Lovette Ajayi
Marketing Coordinator, Community Media Workshop / Co-founder, the Red Project Collective
Lovette Ajayi is the Marketing Coordinator at Community Media Workshop, a 20-year-old nonprofit that helps connect the community with media to promote news that matters.. She handles the organization’s marketing campaigns, social media and represents the organization at various conferences. She’s a self-proclaimed web geek who is addicted to all things technology and an avid blogger. She is a member of the Nonprofit Technology Network and the Publicity Club of Chicago. In addition, Lovette is the co-founder of The Red Project Collective, a nonprofit organization that raises awareness about the impact of HIV/AIDS on minority communities (women, people of color, LGBT). Through RPC’s national initiatives, The Red Pump Project and The Red Tie Project, Lovette is using her passion for social justice and her fondness for fashion to bring light to the HIV/AIDS epidemic. Lovette is also on the Board of Directors of the Chicago Women’s AIDS Project, Associate Board GiveForward.org’s, and Blogger Advisory Board of the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatrics AIDS Foundation. Lovette holds a BS in Psychology from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Payton Chung
Student / Wicker Park-Bucktown Commissioner
Payton Chung has spent the past several years in Chicago researching and advocating for fresh ideas in urban land use, housing, and transportation. As a researcher and policy advocate at the Metropolitan Planning Council and the Chicago Rehab Network, he helped to advance good urban design and community development at the municipal level. At the Congress for the New Urbanism, he helped members nationwide organize in new ways to stop sprawl in their own communities. As a member of the Wicker Park-Bucktown Commission, he steered the effort to have a new business improvement district create a cutting-edge neighborhood plan that earned national praise for its innovative spirit and strategies. He co-chaired a capital campaign that recently opened Chicago’s only cooperative grocery, bringing local foods to Logan Square. Along the way, he’s also coordinated freewheeling bicycle festivals, tended a community garden, and studied at the University of Chicago.
Donna Dalton
Founder and CEO, Dalton Consulting
Donna has spent most of her life in Downstate Illinois, where she currently resides in the state’s Capital City of Springfield. Originally from Urbana, Donna received her Baccalaureate Degree from Northern Illinois University and then subsequently her Masters of Public Administration from the University of Illinois-Springfield. During her graduate studies, she worked for Illinois’ lead economic development agency on performance management and American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (Stimulus) tracking. After graduation she started her own small business specializing in Public Sector Consulting, where she received a contract with the State to provide Special Project Consulting and Interagency Liaising with the State’s Federal Stimulus Project. She currently works in the Office of Illinois Governor Pat Quinn. In her spare time, she frequently volunteers on political campaigns as well as serves as a champion for Women’s Issues. She has held various women’s organization positions at the local, state and national level and currently serves as the Women’s Caucus Chair for the Young Democrats of Illinois. In these roles she constantly encourages young women from all industries to run for public office, and has plans to do so herself in the near future.
William Godwin
Law Student / Founder BlackOwnedChicago.com
William Garard Godwin, a native son of Jackson, Tennessee and now a Chicagoan, graduated from Georgetown University in Washington, DC with a BA, magna cum laude, in Sociology and The University of Chicago Law School with a Juris Doctorate (June, 2010). While at Georgetown, he spent a year studying at The London School of Economics and Political Science. A Harry S. Truman Scholar and former Congressional Intern for Tennessee Senator Bill Frist and Illinois Congressman Jesse Jackson, Jr., he has traveled widely throughout Europe, Africa, the Middle East, the United States and the Caribbean. An Illinois licensed real estate broker and insurance producer, William maintains an interest in the practice of transactional law. He is also a real estate blogger and founder of BlackOwnedChicago.com (forthcoming), an online resource to help consumers discover and service black-owned businesses in the Chicagoland area.
Adi Habbu
JD/MBA Student
Adi (Aditya) Habbu is a fourth year student in the JD/MBA program at the University of Chicago. He has worked on numerous political campaigns including the Daniel Biss State Representative campaign in Illinois and the Joe Donnelly Congressional campaign in Indiana. On the campaign trail, Mr. Habbu has worked a gamete of positions including canvasser and steering committee member. Currently, Mr. Habbu is President of the University of Chicago Law School Democrats. The Law School Democrats have hosted a number of talks this year including former IL Deputy Treasurer Raja Krishnamoorthi. In addition, they are working with local progressive politicians such as Kwame Raoul and Jim Madigan to build issue awareness. Before attending Law School, Mr. Habbu started a non-profit that worked with Head Start Georgia to distribute used computers to young families. Mr. Habbu has continued his non-profit involvement with the Illinois Education Foundation where he mentors college bound students. Next year, Mr. Habbu will be clerking for the Honorable Robert Gerber. After his clerkship, Mr. Habbu will join the Chicago Office of the law firm Skadden Arps. Mr. Habbu earned his AB from the University of Chicago in 2006 with concentrations in Mathematics and the Philosophy of Science.
Andrea Hall
Community Organizer, Chicago Coalition for the Homeless
Andrea Hall is a community organizer who joined the staff of the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless (CCH) in 2006. Andrea is originally from Oshkosh, Wisconsin and was raised by a single Jamaican mother. Realizing education is the key to a better life, Andrea went on to earn degrees in social work, a master’s from Washington University in St. Louis and a bachelor’s from the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater. Andrea’s background led her to become interested in community organizing and social justice. Shortly after graduating with her MSW, she was recruited by the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) to become a union organizer. Through the work with the union, she was introduced to CCH and soon realized that her true passion was working on housing and homeless issues. Currently Andrea works with ex-offenders and prostitution survivors who struggle with housing and job barriers. Andrea offers monthly outreach at eight Chicago shelters and housing programs, working with men and women on alleviating barriers for those with criminal backgrounds. Recently Andrea joined the executive board of Chicago Legal Aid for Incarcerated Mothers.
Ben Lenet
Deputy District Administrator, Congressman Jesse L. Jackson Jr.
Ben Lenet currently serves as a Deputy District Administrator in the Office of Congressman Jesse L. Jackson Jr. in the 2nd Congressional District of Illinois, providing strategic political advice and communications expertise. He is an alumnus of the College Democrats of America, the 75,000-member youth arm of the Democratic National Committee. While a student at the University of Oregon, Ben served as CDA President for his chapter, his state federation and as Director of the entire Northwest Region. In 2007, Ben helped manage press operations and political strategy for the winning campaign of Sandi Jackson who is the Alderman in the 7th Ward of Chicago. He has worked extensively in political organizing and has managed large-scale volunteer efforts in both Oregon and Illinois. Ben is a native of Evanston, Illinois and graduated from the University of Oregon with a B.A. in Business Administration.
Samir Malik
Business Analyst, McKinsey & Co.
Samir Malik was born and raised in St. Louis, MO, and currently works as a business strategy consultant in Chicago with McKinsey & Co. Having spent his first 18 years in St Louis absorbing everything Midwest, Samir went to the East Coast to study Management and Neuroscience at the University of Pennsylvania, graduating magna cum laude in 2008. While there, he was heavily involved in interfaith leadership, including organizing and running an interfaith Jewish-Muslim community service Spring Break trip to New Orleans. In addition to being active in the interfaith community, Samir also works on a couple of web-based start-ups, and serves on two alumni boards for U of Penn.
Umair Mamsa
Legislative Aid, Office of the Illinois Senate Present
Umair has volunteered on multiple political campaigns at the local, congressional and presidential levels since 2004. His volunteer experience includes grassroots activism, community organizing and fundraising. In 2008, he worked as a volunteer for the Democratic National Convention Committee in Denver, Colorado. After completing his B.A. in Political Science and Philosophy from the University of Illinois at Chicago, he began working for the Office of the Illinois Senate President. He plans to continue serving his party, state and country by remaining committed to social, political and economic equality. As an aggressive progressive, he believes in not accepting the world as it is, but fighting to make it as it should be.
Karlo Marcelo
Policy and Communications Consultant
Karlo Barrios Marcelo is a policy and communications consultant with an expertise in democracy and civil society. As a researcher at CIRCLE (The Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement), a national, non-partisan research organization, Karlo analyzed trends in youth civic engagement. He authored or co-authored over 25 publications, including fact sheets, book chapters and academic articles. At The Aspen Institute, Economic Opportunities Program, he was a researcher and trainer specializing in domestic microfinance and small businesses. Currently, he serves as an independent consultant on organizational development, digital strategy, public relations, research and advocacy; he is a blogger and online political strategist on progressive youth politics at FutureMajority.com. He serves in a number of leadership capacities, including the Steering Committee for 80 Million Strong, the Advisory Board for HeadCount, and soon he will join the Board of Directors for Advocates for Youth. He holds a BA from the University of Maryland and an MPP from the University of Michigan.
Adam Patinkin
Analyst, Sheffield Asset Management
Adam Patinkin is an Analyst at Sheffield Asset Management, L.L.C., a long/short equity hedge fund based in Chicago, IL. A Chicago native, Adam attended New Trier High School before heading to Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire, where he earned a double-major in History and American Government. During his time at Dartmouth, Adam interned in Washington, D.C. for the U.S. Public Interest Research Group and for Senator Russ Feingold (D-WI) before being elected President of the College Democrats of New Hampshire. In that role he helped manage the get-out-the-vote effort on college campuses in the 2006 mid-term elections, assisted in the passage of student voting rights legislation, and was an active participant in the 2008 New Hampshire Presidential Primaries. As part of his responsibilities with CDNH, he also was an active member of the New Hampshire Democratic Party’s State Committee and Co-Chair of the NHDP’s Youth Caucus. Adam joined Sheffield directly out of Dartmouth following his graduation in the summer of 2007. Adam currently serves on the Board of Directors for the College Democrats of America Alumni Association and is a Level III Candidate for the CFA Designation.
John Stevenson
Doctoral candidate
John Stevenson grew up in the deep South, though he is, in a many ways, a New Englander at heart. He is currently a doctoral candidate in Political Science at the University of Chicago. He received his bachelor’s degree from Dartmouth in 2005 and a Masters in political science from the University of Chicago in 2007. His professional and research interests involve foreign policy and humanitarian issues. Within communities, John coordinates and facilitates small organizations that examine topical questions to foster personal and professional development such as World Affairs Council at Dartmouth, workshops and working groups at the University of Chicago, and talk-radio in Exton, PA, and in Chicago. He seeks to translate this organizational knowledge into strategies for progressive mobilization.
Lyndon Valicenti
Environmental consultant, City of Chicago
Lyndon is a WRD Environmental consultant to the Natural Resources and Water Quality Division of Chicago’s Department of Environment. There she manages projects, participates in planning and advises policy to promote and protect Chicago’s urban forest, water resources, biodiversity, and sustainable landscapes. Her most recent accomplishments include co-authoring the 2009 Chicago Urban Forest Agenda, updating the Invasive Species Ordinance to include land-based plants, and managing the Chicago Rain Barrel & Compost Bin Programs.
Katrina Weimholt
Program Director, Civic Education Project / Founder, Young Non-Profit Professionals Network
Katrina Weimholt is the Program Director of the Civic Education Project, an award-winning leadership program that trains and inspires outstanding young people to become active, engaged citizens. Katrina holds a Bachelor’s degree in Sociology and Political Communication from Northwestern University and is completing a Master’s degree in Public Policy and Administration. She has been active in the education and nonprofit fields for more than ten years, with particular expertise in service-learning, experiential education, and youth development. She founded the Young Nonprofit Professionals Network of Chicago, a volunteer-run association that strengthens the nonprofit community by providing professional development, resources, and networking opportunities. Katrina was highly involved with the Obama for America campaign, working in six states during the primary season and in the Illinois Field Office during the general election. She is passionate about community, diversity, politics, and social justice, and has been recognized with a Tomorrow’s Leaders Today Award from Public Allies.