Boardroom Media (CEO News)
At CEO (Boardroom Media) we track over 1,000,000 startups and over 5,000,000 people who hold key positions in these companies. We use this directory of startups to highlight top employees, founders and board members we think deserve more appreciation than they are currently getting.
This list showcases the top Chicago based CEO’ operating in the Communities space. If you think a CEO’ is missing from this list, feel free to contact our editor on [email protected].
The individuals on this list have been included because of exceptional performance in one of the following categories:
- Innovation – Operating as a key part in an extremely innovative business or startup.
- Growth – Operating as a key figure in the growth and upscale of a market leading business or startup.
- Management – Showing exceptional management skills.
- Societal impact – Putting their business on the map for their positive societal or environmental impact.
Our Data – We source our data from OSINT (open source intelligence) and public directories such as Crunchbase, SemRush and many more. The data from these sources should be treated with a degree of caution and verified yourself.
Allison Robinson
CEO & Co-founder of The Mom Project
After having her son Asher in 2015, Allison identified how universally challenging it can be for American mothers to juggle the demands of motherhood with a full-time career and decided to tackle the issue on a national scale. Prior to founding The Mom Project, Allison spent 8 years at Procter and Gamble working on go to market strategies for leading household brands with a special focus on moms during her tenure on the Pampers brand. As CEO, Allison is responsible for delivering on the company’s mission of building a better workplace for women while supporting our customers through innovative talent solutions that help them attract and retain the diversity of backgrounds and perspectives they need to propel their businesses forward.
Follow Allison Robinson:
About The Mom Project: The Mom Project is a digital talent marketplace helping women remain active in the workforce.
Ronny Sage
Founder & CEO of ShoppingGives
Follow Ronny Sage:
About ShoppingGives: ShoppingGives encourages consumers to make an impact through its change commerce technology.
Noah Gottlieb
CEO of X Social Communities
Noah Gottlieb currently works as the CEO of The X Company. He previously worked at Property Markets Group as Principal.
Follow Noah Gottlieb:
About X Social Communities: X Social Communities focused on social living and features news, event calendar, Instagram feed, partners, and neighbor profiles.
Dan Ratner
Cofounder & CEO of Public Good Software
Dan Ratner is Executive Chairman and co-founder of Public Good, an organization that helps people find, connect with and support organizations that are working on the causes they care about. Prior to Public Good, Dan served as Director of Development for President Obama‘s 2012 reelection campaign, and as co-founder and COO/CTO at Sittercity, the nation’s largest service dedicated to helping parents find quality childcare online. In addition to his startup and campaign work, Dan is on the boards of Open Books, a Chicago literacy organization, and Fulcrum Point New Music Project. Also an investor, Dan serves on the board of Impact Engine, an accelerator and early stage investment fund. He also loves to write—he’s published two non-fiction books on nanotechnology and is working on a novel.
Follow Dan Ratner:
About Cure Violence, Impact Engine, Open Books, Public Good Software: Meet new donors and raise more money by making online fundraising easy and accessible to all.
Christopher M. Crane
President & CEO of Exelon Corporation
President & CEO of Exelon Corporation.
Follow Christopher M. Crane:
About Exelon Corporation, Pepco Holdings: Exelon Corporation is a utility services holding company that provides services for energy generation businesses in the United States.
Jasmine Shells
CEO & Co-Founder of Five to Nine
Jasmine Shells is the CEO and Co-Founder of Five to Nine. Jasmine moved to Chicago after college and noticed meeting new people and finding the go-to spots in the city was hard. She found this was the same situation for most transplants and led her to create a social community for millennial professionals embarking on a new journey. Five to Nine believes in building a strong community over shared experiences. The company currently has over 2000 members and is continuing to grow with their action-packed member socials and events. Jasmine and her company have been featured in TED, Chicago Inno, the Chicago Tribune, Technori and Bootstrapping in America. Jasmine is a proud graduate of the University of Notre Dame and loves to dance salsa and previously lived in Spain. In addition to her passion for connecting people, she loves to inspire others to create their own opportunities and take the leap.
Follow Jasmine Shells:
About Five to Nine: Five to Nine manages & evaluates virtual event programming so you can focus on building the employee experience.
Jake Nickell
Founder & CEO of Threadless
Jake Nickell is the co-founder of skinnyCorp and Threadless.com, along with a “bunch of other little projects”. He currently lives in Chicago with his wife, Shondi and their son and daughter.
Follow Jake Nickell:
About Threadless: Threadless is a global community-driven design platform featuring designs created by various designers, artists and general consumers.
Alberto J. Paracchini
President & Chief Executive Officer of Byline Bank
More than a financial institution, we are a bank of people. Each of us is dedicated to rolling up our sleeves, and doing whatever it takes to get you what you need. To us, this is personal. It’s why we put our names behind everything we do as we deliver the personalized banking experience you and all Chicagoans deserve.
Follow Alberto J. Paracchini:
About Byline Bank: Byline Bank provides personal banking and business banking services.
Zach Borders
Director of Planning & Design, Founder & CEO of Civic Artworks
Zach Borders is Founder & CEO at Civic Artworks.
Follow Zach Borders:
About Civic Artworks: Empowering citizens by providing them with the tools they need to shape the future of their neighborhood.
Geoff Scott
CEO & Chief Community Champion of ASUG
Follow Geoff Scott:
About ASUG: ASUG is an independent non-profit organization.
Russ Klein
CEO of American Marketing Association
Follow Russ Klein:
About American Marketing Association: American Marketing Association is a professional association for marketing professionals.
Fred Rachman
CEO of AllianceChicago
Fred Rachman is CEO at Alliance of Chicago Community Health Services.
Follow Fred Rachman:
About AllianceChicago, Erie Family Health Centers: AllianceChicago a technology and medical education business that assists doctors in their practice.
Vicki Reece Esralew
Founder and CEO of Joy of Mom
Vicki Reece is the Founder and CEO of Joy of Mom.
Follow Vicki Reece Esralew:
About Joy of Mom: Joy of Mom is a lifestyle brand platform that connects moms, supporting each other through their journey in motherhood.
Katie Hench
CEO of Infiniteach
Katie Hench is a former Special Education teacher turned co-founder and CEO of Infiniteach. Katie is a certified Structured Teaching trainer, and travels throughout Illinois training parents, teachers, and therapists on the development and implementation of structured autism programs. Katie also serves as the volunteer Director of AACTION Autism, a nonprofit that provides autism trainings in developing countries. Having trained educators from across Southeast Asia and Western Africa, Katie enjoys bringing various cultural perspectives into the work she does. Katie’s younger brother, diagnosed on the autism spectrum at the age of 6, is the inspiration for the work she does.
Follow Katie Hench:
About Infiniteach: Infiniteach is dedicated to autism innovation through technology and training.
Gary Slutkin
Founder & CEO of Cure Violence
Professor, Epidemiology and International Health, University of Illinois at Chicago School of Public Health Dr. Gary Slutkin is a physician, epidemiologist, infectious disease control specialist and Founder/ Executive Director of Cure Violence. Recognized as an innovator in violence prevention, Dr. Slutkin sees the issue of violence as fundamentally misdiagnosed and has presented his solution-oriented understanding to the World Bank, the State Department, the World Health Organization, the Institute of Medicine, MIT SaxeLab, Harvard Law School and the National Intelligence Council. Dr. Slutkin applied lessons learned from more than a decade fighting epidemics in Africa and Asia to the creation of a public health model to reduce violence through behavior change and disease control methods. He is an Ashoka Fellow, a Professor of Epidemiology and International Health at the University of Illinois at Chicago, a senior advisor to the World Health Organization and the 2009 Winner of the Search for a Common Ground Award. Dr. Slutkin received his M.D. from the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine, and did his internship and residency at San Francisco General Hospital. He served as Medical Director for the Tuberculosis Program for the San Francisco Health Department (1981 – 1985), where he learned infectious disease control methods, and from 1987 to 1994 worked for the World Health Organization reversing epidemics, including being principally responsible for supporting Uganda’s AIDS program—the only country to have reversed its AIDS epidemic.
Follow Gary Slutkin:
About Cure Violence: A non-profit which intervenes in crises, mediates disputes between individuals, and intercedes on group disputes to prevent violent events.
Tom Ruginis
Founder and CEO of HappiLabs
Tom is a former molecular biologist, PhD dropout, and a lifelong student of psychology and neuroscience. His experience and passion for solving problems helped launch HappiLabs in 2013. If he’s not analyzing data or shopping for lab supplies you can find him networking and socializing in the Chicago and San Francisco entrepreneur and science communities.
Follow Tom Ruginis:
About HappiLabs: HappiLabs provides a variety of services to help scientists and biotech labs be better with finance and lab operations.
Jennifer Gary
Co-Founder/CEO of FLIG, LLC
Jennifer loves the synergy that happens when great people and unique ideas generate momentum. Wanting to create a niche brand within the Chicago music industry, she hopes to initiate a massive shift in the status quo. As co-founder, she paints the broad vision and forms critical partnerships to iterate into the future. Her greatest desire is to give individuals the opportunity and the means to pursue their life’s purpose.
Follow Jennifer Gary:
About FLIG, LLC: FLIG, LLC is a platform for an industry-curated community, where talented people come together to create memorable experiences..
Drew Mauck
Principal, CEO & Founder of 3Points Communications
As the founder and principal of 3Points Communications, Drew Mauck leads the strategic communications efforts for the agency and empowers our talented staff to continually deliver excellent service. With nearly 15 years of media relations and corporate branding expertise, he is passionate about crafting clear and compelling messages that turn talk into action. He has earned coverage for his clients in some of the world’s most recognizable media outlets, including The Wall Street Journal, Barron’s, CNBC, Bloomberg, Financial Times, and Institutional Investor. Drew began his career at Strategics, Inc., a boutique PR firm focused on financial services and trading. During his time at the agency, he executed media relations campaigns for industry heavyweights, including UBS, optionsXpress and LIFFE (now a division of the IntercontinentalExchange Group, Inc.) and Trading Technologies International. An early proponent of social media, Drew spearheaded the tradeMONSTER tradeSHARETM functionality, offering retail traders a groundbreaking way to stay connected on Twitter without ever leaving the platform. He has also been instrumental in creating taglines and guiding media buying strategy for such groups as HTG Capital Partners, tradeMONSTER and the IntercontinentalExchange Group, Inc. Since launching 3Points, Drew has brought his energy and media savvy to clients across a spectrum of industries, including HR and benefits. He has also participated and led panels on social media, communications and business innovation for the Futures Industry Association, Security Traders Association of Chicago, and John J. Lothian & Company, Inc. His relentless focus on delivering results is equally tied to his passion for integrity in business. In a world where there is so much noise and very little substance, 3Points promotes thoughtful, customer-centered organizations that solve problems. The end result: credible, expert sources that become more visible and trusted among key audiences, outshining their competition. Drew is a graduate of Knox College and current president of the Justin Wynn Fund. When he’s not at work, he can be found shooting hoops, gardening or pushing a jogging stroller along Chicago’s lakefront.
Follow Drew Mauck:
About 3Points Communications: 3Points Communications is a Public Relations and Communications firm providing Financial and Human Resources and Wellness services.
Sarah Alter
President & CEO of Network of Executive Women
Follow Sarah Alter:
About Network of Executive Women: Founded to inspire leadership development programs to advance women, build business and help create a better workplace for all.
Dmitry Isaev
co-CEO and co-Founder of SnappySweeps
Follow Dmitry Isaev:
About SnappySweeps: Social Media Sweepstakes Platform
Ron Ansani
CEO of GoodZee.com
Follow Ron Ansani:
About GoodZee.com: Social Goodness Network – Founded on the belief that good actions of individual people deserve recognition and appreciation.
Lawrence Watkins
Founder & CEO of Great Black Speakers
Follow Lawrence Watkins:
About Great Black Speakers: Great Black Speakers Bureau is a speakers’ bureau.
Evan La Ruffa
Founder & CEO, President, Curator, Editor, Exec Board of IPaintMyMind
Follow Evan La Ruffa:
About IPaintMyMind: IPaintMyMind is a Nonprofit Arts Organization
