Board of Trustees

Karleen Mussman is a Strategic CHRO with extensive experience developing transformative HR strategies, business process improvements and technology utilization in corporations and professional services companies. She is adept at providing strategic vision for diverse and dispersed organizations facing business and market disruption; and she has vast global experience. Karleen is committed to leadership and employee development, diversity, equity, and inclusion, and financial results. She possesses broad expertise in mergers, acquisitions and integrations.

Broad HR Expertise. Exceptional results leading global HR strategy and programs, including leadership development, executive compensation, technology, diversity, equity, and inclusion, and mergers and acquisitions. Led organization and HR transformation to improve operational flexibility. Strong working relationships with company boards and compensation committees.
HR Technology & Innovation. Champion of HR technologies to drive efficiency, process improvement and employee satisfaction. Designed and implemented global HRIS upgrades at ABN AMRO and Baker Tilly, significantly enhancing accuracy, timeliness and utility of HR data for record-keeping and management information purposes.
M&A Expertise. Led HR strategy related to more than a half dozen acquisitions and integrations at Baker Tilly and divestment of ARCO Aluminum at BP. Oversaw HR due diligence and integration of all deals. Worked directly with deal team to oversee all HR activities related to the people aspects of integration to ensure retention of talent and seamless HR processes.
Leadership Effectiveness. Built cohesive management teams dedicated to high service delivery and achieving strategic directives. Participative and servant leadership style, with effective communication, motivation and management skills. Provided leadership to HR and Operations units with HR staff numbering 70-350 and employee populations as large as 5,000.

Ms. Elizabeth Alvarado is the director for consulting at the Association of Governing Boards of Universities and Colleges (AGB). In this capacity, she works closely with governing boards and chief executives of colleges and universities, providing them with the tools and services they need to think more strategically, strengthen capacity, increase productivity, and ultimately make sounder decisions for the institutions they serve. Before joining AGB, Ms. Alvarado held a similar role working on the development of training programs and materials, board retreats, and board and presidential assessments for community college governing boards at the Association of Community College Trustees.

Ms. Alvarado earned her BA from Syracuse University, her MA from New York University, and is pursuing her doctoral studies at the George Washington University. She is currently a trustee at St. Augustine College in Chicago, Illinois.

A senior global executive and attorney. She is a founding partner of Martorello Schildhaus LLC, a minority, woman-owned law firm with offices in Chicago, Washington, DC and Buenos Aires, Argentina. She has decades of experience representing business organizations of all sizes in a wide variety of matters in the US and Latin America. She is a member of the bars of Illinois, Argentina and Peru, and is a certified mediator for the Illinois courts.
She was Manager of the Fair Labor Standards Division of the Illinois Department of Labor (2015-2019), where she created and developed its mediation program and provided leadership to staff responsible for managing the state’s labor laws. Before that, she lived and worked in Buenos Aires, Argentina, where she practiced law for more than twenty years.
She was President of the Inter-American Bar Association (IABA) in 2010 – 2011, on its Executive Committee from 2002-2012 and is a Board member since 2000. IABA represents all the Bar Associations of the Americas and the Bar Associations of Spain and France. Beatriz’s tenure was characterized by efficient, objective-driven leadership, high managerial capacity, restructuring of the institution’s finances, a 23% increase in membership and the negotiation of critical alliances for the success of the institution.
Since 2011, Beatriz is President of WEN – Women Empowerment Now Foundation-, focused on professional Latinas. She is currently a member of the International Women’s Forum (IWF) and serves on the Board of the Young Center for Immigrant Children’s Rights.
She has won many international awards and recognitions for her leadership.

Board Certified Pediatric Dentist, currently private practitioner (Chicago smile specialists), and academician (UIC, College of Dentistry, Pediatric Dentistry Department & Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center, General Dental Practice Residency). I have been the chairman of the special Olympics special smiles programs in Illinois for the last 17 years, and recently national 2019 – president of the Hispanic Dental Association.

As many of you I have carried few hats over my head and this is the common denominator of many of us since there are so many causes closer to our hearts and therefore despite how busy we are we found time to support them.

I truly believe that when a cause goes beyond the color of one’s skin or the language one’s speaks but one’s shares a worthy goal it becomes a courageous one.

As an oral health professional I truly believe in this mission.

Being a leading voice for the Hispanic oral health by providing service, education, advocacy and leadership for the promotion of overall health of the Hispanic and other under-served communities.

José R. Sánchez, President and Chief Executive Officer of HUMBOLDT PARK HEALTH (HPH/formerly known as Norwegian American Hospital), is a senior health care executive with over 40 years of experience in operational, strategic and fiscal management of multi-faceted health care systems, and currently Chicago’s only Latino CEO of a hospital. Under his leadership, HPH has maintained financial stability and growth throughout his tenure. Besides consistently exceeding benchmarks in quality, safety and patient satisfaction, Mr. Sánchez successfully orchestrated the hospital’s preparation for its accreditation survey by The Joint Commission three times. Moreover, the hospital was surveyed and successfully accredited by DNV•GL Healthcare in 2019 and 2020. A major $7M renovation of the hospital was also completed in June 2020, which offers patients, visitors and employees a more vibrant and welcoming experience. Most recently, the hospital completed a major re-branding initiative in January 2021, renaming the hospital, HUMBOLDT PARK HEALTH to reflect the diverse and inclusive community it serves along with the tagline, “Advancing Health Equity” to emphasize the importance of this objective and HPH’s renewed commitment to ensuring all members of the community have fair and just opportunities to be as healthy as possible, regardless of their race, ethnicity, or zip code.

In 2019, Mr. Sánchez was conferred his second Honorary Doctorate degree from St. George’s University School of Medicine for his contributions to medicine, education and public health. In 2002, he was conferred an Honorary Doctorate degree from the New York College of Podiatric Medicine in recognition of his immeasurable accomplishments and steadfast commitment to improving the health care outcomes for some of the poorest and most disadvantaged populations in New York City.

Mr. Sánchez also proudly holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology from the City College of New York and a Master of Social Work from Adelphi University.

The Reverend Clayton L. Thomason, J.D., M.Div. holds the Bishop Anderson Endowed Chair of Religion and Ethics in Medicine and is Chairman of the Department of Religion, Health, and Human Values and Director of the Program in Healthcare Ethics at Rush University Medical Center. The Department provides spiritual care and ethics consultation services to the Medical Center, hosts one of the nation’s leading programs in Clinical Pastoral Education, an innovative research program in spirituality and health, as well as education programs in Healthcare Ethics. He serves on the board of the Chicago End of Life Care Coalition and the POLST-Illinois Leadership Taskforce, is a trustee of the Berkeley Divinity School at Yale University and of St. Augustine College in Chicago, and was elected in 2011 a Fellow of the Institute of Medicine of Chicago.

From 1998-2006, Professor Thomason was Assistant Professor of Spirituality and Ethics in Medicine in the College of Human Medicine of Michigan State University, jointly appointed in the Department of Family Practice and the Center for Ethics and Humanities in the Life Sciences, and Adjunct Professor in the MSU College of Law. He served as Chair of the ethics committee of Sparrow Hospital (Lansing, Michigan); on the Human Subjects Committees (IRBs) of Michigan State University, the Michigan Department of Community Health, and the Michigan Public Health Institute; and on the board of the Medical Ethics Resource Network (MERN). He was appointed by then-Governor John Engler in 2000 to serve as the bioethicist and Chair of the Michigan Commission for End-of-Life Care, which reported to the Governor and Legislature in 2001. Legislation enacting the Commission’s recommendations to reform end of life care in the state was signed into law in January 2002.

A priest of the Episcopal Church, Fr. Thomason has been a Priest Associate of Grace Church (Oak Park, Illinois) since 2007, Parish Associate of All Saints Episcopal Church (East Lansing, Michigan) from 1998-2006, was Priest-in-charge at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church (Lansing, Michigan) in 2000, and was Associate Rector of St. James’ Episcopal Church in Los Angeles from 1994 to 1998., he has also served on the Board of Trustees of the Hospital of the Good Samaritan in Los Angeles and the Commissions on Ministry of the Dioceses of Los Angeles, Michigan, and Chicago. He is a graduate of the Berkeley Divinity School at Yale, the University of Southern California Law School, the University of California at Berkeley, and Simon’s Rock College. He has been a graduate fellow in bioethics at the Kennedy Institute for Ethics at Georgetown University and the Hastings Center in New York.

Carlos was born and raised in Mexico City. Most of his college education was in Mexico. In 2018 Carlos completed a Master’s degree in Transformation Leadership and Coaching at Wright University in Chicago. Married for 13 years, two fantastic children. Live in the United States for the past 14 years.

Carlos began his career in HR and sales training in General Electric (GE) in Mexico. In Abbott Laboratories, he started as a cardiovascular sales representative. For the next ten years, he progressed in Mexico, LATAM, and the USA through promotions in sales, commercial training, learning, and talent development.

Carlos is a versatile training professional with over 15 years of cumulative experience from the first-line Trainer to training organizations’ third-line leader. He has held leadership roles in Mexico, LATAM, the US, and global training organizations, with significant experience in setting strategic direction while engaging senior leadership to impact the overall business positively. Carlos has led over 25 product launches, developing and implementing ~20 learning systems, and developed and implemented executive leadership programs globally.

Carlos has significant experience in analyzing, designing, and creating a curriculum that engages learners, changes behavior over time, and leverages appropriate adult learning principles. Hands-on familiarity with numerous delivery methodologies and technologies and measurement and evaluation techniques show short- and long-term learning and business impact.

His current role is Global Head Learning Experience Platform at Caterpillar, Inc. He is responsible for the creation and implementation of Global Learning Experience Platform solutions. He leads a global team that supports and consults with the Business Units to implement the Learning Ecosystem and develop the L&D capabilities globally.

Leah Wallace is Senior Vice President of Workforce Development and Diversity, Equity and Inclusion with Citi. She has responsibility for development, implementation and assessment of strategic initiatives that drive a diverse and inclusive workforce. Prior to this position, Ms. Wallace served as Vice President of client development and field sales. She has worked for Citi Retail Services for 17 years and has over 25 years’ experience in the financial services industry in sales, marketing and management.

A strong and passionate advocate for community involvement, Ms. Wallace is very active in providing mentoring and financial literacy education to youth. She has been awarded The Presidents Volunteer Service Award for 6 years, the “Honored Citizen” award by Arlington Public Schools, and the “Excellence in Education Award- Faculty of the Year” She is a financial literacy volunteer for organizations including Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship, Junior Achievement and Urban Debate league. She has served on the Board of Directors for the YMCA Arlington United Way of Arlington Regional Counsel and is currently a member of Corporate Trustees on the Board of the Associated Colleges of Illinois.

She co-founded the Citi Black Heritage Network-Chicago in 2017 where she has served as Co-Chair, Membership Chair and Recruitment Chair. She was awarded the 2020 Leaders in Excellence and the 2020 Citi Black Excellence Award for her role in promoting inclusion, mobility, and development of Black colleagues at Citi.

Ms. Wallace is a graduate of UCLA with a BA in Business Economics, and JFK University with a MBPA in Information Management. She recently received her Diversity and Inclusion Professional Certificate from Cornell University School of Industrial & Labor Relations.

Dr. John Zhi-Yu Jiang is the founder and CEO of VESS, a leading enterprise big data and Al consulting  and solution company based in Silicon Valley. Over the last two decades, Dr Jiang served as management and technology consultant for leading software companies in Silicon Valley and information technologist and business executive for leading companies such as Lockheed Martin, BearingPoint, IBM GBS, Dell Global Services, Hitachi, Boeing, Intel, etc. His client base includes leading global 500 companies in various industries and major federal agencies.  Prior to his commercial career, he was a scientist at DOE national labs and NASA. Dr. Jiang has a Ph.D. in experimental particle physics from Stony Brook University and did his postdoc at SLAC, Stanford University.