Category: person of the year

President and CEO of Metropolitan Family Services

Ricardo (Ric) Estrada was named President and CEO of Metropolitan Family Services, one of Chicago’s first and largest human services agencies, in March 2011.

Estrada has more than two decades of leadership experience in social services/human services, philanthropy and government. Prior to joining Metropolitan Estrada served as First Deputy Commissioner of the City of Chicago’s Department of Family and Support Services (DFSS). Before that he served as Executive Director of Erie Neighborhood House in Chicago, where his accomplishments included founding the Erie Elementary Charter School.

His civic and community involvement includes appointment to the Chicago Early Learning Executive Council; University of Illinois Board of Trustees; Board of Directors of Leadership Greater Chicago; Board member of the Woods Fund of Chicago; and member of the Chicago Council on Global Affairs Selection Committee, Emerging Leaders Program. Most recently, he was appointed to the Mayor’s Advisory Committee for Repurposing Schools.

Estrada’s awards include being named an American Marshall Memorial Fellow and the Loyola University Chicago Latino Alumnus of the Year, as well as receiving the City Club of Chicago John A. McDermott Award for Distinguished Social Leadership, and the University of Illinois at Chicago City Partner Award. In 2012 he was honored by the Chicago Bears with an NFL Hispanic Heritage Leadership Award. He received a Kellogg CEO Perspectives Fellowship in 2009. He also was selected as one of Crain’s Chicago Business’ “40 under 40” in 2002.

Estrada’s educational background is grounded in social services and business, including an MBA from the University of Illinois at Chicago, an M.A. in Social Service Policy and Administration from the University of Chicago School of Social Service Administration, and a B.S. in Psychology from Loyola University of Chicago.

Former YWCA Executive Director and women’s rights advocate, Audrey Peeples served two years as Chair of the National Coordinating Board YWCA of USA and led the organization through a successful reorganization..

Peeples retired as CEO of the YWCA of Metropolitan Chicago in 2001 after 14 years.  As the Chief Executive Officer, she was responsible for a budget of $13 million and a staff of 300. Her functions included monitoring all operations, strategic plan development, board relations, fund raising and serving as the YW representative in the corporate community.

Before joining the YWCA in 1987, Audrey was the Executive Director of the Girl Scouts of Chicago, Associate Regional Director at Girl Scouts of the USA, and had held several management positions at Continental Bank and Trust Company, now Bank of America. She was a partner with her husband, in MAJA INC, a family owned real estate management firm. After his death, the firm was closed.

She is a graduate of the University of Illinois and Northwestern University.

Audrey is currently the co chair of the Alumnae council of the Chicago Foundation for Women, and a member of the Executive Committee of the Chicago Community Trust. She is serving her first term on the Board of Turnstone Development Corporation, a not for profit affordable housing corporation. She is a member of the Board of Trustees of the Adler School of Professional Psychology and the Board of the Little Company of Mary Foundation. She has served on the Board of the Executive Service Corps and as Vice President of the ACLU of Illinois. She is on the Dean’s Advisory Board of the School for New Learning at DePaul University. She is a member and past Chair of the Chicago Network, an affiliate of the International Women’s Forum. She is a former Trustee for First Non Profit Trust. She has also served on the Board of Directors of the United Way of Chicago, the Chicago Foundation for Women, Junior Governing Board of the Chicago Symphony, and Girl Scouts of the USA. She served as a Commissioner on the Governor’s Commission on Women’s Issues In Illinois under Governor Jim Edgar and Governor George Ryan.

She has received several honors including being one of the 100 women honored with a “rock” as part of Sculpture Chicago in 1994 and the Thomas and Eleanor Wright Award from the City of Chicago Commission on Human Relations for her work in developing racial justice programming and is a member of Today’s Chicago Woman Hall of Fame. She was also named a Historymaker by Historymakers of Illinois.

Mrs. Peeples is currently a consultant to non profits in management Board Development, and strategic planning and often is sought as an expert speaker on leadership, volunteerism, management, racism, and work and family issues

Manager of Corporate Contributions for Peoples Gas and North Shore Gas

With a background of more than  20 years experience in organized philanthropy, Richard Turner is currently the Manager of Corporate Contributions for Peoples Gas and North Shore Gas. Previously he has been with The Chicago Community Trust as Director of Development and Communications and The Elizabeth Morse Charitable Trust as Director and Senior Program Officer.  He has also served as Executive Director for Funders Concerned About AIDS, a New York based national organization working to mobilize philanthropic leadership and resources for HIV/AIDS services, research and advocacy.  He was a founding member of the Funders Concerned About AIDS and served as national president before becoming Executive Director.  He has also been with the Lyric Opera of Chicago as Company Manager and Associate Director of Public Relations and with WTTW/Channel 11 as Director of Information Services and Advertising.  He is a past vice chair of the Donors Forum of Chicago, past national president of Communications Network in Philanthropy, and a former vice president of the American Civil Liberties Union in Illinois.  He is a board member and the immediate past chairman of the board of the Chicago Academy for the Arts.  He also currently serves on the board of Season of Concern. Turner is also a former president of the board of the AIDS Foundation of Chicago and a former member of the national board of the Human Rights Campaign and a former member of the NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt national board of directors.   In 1990 he received the Chicago House Founders Award and that same year was named Gay Chicago Magazine’s “Man of the Year.”  In 1991 he was selected for the inaugural class of inductees into the City of Chicago’s Gay and Lesbian Hall of Fame.  In 1998 he received the Chicago Chapter NAMES Project “Individual of the Year Award.”  In 2004 he received the Association of Fundraising Professionals Professional Grantor Award and the Chicago House Coming Home Award.

He is a graduate of NorthwesternUniversityand has a master’s degree from Arizona State University.

Vice Chair and Senior Executive, Chicago Metropolis 2020
President, Global Philanthropy Partnership

Adele Simmons is Vice-Chair of Chicago Metropolis 2020.  At Metropolis 2020 she provided leadership in the planning of the 2009 Burnham Plan Centennial, and served as Vice Chair of the Burnham Centennial Committee. She is co-chair of the Task Force that developed a Climate Action Plan for the city of Chicago, at the request of the Mayor. She served as a co-chair of the Council on Global Affairs study group on Chicago’s global future. The Study Group’s Report, Global Edge was released in the fall of 2007.

Mrs. Simmons was President of the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation for a decade, overseeing grants of over $1.5 billion, including an annual $25 million program for Chicago. The foundation’s international programs focus on the environment, population, international peace and security, understanding inequality within and among nations and climate change.

Mrs. Simmons is currently on the Board of Marsh and McLennan Companies, ShoreBank Corporation, ShoreBank International Ltd., and a number of non-profit organizations, including The Field Museum, The National Museum of Mexican Art, The Chicago Council on Global Affairs, Winning Workplaces, the American Prospect, the Synergos Institute, the Environmental Defense Fund, and the Union of Concerned Scientists. She is on the Advisory Committee to the World Bank Institute Global Equity Initiative. She served on President Carter’s Commission on World Hunger and President Bush’s Commission on Sustainable Development and was a member of the Commission on Global Governance as well as the UN High Level Advisory Board on Sustainable Development. Before joining the MacArthur Foundation, Simmons was President of Hampshire College and taught at Princeton University.

President and CEO, The Chicago Community Trust

Exelon Corporation

Vice President, Global Corporate Citizenship, The Boeing Company

Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Nuveen Investments

Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Ariel Capital Management

President and Chief Executive Officer, The Donors Forum of Chicago

Director of Community Relations, WGN-TV

BankOne (Now Chase Bank)

Arthur Andersen

Sara Lee

Retired Sr. Vice President, UNICOM (Now Exelon)

Executive Director, CR Group

Chairman Emeritus, National Can

President, Metropolitan Planning Commission

Chairman, UNICOM (Now Exelon)

Chairman, Fel-Pro