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Mission Statement

2007-2008 Board of Directors

2007-2008 New Leaders Board

Programs with Local and Global Impact

Networking Opportunities and Partnerships

Frequently Asked Questions

There are 17 New Leaders serving on the New Leaders Board, which meets twice a year for fall and spring board meetings. Board members are nominated by the New Leaders Nominating Committee and are elected after the general meeting upon the approval of the ECC Board of Directors. Board members oversee the committee’s five subcommittees: Membership, Mentorship, Marketing & Public Relations, Programs, and New Leaders Reception Committee. New Leaders may serve on any one of these sub-committees, in addition to the New Leaders Reception Committee.

Officers

Chairman

Michael J. Stanley

Principal

Elk Grove Graphics

Michael Stanley is a principal of Elk Grove Graphics, a print/marketing firm. Elk Grove Graphics produces and fulfills offline communication and marketing materials for Fortune 500 companies, advertising agencies, associations and small businesses. Mr. Stanley assumes much of the business development responsibilities, while also focusing on creating new services, improving revenue growth and infusing technology to streamline operations and diversify its product line. During Mr. Stanley’s tenure, Elk Grove Graphics has become one of the top 400 printing companies in America and has won several national awards for printing excellence and employee culture.

Mr. Stanley is also a co-founder of Horizon Investment Partners, an investment partnership which seeks opportunities in real estate and angel investments. Mr. Stanley’s group started and funded Keyplay Sports, a business-to-business company that provided services to the offline sports information industry allowing sports fans to attend and enjoy sporting events across the country. This company created an online ticket auction, partnerships within the travel industry and an online local directory to capitalize on the local advertising space.

Mr. Stanley graduated from the University of Notre Dame with a Bachelors of Science in pre-medical studies and is currently enrolled as a student at the Kellogg School of Management. Additionally, Mr. Stanley serves as the Chairman of the Executives’ Club of Chicago New Leaders Circle and is a member of its Board of Directors. He is also Executive Chairman of the Catholic Charities Junior Board and serves on the Catholic Charities Board of Directors. He is a member of the Irish Angels Network for entrepreneurship deal flow and the Notre Dame Club of Chicago. He has recently completed the Ironman Triathlon and climbed to the summit of Mt. Rainier. In his spare time he enjoys participating in angel investments, playing golf and competing in triathlons.

First Vice Chairman

Matthew A. Yale

Vice President, Public Affairs

Ariel Capital Management, LLC

As Vice President of Public Affairs, Matthew is responsible for Ariel’s philanthropic, political and civic affairs. In this capacity, Matthew oversees the firm’s non-profit foundation, Ariel Education Initiative (AEI), which supports the Ariel Community Academy, a Chicago public school serving 400 students in pre-kindergarten through eighth grade. In addition, Matthew is as a Local School Council Community Representative for the Academy. Matthew also works with Ariel’s President, Mellody Hobson, on the development of her weekly financial segments for ABC’s Good Morning America and World News Tonight. Prior to joining Ariel in 2001, Matthew worked as an Investment Banking Analyst at Billow Butler & Company. Beyond Ariel, Matthew is actively involved in the community serving on the Executive Board for the Illinois Council Against Handgun Violence and as 1st Vice Chaiman for the New Leaders Board of the Executives’ Club of Chicago. He is also a Board Member of Mikva Challenge and a member of the Scenemakers Council for Chicago’s Goodman Theatre. He earned a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from Northwestern University as well as a Masters in Business Administration from the Kellogg School of Management.

Second Vice Chair
Loretta G. Lenzke
Manager
Charter Consulting, Inc.

Loretta Lenzke is an experienced manager with Charter Consulting, Inc., a Chicago-based management consulting firm focused on strategy and operations. Ms. Lenzke specializes in working with executive teams to design, launch and manage large, complex implementations related to operational change efforts. She has seven years experience delivering value to clients in the areas of strategy development, organizational design, change management, process design, operational integration, and program management. Her expertise is applied across an array of industries including transportation, high tech/software, manufacturing, e-commerce, pharmaceutical, and consumer products.

Ms. Lenzke began her career at Accenture as a change management and strategy professional, focusing on creating independent e-commerce businesses for Fortune 500 retail companies. During this time, Ms. Lenzke developed Accenture’s start-up methodology for Internet business to consumer companies. Ms. Lenzke later directed and coordinated the launch of Wizzle.com, Inc., an award-winning software company that enabled university publication businesses to capture revenue online at a lower price point than competitive products. While at Wizzle.com, Ms. Lenzke led sales, transformed the revenue model, managed partnerships, and oversaw the firm’s capital raising efforts.

Ms. Lenzke graduated with departmental honors from Northwestern University and is currently pursuing her Masters in Business Administration at the University of Chicago, Graduate School of Business. Ms. Lenzke enjoys spending time with family and friends and snow skiing. Despite her seemingly permanent status working out of town, Ms. Lenzke continues to enjoy travel.

Membership Chair

Colette M. Savage

Electronic Discovery Specialist

Lexis Nexis Applied Discovery

Colette Savage is an attorney with the Chicago office of LexisNexis Applied Discovery. Ms. Savage’s work includes initiatives designed to educate legal professionals about the evolving law and practice of electronic discovery. Prior to joining Applied Discovery, Ms. Savage was a litigator with Jones Day and Seyfarth Shaw LLP in Chicago where her practice focused on traditional labor and employment law.

Ms. Savage is also a member of the Cook County Bar Association, Black Women Lawyers Association, and the Chicago Bar Association. She received her juris doctorate from Indiana University School Law in Bloomington, Indiana and a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Michigan.

Program Chair

Ellen Marie Menas

Risk Manager

Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan, Inc.

Ellen Marie Menas is Risk Manager U.S. for Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan, Inc. PCS is the world’s largest producer, by capacity, of the three primary plant nutrients making them a leader in the global fertilizer industry. As Risk Manager, Ellen specializes in making and implementing decisions that will minimize the adverse effects of accidental and business losses on the organization. Formerly a Corporate Human Resources Manager in the engineering and structural analysis industry, she has more than ten years experience in loss exposure, insurance, and risk financing techniques.

Ellen serves as the Program Chair for The New Leaders Circle Board of the Executives’ Club of Chicago. She is also a Director of the Chicago Chapter of the Risk and Insurance Management Society (RIMS) Board. Ellen is actively involved in various local charitable events sponsored by the American Cancer Society, American Heart Association and American Diabetes Association. As well as charitable organizations, Ellen routinely donates her time to Habitat for Humanity and local school projects. Ellen is very family oriented, enjoys travel, sports, music and gardening.

Marketing & PR Chair

Catherine O' Connor
Sales Manager
CDW

Catherine O’Connor serves as a sales manager for CDW Corporation, a leading provider of technology products and services to business, government and education. As sales manager, Catherine manages a team of 23 account managers, and is responsible for over $120 million in annual sales revenue.

Catherine started her career at CDW as an account manager in 1999, after receiving her Bachelor of Arts in Speech Communication from Miami of Ohio that May. In this position, she proactively called on corporations to grow new business and cultivate a book of business, and ultimately managed an account base worth over $11 million in annual sales.

Catherine is also actively involved in the community. She is a member of the Junior League of Chicago, where she works with various Chicago agencies like Department of Children & Family Services, Rehabilitation Institute, Ronald McDonald House, to coordinate projects for children. Catherine was a member of The Boys & Girls Club from 2003-2004. Catherine enjoys golf and tennis.

Mentorship & Leadership Chair
Michael P. Duff, Jr.
Director, Front-End Systems Technology
Chicago Mercantile Exchange

In 1994, Duff earned his Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science from the College of Engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. At the UIUC, Mike was the Membership Coordinator, and then Chairman of the Association for Computing Machinery, a large and very active technology organization.

After graduation, Mike began his career as a technology consultant, working for both small and large customers throughout the Chicago area as a developer and system architect. Within two years of graduation, he began managing software project teams, which he has done for area companies for over ten years.

Since joining CME’s Technology and Enterprise Computing Division in 2003, Mike has managed many software applications and multi-million dollar cross-functional IT projects. He is now a Director in the Front-End Systems Technology Group at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, where he and his team are responsible for the program management and oversight of various electronic trading systems, primarily surrounding customer order entry systems.

Mike is an avid photographer, enjoys fly fishing in Michigan, and enjoys playing poker in his spare time.

Secretary Board Development Chair
Henry Y. Lee
Tenant Advisor
Transwestern

Henry specializes in Tenant Advisory Services for Transwestern. He represents national companies to business start-ups in all facets of their real estate including: lease negotiations: renewals and expansions; dispositions: subleases and buy-outs; site selection for relocations and opening additional offices; developing strategies to improve workspace efficiency and reduce occupancy related expenses; formation of short and long-term occupancy strategies to ensure economics and flexibility; and aligning real estate needs with business functions (i.e. technology, consulting, law firms).

Henry came to Transwestern with an entrepreneurial background successfully starting and selling a multi-market business by the age of 23. As a successful business owner, Mr. Lee understands first hand a company’s operational needs and the importance of work space efficiency. Most importantly, he recognizes how the proper real estate can affect everything from employee productivity to bottom-line issues.

Henry is secretary of the New Leaders Board of Directors of the Executives’ Club of Chicago, and is also an active member in Boys and Girls Club of Chicago (Mentor), Young Professionals of Chicago (Director, Professional Development committee), National Association of Asian American Professionals (Professional Development Committee), and Young Real Estate Professionals of Chicago (Member).

Henry graduated Cum Laude from John Carroll University with BSBA in Finance and a minor in Marketing. Henry is a licensed real estate salesperson in the State of Illinois.

Ex-Officio

Kavita Soni

Strategy & Marketing Consultant

Powersem GmbH

Kavita Soni has extensive experience working in an international corporate environment. Currently, she is a business analyst and management consultant for Powersem GmbH, a German High Tech company, specializing in the design, development and automated production of multi-chip semiconductor modules.

Ms. Soni focuses on developing and evaluating market growth opportunities in North America, India, China, Japan and Brazil for cost saving, revenue growth, quality improvement and increased profitability, defining and analyzing market structures and competition, as well as understanding customer behavior. She recently assisted in establishing Powersem-India in Bangalore, a subsidiary of Powersem GmbH, by helping with contract negotiations and mediating agreements between key parties involved.

Her upbringing in various European countries (Switzerland, Germany and France) as well as her frequent travel to emerging markets has helped her to develop a solid understanding of international economic and financial fundamentals as well as business practices of clients worldwide in the High Tech industry. Her knowledge of the different business practices of each country she deals with along with her multilingual skills has allowed Ms. Soni to be an important intermediary for many business deals.

Ms. Soni holds a MBA from the William E. Simon Graduate School of Business with concentrations in Finance and Strategy. She also completed a Masters degree in French and English Linguistics and Literature from the University of Erlangen-Nürnberg, Germany, and holds a certificate on Foreign Languages and Affairs from the University of Limoges, France.

Ms. Soni is an active member of The Executives’ Club of Chicago, The President’s Circle of The Chicago Council on Global Affairs, The Metropolitan Club and The Union League Club of Chicago.

Ms. Soni is currently exofficio of the New Leaders Board of the Executives’ Club of Chicago. She is also on the steering committee of the India Roundtable of the Chicago Council on Global Affairs and a working board member of the Indian American Council - Confederation of Indian Industry in Arlington, VA.

Directors