NOTE Sidney Dillard from Loop Capital being one of Obama Foundations corporate Leader….
The nonprofit foundation behind the Obama Presidential Center in Jackson Park said Tuesday it has enlisted 17 civic and corporate leaders to help promote diversity and inclusion.
The presidential center, still in the planning stages, is to open in 2021.
Three people will co-chair what the Obama Foundation is calling its inclusion council: Melody Spann Cooper, chairman of WVON Radio; Connie Lindsey, an executive vice president at Northern Trust; and William Van Hoene Jr., a senior vice executive president at Exelon Corp., an energy company.
Fourteen others will serve on the council: Ken Bennett, a senior adviser for the tourism group Choose Chicago; Marca Bristo, president and CEO of Access Living, which serves the disabled; Ellen-Blair Chube, a managing director at William Blair, an investment company; Jamie Citron, the Obama Foundation's development chief of staff; Evelyn Diaz, president of the Heartland Alliance, an anti-poverty group; Sidney Dillard, a partner at Loop Capital, an investment company; and Brett Hart, an executive vice president at United Airlines.
Also: Perri Irmer, president of the DuSable Museum of African-American History; Weldon Latham, a principal at the Jackson Lewis law firm; Langdon Neal, owner of the law firm Neal & Leroy; Nadia Quarles, an assistant vice president at the University of Chicago; Laura Ricketts, an owner of the Chicago Cubs; Eli Williamson, president of Leave No Veteran Behind; and Bernarda Wong, president of the Chinese American Service League.
In a release, the foundation said the council will work to ensure that a broad range of opinions are represented in the nonprofit's work.
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The council will provide analysis and recommendations for developing, monitoring and executing diversity and inclusion initiatives, the news release said. The council will meet regularly to assess potential strategic partnerships and communicate regularly with the community, the release said.
"The foundation is committed to maintaining an environment in which diversity and inclusion are valued and respected in all aspects of its operation," said Marty Nesbitt, foundation chairman and a close friend of the president.
Council members will serve three-year terms, renewable at the foundation's discretion.
Separately, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel and some South Side aldermen are assembling a yet-to-be-named panel to provide community guidance on economic development efforts tied to the presidential center.