Thomas McElroy has 25 years of experience as a senior management consultant with superior
knowledge in network and data communications and design, including network infrastructure, HVAC technology, electrical and power distribution systems, emergency management infrastructure, public safety and disaster recovery technology infrastructure, office technology infrastructure, safety and surveillance, and project management.

 

Mr. McElroy has implemented several high level network designs and technology infrastructure systems for airports and reservation centers, public housing and transportation, hospitals, corporate offices, judicial offices and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. He participated in the design of the data center infrastructure for United Airlines' headquarters and assisted with moving flight operations to the reservations center. He redesigned critical backbone paths for the wide area network for a major international air carrier, and wrote and implemented SONET ring design specifications for airports in 13 major hub locations. He also participated in the design of HVAC and power distribution systems at the former Sears Tower (Willis Tower), reconfigured the fire protection technology, and designed raised floor and structured wiring infrastructure to support office technology, access control, and security and surveillance systems. He also was part of a team that designed of the UPS power systems for all 132 municipalities in Cook County for the Cook County Bureau of Technology, Department of Homeland Security.

 

Mr. McElroy designed uninterruptible power supply (UPS) systems and the under-floor cable management plan for high voltage distribution for all the Cook County Sheriff’s Department Radio Towers. He participated in the design of electrical systems, including conditioned power, battery backup, high frequency grounding and electrical distribution for enterprise server racks and cabinets for ABN Amro Plaza in Chicago. And he designed the technology infrastructure for the data center at the New John H. Stroger Jr. Hospital. 

 

In addition, Mr. McElroy wrote and implemented procedures for business resumption from data communication outages in second and third world countries; wrote specifications for Y2K testing and network communications equipment; and has designed, configured and installed IP/IPX data communication networks using both Lucent and Telxon technologies. 

 

Mr. McElroy has been recognized as an outstanding business leader by the Small Business Administration and the Chicago Urban League. He is a member of the Mayor’s Council of Technology Advisors; the American Society of Civil Engineers; Minorities in Technology Sales; the Druids of Chicago; TIA/EIA Professionals Network; the National Forum for Black Public Administrators; the Young Democrats of America; Real Men Read/Chicago Public Schools; the Chicago Minority Supplier Development Council; and Black Data Processing Associates. He also serves on the Technology Committee for the Black Ensemble Theater and the program and gala committees of Black Creativity, an organization that recognizes the accomplishments of African Americans in the sciences at Chicago’s renowned Museum of Science and Industry. Most recently, Mr. McElroy was honored as one of the Chicago Defender’s 2010 Men of Excellence.

 

Mr. McElroy sits on the advisory board of the Chicago Academy for Advanced Technology (CAAT), a new Chicago Public School geared toward technology careers. He is a noted member of Chicago’s philanthropic community and has served on the boards of the Chicago Community Trust, the Art Institute of Chicago, the Chicago Sinfonietta and the Ravinia Festival.

 

 

 

Anne Sempowski Ward is a business restructuring, operations, marketing and branding professional who has spent nearly two decades in corporate leadership at major companies such as Procter & Gamble and Coca-Cola and, most recently, at Johnson Publishing Company.

 

Mrs. Ward has consistently spearheaded innovation and is especially effective at developing relationships with key stakeholders, forming strong partnerships and building brand loyalty. Her career has been defined by her ability to successfully lead business turnarounds, high-profile acquisitions, classic re-branding efforts, corporate reorganization and restructuring, and multicultural marketing.

 

In her current role as President and Chief Executive Officer of The FORWARD Group, Mrs. Ward assists business clients with developing winning corporate, operational and marketing strategies. Her clients come from several different industries including technology, media, advertising, consumer products, digital entertainment and education.

 

As President and Chief Operating Officer at Johnson, Mrs. Ward oversaw a major restructuring and reorganization of both the publishing (Ebony and JET magazines) and cosmetics (Fashion Fair) divisions. A mechanical engineer by training, she also held direct, decision-making authority over every operational aspect of the company including the information technology department, and applied her business acumen and expertise to corporate-wide initiatives that positioned the iconic companies and brands for growth.

 

In her various roles at P&G and Coca-Cola, she had responsibility for traditional brands while also creating new departments including multicultural marketing.  She worked on the largest acquisition in P&G history and managed a portfolio of brands with sales greater than $1 billion. She also became the youngest trustee of the P&G Fund, the entity responsible for all of P&G’s philanthropic giving. At Coca-Cola, she re-launched the African American marketing department following a 10-year absence and developed winning marketing strategies targeted to the African American community across all top beverage brands.

 

A native of Detroit, Mrs. Ward has a bachelor’s of science degree in Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science from Duke University. She also earned a Global MBA from Duke’s Fuqua School of Business.

 

She stays active in the civic and business communities and has been recognized for her business leadership as a YMCA Black Achiever and a YWCA Rising Star. Mrs. Ward’s achievements have been written about in publications such as Ebony magazine (“Top Black Executive in a Major Corporation” and “Woman at the Top” features articles) and The Go-Getter Girl’s Guide: Get What You Want in Work and Life and she has appeared on several esteemed business panels.

G. A. Finch is a corporate, commercial and litigation attorney who advises clients in matters that include formations, financings, acquisitions and corporate governance. He has substantial experience in employment law, ethics investigations, government procurement and government affairs, and also drafts outsourcing, technology licensing, energy, manufacturing and supply agreements.

 

Mr. Finch's clients have included publicly traded companies, closely held corporations, financial institutions, not-for-profits, municipal corporations, property owners, developers, architects, engineers and contractors.

 

Mr. Finch's career has been distinguished by high-level positions including senior partner of the Business, Litigation and Real Estate Groups at Hoogendoorn and Talbot in Chicago (2007-present); partner in the Business Group at Michael Best and Friedrich, a large Wisconsin-based law firm; Co-managing Partner and Chairman of the Corporate, Governmental Affairs and Real Estate Groups at Querrey & Harrow, where he co-managed a multi-service law firm in Chicago with its offices in Illinois, Indiana, New York City and London. Mr. Finch also served as Commissioner of the Illinois Human Rights Commission; the City of Chicago Deputy Planning Commissioner in charge of downtown development; General Counsel for the Chicago Housing Authority; Assistant Counsel for Chicago Title & Trust Company, Office of the General Counsel; Deputy General Counsel for the Illinois Capital Development Board, Office of the General Counsel in Springfield; and attorney for the Federal Election Commission, Office of the General Counsel in Washington, D.C.

 

Honors include the Salzburg Global Seminar Fellow in International Trade; Leadership Greater Chicago Fellow; Illinois Leading Lawyer; Illinois Super Lawyer; Highest Martindale-Hubbell Rating in Legal Ability and Ethics (AV); Chicago Commission on Human Relations Award; Chicago United Business Leader of Color; Chicago Jaycees Ten Outstanding Young Citizens Award; Illinois League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) Award; Hispanic American Construction Industry Association Award; and the Lambda Alpha International Honorary Land Economics Society. He also was featured as a Distinguished Amherst African American Alumnus in the Field of Law in Amherst College’s 1989 Black History Month Exhibit.

 

A longtime civic leader, Mr. Finch serves on the Decatur Classical School Local School Council and the board of the Chicago Bar Foundation and is a member of the Economic Club of Chicago, Lambda Alpha International Honorary Land Economics Society, Queen of All Saint's Men's Club, Association for the Study of African-American Life and History, Friday Forum, and the Druids Club. In the past, he has served as Board of Directors of Leadership Greater Chicago Fellows Association; Chairman of the Board of Advisors of St. Joseph Seminary of Loyola University; Trustee of Hampshire College; Trustee of Commonwealth School; Trustee of the Chicago Housing Authority Pension Fund; member of the Freed Scholars Committee at Roosevelt University; board member of Chicago Community Trusts' Chicago Area Foundation for Legal Services; board member of Chicago Sinfonietta; state General Counsel and Council 313 Vice President of the League of United Latin American Citizens; vice president of the board of Pegausus Players; editorial board secretary of the Illinois Bar Journal; editorial board of the Chicago Bar Record; editorial board of the Journal of Real Estate Development; editorial board of the Journal of Real Estate Finance; Chairman of the Union League Club Real Estate Group; member of the Committee on Foreign Affairs; Vice President of the Amherst Club of Chicago; President of the Katherine Dunham Retrospective Festival; Vice President of the Boy Scouts of America Chicago Area Council; Lt. Governor's Energy Task Force; Governor's Transition Team (1998-2002); Governor's Steering Committee on Housing; Illinois Agriculture Export Advisory Committee; Cook County Board President's Transition Team (1994); Cook County Recorder's Blue Ribbon Committee.

 

Mr. Finch's articles have appeared in the Chicago Tribune, Chicago Sun-Times, Crain's Chicago Business and Today's Chicago Woman. He also publishes a blog on executive contracts, compensation, advancement and ethics at yourexecutivelife.com.

 

Mr. Fabio Grego has over 30 years of multinational project experience in planning and management of institutional and business use projects, infrastructure projects, educational projects, technical and laboratory projects and interior projects, including furnishings.

 

Mr. Grego is an effective single point responsibility for project planning project design and construction phases of projects including budget and schedule management.  Mr. Grego’s experience pans project management as a designer, contractor, building code representative and owner representative for multiple and large multiphase projects as well as LEED compliant project developments.

 

Mr. Grego is registered as a licensed architect in the state of Illinois and Sao Paulo, Brazil.  He holds a LEED Associate certification and is an active member of the American Institute of Architects’ Illinois Chapter.  Additionally, Mr. Grego is a guest reviewer of student theses’ projects at the Harrington School of Design.

 

Mr. Grego holds an MBA from the University of Illinois at Chicago, as well as a Master of Architecture form the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor and earned his Bachelor of Architecture degree from Universidade Mackenzie in Sao Paulo, Brazil.  He is fluent in French and also speaks Italian, Portuguese and Spanish.

Fred Hellman is a Senior Consultant and Project Manager who has spent the bulk of his career helping clients solve their business problems with technology. He has a strong background in IT planning, project management, network design and computer security.

 

Mr. Hellman began his professional career at AT&T Long Lines in Chicago, where he started as a craftsman in the central office while completing his degree in mathematics at Purdue University. Afterwards, Mr. Hellman spent four years as a computer programmer for AT&T in Cincinnati before returning to Chicago to take a position as the manager of a group responsible for voice and data network designs for AT&T customers.

 

Following AT&T, he went on to work for Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) as a network engineer and senior consultant. Mr. Hellman is a certified project management professional (PMP) with more than 15 years of experience managing projects for companies such as AT&T, Digital Equipment Corp., CA (formerly Computer Associates) and Sprint. His expertise includes TCP/IP, LAN/WAN, VPN, Internet, IBM mainframe connectivity, MPLS, and VoIP.

 

Mr. Hellman has been the project manager on the implementation of a converged data and voice network for a federal agency; the Interactive Voice Response (IVR) systems for a large health insurance company; a network forensics system for a large financial services company to secure its network from external in internal security threats; the security command center for a large retail sales company; a network access control system for a client to meet government compliance for auditing and controlling access to UNIX, Windows and IBM mainframe computers, to name a few. He also conducted an Independent Verification and Validation (IV&V) of the Network Architecture Security Project (NASP) for a state government agency, and was the senior consultant on a new HR resume tracking application for a large Chicago bank.

 

Mr. Hellman served his country in the U.S. Navy working as an electronic technician in the area of communications and held a Top Secret (Crypto) Clearance.

 

Mr. Hellman is a member of the Association of IT Professionals (AITP) and the Project Management Institute (PMI) Chicagoland chapter.

Mr. Bob Dinkins is a project design and technology infrastructure professional.  Mr. Dinkins’ experience spans over 25 years working on countless projects across the Chicago land area totaling more than $3 billion.

 

Mr. Dinkins provides overall leadership for on-site field administration, supervision and technical management for all construction operations, including direct supervision of assistants, foreman, subcontractors, and other construction related personnel.  He also provides direction in planning, coordination and execution of work on time and within budget, while attaining or exceeding budget goals.

A professional writer and media consultant, T. Shawn Taylor began her career as an editor and later
switched over to reporting and writing, first as a cops and courts reporter and later as a business features and labor writer in Chicago. She began her career at the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and quickly went on to work for other large dailies – the Detroit Free Press, the Kansas City Star and the Chicago Tribune. Ms. Taylor penned a labor and careers column for the Chicago Tribune and appeared as a guest expert on CLTV and WGN, and on radio stations WVON and WBBM in Chicago.

 

She founded Treetop Consulting Inc. in 2006, applying 25 years of experience as a journalist and editor to writing, research projects, communications, and media and marketing. Ms. Taylor’s articles and commentaries have appeared in Essence, Edutopia, Sky, Business 2.0 and Consumer Reports magazines; on Afro-netizen.com and The Root.com; and on “NextTV: Change You Can See,” the Chicago Urban League’s Emmy-award winning reality television program on FOX Chicago.

 

Ms. Taylor is a member of the National Association of Black Journalists and a mentor in the League of Black Women's "Bring a Girl Into Your World" 2010 mentoring program. She has a bachelor's of journalism from the University of Missouri-Columbia School of Journalism.