Advisory Board

Andrea Sáenz

President & CEO - The Chicago Community Trust

Andrea Sáenz serves as The Chicago Community Trust’s eighth President & CEO of the 107-year-old organization. Previously, she was the First Deputy Commissioner & Chief Strategy Officer for Chicago Public Library, a system of 80 neighborhood branches.

In this role, she led strategy, program design, evaluation, innovation, and organizational development. Before joining the Library, Andrea served as Chief of Staff to Chicago Public Schools CEO, coordinating strategy and implementation of district-wide initiatives. Sáenz was previously policy advisor to the Assistant Secretary of Career, Technical and Adult Education at the US Department of Education in Washington, DC, and executive director of the Hispanic Alliance for Career Enhancement (HACE), a national non-profit working collaboratively with employers, universities and schools to increase Latinos' entry and success in professional careers.

Andrea completed graduate studies at the University of Pennsylvania Fels Institute of Government where she worked on performance management for Philadelphia Public Schools and the Philadelphia Workforce Development Corporation. She began her social sector career leading community-based adult education and workforce development at Congreso de Latinos Unidos in Philadelphia. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Latin American Studies from Scripps College and a Master’s degree in public administration from the University of Pennsylvania. Andrea is from Quito, Ecuador, and grew up in Los Angeles. She was a 2010 Broad Resident and a 2009 Leadership Greater Chicago Fellow. She serves as a mentor at 1871, Chicago’s tech entrepreneurship hub, and on the boards of the Albert Pick Jr. Fund, Blair Thomas & Company, Chicago Learning Exchange, the James Dyson Foundation, and as chair of the board for Instituto del Progreso Latino.

Megan Kashner

Co-Founder - Colorful Capital

Professor Megan Kashner serves as the Director of Social Impact at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management. In her leadership of Kellogg's Social Impact offerings, Kashner focuses on the areas of impact investing, social entrepreneurship, sustainability, nonprofit management, policy, global development, values and ethics. Kashner leads up the global Impact & Sustainable Finance Faculty Consortium, the Kellogg-Morgan Stanley Sustainable Investing Challenge, and more collaborative work at the intersection of markets and impact.

Kashner is additionally the co-founder of Colorful Capital a new VC firm founded to focus investment and opportunity on ventures led by LGBTQ+ community members. The Colorful Capital approach is designed to invest in scalable, early-stage, venture-backable enterprises launched and led by LGBTQ+ founders whose potential and investability have been routinely underestimated by mainstream capital providers. The Colorful Capital concept stems from groundwork research by Professor Megan Kashner and student Martín de Leon, published in our whitepaper, entitled Barriers & Exclusions: A baseline study on the LGBTQ+ Experience in Venture Funding.

Previously, Kashner held leadership roles as a CEO, social entrepreneur, and consultant. In her early career, Kashner dedicated herself to direct service with families and individuals in a variety of social service settings. Kashner holds an MBA from Northwestern's Kellogg School of Management, a Master's from the University of Chicago's School of Social Service Administration and a B.A. in Public Policy from Brown University.

Angel Morales

Founder and CEO - Morales Capital

Angel is the Founder and CEO of Morales Capital, a private equity firm that invests across asset classes, with a particular focus on mission-oriented services companies.

He has over 25 years of private equity experience, including as Co-Head of the Bank of America Merrill Lynch Global Private Equity Group, and Founder and Managing Partner of North Cove Partners. Mr. Morales serves on the Board of Directors for a variety of organizations including Hertz and NewSchools Venture Fund.

An alumnus of Harvard University and Harvard Business School, Angel has a strong passion for advancing education for students with limited opportunities. In his effort to promote equity and give back to his native Bronx, he is the founding chair and is on the Board of Directors of Comp Sci High, a high school dedicated to empowering youth with the hard and soft skills they need to achieve success in life. Furthermore, he is a board member of Go To College NYC, an advisory council member of Matriculate, and serves on the Hispanic Scholarship Fund’s Board of Directors. Angel’s achievements are undeniably impactful to students and communities, and we are very excited to have him on board.

Jason Jacobsohn

Founder - Propellant Ventures

For 20+ years, Jason has been an advocate for entrepreneurs by connecting them to growth resources such as investors, advisors, and strategic partners.

He is the Founder and Managing Partner of Propellant Ventures, a seed-stage venture capital fund that boldly invests in Midwest-based companies powering the future in B2B industries including healthtech, fintech, edtech, supply chain, and future of work.

Jason also launched and currently runs the Chicago Chapter of Founder Institute, which is the world’s largest pre-seed technology accelerator that empowers communities of talented and motivated people to build impactful tech companies.

Academically, Jason is an Adjunct Faculty member in the Entrepreneurship program at DePaul University. He received his MBA from DePaul University and BBA from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Chris McGowan

MANAGING DIRECTOR - CJM VENTURES, LLC / OPTO HOLDINGS, L.P.

Chris McGowan is the General Partner of CJM Ventures (“CJMV”), a Chicago private-equity investment firm.

McGowan’s private equity career began 25 years ago with AEA Investors in New York City, after earning an undergraduate degree in theoretical mathematics from Columbia University’s College of Arts and Sciences, and following two years of mergers and acquisitions training at Morgan Stanley.

After completing an MBA at Harvard Business School, he joined Madison Dearborn Partners (“MDP”), where he co-headed their basic industries practice for the last five years of his 12-year career there. At MDP, he oversaw more than $2 billion of equity investments focused on growth equity and buyouts globally in the industrial, consumer, and energy and power sectors. He continues to serves on the Board of prior MDP portfolio company Boise Cascade (Chairman of Audit Committee, NYSE: BCC) and formerly served on or advised the boards of Smurfit Kappa Group (LN: SKG), BWAY Holdings, FirstWind, US Power Generating, OPENLANE, The Illinois Venture Capital Association, and others.

In 2011, with the help of MDP leadership and mentors, McGowan formed CJMV, a private equity firm focused on buyouts and growth equity investments in companies located near Chicago and London. CJMV's current portfolio includes OPTO International, an Illinois-based manufacturer of retail shelving and display systems; Cedar Capital, a Chicago-based asset management firm; and Ingenica Solutions, a UK-based health care information technology company. CJMV’s former portfolio companies include Autism Home Support Services (“AHSS”), the largest provider in Illinois of home-based therapy for children on the autism spectrum. He is also a board member of 8th Light, BigStep Cloud, Campus Cubed, CompanyFirst, Innovare, Just Hot Tubs, Kinzie Capital, Leadership Lyceum, and is a Board observer for Kenna Security, Psycle and SonarMed. He was formerly a Board member of Rise Interactive, Simple Mills (observer), and Spikeball.

Since Spring 2012, McGowan has taught at the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business (“Booth”), and currently serves there as an Adjunct Professor of Entrepreneurship, and as an Investor in Residence and Faculty Advisor to Booth’s Polsky Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation. In the Fall of 2019, he began his ninth year teaching Booth’s Sterling Partners Investment Thesis Challenge (“SPITC”) and his seventh year co-teaching Booth’s Private Equity and Venture Capital Lab. He also has conducted the Booth Private Equity Case Challenge (f.k.a. Oxford-Chicago Global Private Equity Challenge) for the last five years.

McGowan is an active angel investor and currently serves as Chairman of the Limited Partner Advisory Committee for Hyde Park Venture Partners Fund I (and a member of Fund II’s Board), on the Board of Directors and Portfolio Advisory Board of Hyde Park Angels, and as Chairman of the Advisory Board for Valley Growth Ventures.

McGowan married his high school sweetheart, Sandy, and they have three children: one recent graduate of Walter Payton College Prep, and two attending the University of Chicago’s Laboratory Schools (“Lab”). At Lab, McGowan served for nine years on its Board of Directors including four years leading Lab’s Development Committee (two as Chair, two as Co-Chair), including oversight for Lab+, the School’s $80 million capital campaign. McGowan is the former President of Friends of Walter Payton College Prep (and former Chair, Annual Fund), and serves on the Board of Trustees for the Court Theatre at the University of Chicago, as well as the SHSAA Board of Trustees for Stuyvesant High School, where he attended with Sandy in New York City.

Lauren Albani, Ed.D.

PRINCIPAL - LASALLE II MAGNET SCHOOL

Lauren Albani is the current principal at LaSalle II Magnet School. The mission at LaSalle II is to not only provide the highest quality of programs across the core subject areas, but to also educate students about other cultures and to teach them to communicate in critical languages spoken around the world.

As part of the daily curriculum, students participate in world language instruction in Arabic, French, Chinese, or Spanish. Under her leadership, LaSalle II has experienced significant academic success and developed into a vibrant school community for students and their families.

Lauren began her career teaching on the west side of Chicago and then in Gary, Indiana. Inspired by her time in the classroom, she became an administrator in order to more broadly impact educational change. Later, she was accepted into the UIC Urban Education Leadership Program, and recently successfully completed her doctorate degree.

Lauren believes that all students deserve a high-quality education and is committed to making that a reality for students in Chicago Public Schools.

Rita Raichoudhuri, Ed.D.

SUPERINTENDENT - KALAMAZOO PUBLIC SCHOOLS

Rita Raichoudhuri is the former Executive Director of Early College in Chicago Public Schools and currently Superintendent of Kalamazoo Public Schools. As an educational leader, she strives to provide students with a well-rounded education with attention to rigorous academics, social-emotional learning and robust opportunities for post-secondary success.

She effectively engages all stakeholders in accomplishing this task. Her versatility and knowledge has elevated the schools, districts and communities she has served in the past and she is now focusing on bringing the same success to Kalamazoo.

Rita began her career in education as a classroom teacher in a high needs neighborhood middle school in Northern California. Her hands-on approach to pedagogy and high expectations of her students led them to achieve some of the highest gains in the district, garnering her several awards and recognition. During her years as a teacher, she was also actively engaged in various leadership opportunities within her school. She subsequently moved to the district office to lead special initiatives around building the leadership capacity of teachers. She moved to Chicago to join the newly formed Office of Performance. Her primary role was to help principals systematically build the capacity of their teacher leaders in order to improve student outcomes. Rita also led several key district initiatives around adult learning during her time in the Office of Professional Learning. Her accomplishments have paved the path to her most recent role as Superintendent of Kalamazoo Public Schools.

Rita believes that education is the primary equalizer of various social justice issues that our communities face today. She is passionate about providing our next generation with quality education and life options so that they may break the cycle of poverty for their families and communities while learning to be contributing members of society. From California to Chicago and now to Kalamazoo, Michigan, Rita is bringing a more just and equitable education to students across America.

Kerrien Suarez

DIRECTOR - EQUITY IN THE CENTER

Kerrien is the Executive Director of Equity in the Center, which seeks to shift mindsets, practices, and systems to increase equity in the social sector. As a former independent consultant, Kerrien facilitates leadership teams in bold decision making to solve strategic and operational challenges.

She has expertise in leading senior executives and managers through strategic planning, business case analysis, and change management initiatives. Kerrien also supports chief executives and senior leadership teams, through thought partnership and management coaching, in building organizational capacity to achieve measurable outcomes.

Kerrien has worked extensively in education and has experience taking innovative program models, in both the charter and public school context, to scale regionally and nationally. She supported the implementation of a $15M national charter management pilot for EdisonLearning and helped to secure national accreditation while taking the Communities In Schools drop-out prevention model to scale in DC. In addition to the United Nations and World Bank, she has consulted at The Advisory Board, Bain & Company and AT Kearney, Twentieth Century Fox and Viacom. She is a graduate of Harvard College and London School of Economics.

Amanda Fernandez

FOUNDER + CEO – LATINOS FOR EDUCATION

Amanda has 25 years of experience in the areas of recruiting, diversity, organization development, change management, strategic planning and Latino community relations. She has recently founded Latinos for Education, a nonprofit organization whose mission is to develop, place and connect essential Latino leadership in the education sector.

Prior to this, she was the Vice President of Latino Community Partnerships at Teach for America, where she developed relationships with national Latino serving organizations to advance recruitment of Latino teachers and support Latino alumni.

Amanda was a Director at The Bridgespan Group where she served as an organizational consultant to youth and education clients in support of their strategic planning efforts. In this capacity, she also developed HR tools that have been widely utilized by nonprofit organizations nationally. She spent seven years at Deloitte, an international professional services firm, where she focused on human capital consulting projects primarily in merger and acquisition environments and diversity programs for Deloitte staff nationally.

Over the course of her professional career, Amanda has been a frequent speaker at conferences and events. She is a blogger on Huffington Post LatinoVoices and has been featured in Poder Magazine’s list of movers and shakers. She is the recipient of the Ricardo Salinas Scholarship. She currently serves on the KIPP Massachusetts, Achieve Mission, Roxbury Community College boards and the RISE Colorado advisory board. El Planeta named her one of the 100 most influential Hispanics in Massachusetts. Amanda holds an M.S. from Fordham University and lives in the Boston area with her spouse and two children.

Carmita Semaan

FOUNDER + PRESIDENT – SURGE INSTITUTE

Carmita Semaan is Founder and President of The Surge Institute. Surge, as it is affectionately called, was established to broadly address issues of race and class in urban education through leadership development, technical assistance and advocacy. The Surge Fellowship, the Institute’s signature program, is transforming education by identifying and grooming emerging education leaders of color.

Carmita’s career started in corporate America; however corporate could not contain her desire to lead high-impact initiatives that benefit urban youth and transform urban communities- so she blazed a trail within the non‐profit sector. Carmita’s commitment to empowering our country’s most underserved young people by providing them with pathways to excellence through education and holistic supports led her to a decade of executive service, driving results for visionary leaders including Alma Powell, Gen. Colin Powell and Arne Duncan, the former US Secretary of Education.

Carmita holds an MBA from Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management, and a BS in Chemical Engineering from the University of Michigan. She serves on the Board of Directors for the Academy for Urban School Leadership, Marwen, and America’s Promise Alliance. She has received numerous awards and recognition for her thought leadership and professional service, including the Chicago Business Journal’s 2016 Woman of Influence award.

Scott Morgan

Head of Employer Partnership – Springboard

Scott Morgan is the Founder of Education Pioneers & former CEO, based out of the Oakland office, where he led the organization to realize its vision to identify, train, connect, and inspire 10,000 diverse leaders and managers working to accelerate systemic change across the education sector by EP’s 20th anniversary in 2023.

An educator, attorney, and social entrepreneur with a strong background in creating quality educational opportunities for students, Scott began his career teaching social studies and leadership at St. Jude High School in Montgomery, Alabama, through the University of Notre Dame’s ACE Program. Scott later served as the legal counsel for Aspire Public Schools, where he worked with the management team and school leaders to build a network of high-performing public charter schools throughout California.

After training 4,000 leaders to drive impact at 750+ education organizations and raising $40M+ in funding, Scott took on a new challenge leading the Employer Partnership effort at Springboard, a mission-driven company that is bridging the world’s skill gap by offering transformative online education experiences in tech-related fields.

Scott graduated summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa in government from the University of Notre Dame, received his Master of Arts in Teaching from the University of Portland, and earned his law degree from Stanford Law School. Scott is a Draper Richards Kaplan Entrepreneur, a board member of Beyond 12, Inc., and a Pahara-Aspen Education Fellow, Class of 2010. An avid San Francisco Giants fan, Scott lives in Alameda, CA, with his wife and two daughters. Follow Scott on Twitter at @scottmorgan1.

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