBC Financial Strategies, a registered representative with NYLIFE Securities LLC, and a certified practitioner of the Macro Asset Perspective®.

A former professional communicator, Bennie’s journalism career includes work with the Associated Press, WBEZ and The (Memphis) Commercial Appeal. His public relations career includes public sector work with the Public Building Commission of Chicago and Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley’s press office. His public sector PR background includes FedEx, MCI, SBC and ComEd.

An ardent volunteer in the Hyde Park community, Bennie serves on the board of directors for the Hyde Park Chamber of Commerce and the Hyde Park Neighborhood Club. He chairs the 4^th Ward Advisory Council—Hyde Park and is also the founder of CollaBOOration, a neighborhood community engagement initiative.

Bennie’s passion for soccer includes stints as a coach, manager and referee through his support of AYSO and the Chicago Blast. He lives with his wife, Celeste Garrett, a partner with New York Life Insurance Company. Their son and daughter are former college soccer players who are both currently pursuing their professional careers in Chicago.

Bennie proudly serves as Genesis at the Crossroads’ Assistant Director of the Genesis Peace Hub Sports and Social Change Program.

As President of CCS International, Inc., Mr. Parr has overall responsibility for operations, service quality, and client satisfaction. Working in the industry since 1965, he has authored numerous articles on the topics of project and cost management.

A Certified Professional Estimator, Mr. Parr is an active member of various associations including the American Society of Professional Estimators (ASPE), American Association of Cost Engineers (AACE), Society of American Value Engineers (SAVE), American Association of Healthcare Consultants (AAHC), American College of Healthcare Executives (ACHE), and the Society of American Military Engineers (SAME).

With 40 years of hospitality industry experience, Nick Mautone believes in the power of mentorship, leadership, collaboration, and possibility.  Nick is the architect of an inventive process called “Hospitality Sabermetrics” — think Moneyball for Hospitality and has a sixth sense when it comes to foreseeing trends. He is known for nurturing sustained success, streamlining operations, and aligning core values in every sort of hospitality business.

For Nick Mautone, the spark came as a young kid growing up in Mt. Vernon, NY where he spent weekends making cheese and handmade pasta for his dad’s specialty food business. While he dreamed of becoming a NASA scientist (and still loves looking up at the stars), he worked his way through school in restaurants—bussing tables and backing bars. Eventually he and his siblings opened an innovative pizzeria, American Pie, on the Upper West Side. Science became a hobby, and restaurants became his life. 

Since then, Nick has worked with some of the most iconic and influential restaurants in the world including Gotham Bar & Grill, Hudson River Club, and most notably, Gramercy Tavern where he was managing partner alongside Danny Meyer and Tom Colicchio for seven years and helped define and nurture a fledgling idea Danny and the group coined called “Enlightened Hospitality.”  

With decades of experience behind him, in 2003, Nick founded his management and consulting business, Mautone Enterprises. The business was born of a desire to share his process, experience, mentorship, and leadership. Whether building a strong foundation for a first-time restaurateur, or turning around a big ship on the wrong course, for Nick the process is about grass roots collaboration, helping chefs and owners come together, developing systems for success, and digging deep into the numbers and the P&L, to uncover what needs to be tweaked, edited, or completely uprooted, delivering holistic success—including profitability, streamlined and efficient operations, a sense of community, harmony, and growth among all staff, and sustainability of concept. 

Over the years his clients have included The Television Food Network, and separately celebrity chef Rachael Ray, The Atlantic Hotel in Ft. Lauderdale, 6-Penn Kitchen in Pittsburgh, Citarella, Geoffrey Zacharian’s The Carlton Hotel and Country in midtown Manhattan, il Buco in Noho, Apiary in the East Village, the Park Central Hotel and its boutique sibling, the West House, Southgate at the Jumeirah Essex House Hotel, and Northwestern University Hospital in Chicago. 

In 2013, Nick was tapped by CohnReznick LLP, one of the largest accounting firms in the US, to become its hospitality guru—essentially bringing him into projects in need of restaurant therapy and guiding those in the throes of the opening process, working with brands such as The Standard Hotel. 

Most recently, Nick was brought on by the global real estate firm Tishman Speyer to rebrand, reimage, retool, and reinvent the historic Rainbow Room. Under his leadership, the Rainbow Room was reinvigorated as a true historic icon and one of the top 50 highest grossing food service establishments in the world. 

For the first time in its history, Tishman created a new position for Nick—Managing Director of Hospitality—where he continued to oversee the iconic Rainbow Room, assisting on the new vision and retail renovation of Rockefeller Center, and advancing hospitality projects within the firm outside of NY.  

In addition to restaurants, Nick has worked with numerous beverage companies to assist in their marketing & brand management, training of sales & distribution teams, new product development, trendspotting, and mixology.  He was the Grey Goose Brand Ambassador and On-Premises consultant from 2005 through 2012 and has worked with startup Brands VeeV Acai Vodka, Beleza Pura Cachaca, Origen Holistic Spirits and others.

Nick is also an author of several books including “Raising the Bar; Better Drinks, Better Entertaining” (Artisan, 2004), and “The Artisan Kitchen: Holiday Cocktails” (Artisan 2017). “The Artisan Kitchen: Summer Cocktails” in (Artisan – Spring 2021), and “The Artisan Kitchen: Classic Cocktails” (Artisan – Summer 2021). 

Nick is currently working on a couple of other books — “Sundays, Holidays and Meatballs,” a family history and recipe book, and a memoir entitled “A Life Behind Bars: Lessons & Learnings from My 40 Year Journey in the Bar and Hospitality Business,” along with a companion podcast. 

Nick is a strong believer in active participation in the community and has worked with many local and national non-profits focused on hunger relief, poverty alleviation and preventing violence in the workplace. 

These days, Nick lives outside Seattle where he hangs out with his family—his daughter Alexandra, son Nicholas, and wife Terri Ludwig. He is an avid reader and cyclist, and a terrible but enthusiastic amateur astronomer and science buff. His favorite pastimes also include pickle ball, paddle boarding, kayaking, and (hopefully, possibly, someday!) golf and tennis.