Ben grew up on a corn, soybean, and beef farm in Sandwich, IL. He took a roundabout way into the trades, having gone to West Point for college and serving in the US Army Rangers for most of his early adult life. Ben returned to Chicago for business school and found a culture fit in the trades. Chicagoland is his home, and serving its homeowners with only the finest customer service is his passion and the passion of his teammates at Precision Today plumbing, drain, sewer, heating, and cooling. Precision Today is not just another Chicagoland service company at Precision Today— we are committed to your comfort, whether your needs are plumbing, heating, or cooling. Based in Carol Stream, we’ve been serving homeowners throughout DuPage and Kane Counties for over 30 years, providing fast, top-quality workmanship and customer care that is second to none in our industry. Our mission is to give back to our community and support those who support us. Our industry-leading processes and highly trained plumbing and heating/cooling technicians set a new standard for residential service throughout the region. We understand that most problems in the home are emergencies. Whether dealing with an unexpected AC/Furnace installation, a water heater issue, or a burst pipe, you need professional service fast. With this in mind, we proudly offer same-day service—guaranteed. It’s just one of the ways we go above and beyond for our customers. We share exciting news; we merged Dykstra Home Services and Millers Area Heating and Air Conditioning with Precision Today. This further amplifies our ability to provide outstanding customer service while remaining the employer of choice for the best technicians in Chicagoland. Our team of experts looks forward to “Jump on it Today” for your home service needs. Visit Precision.com to find out more information or book an appointment.

Art Rendak joined Inland Mortgage Capital (“IMC”) in 2000, rising up to the rank of president in 2011. His career has been principally devoted to commercial real estate finance. Since arriving at Inland, Mr. Rendak has been focused on all aspects of its bridge lending program, including originating, underwriting, marketing, portfolio management and capital raising. During his career at IMC, Mr. Rendak has been involved in nearly $1 billion worth of financing.

Kathy Higgins, chief executive officer (CEO) of the Alliance for a Healthier Generation, is a national expert on health care and philanthropy, having previously served as the president and CEO of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina Foundation. Higgins leads Healthier Generation’s team of nearly 100 professional staff across the nation working to make the healthy choice the easy choice for all children.

As CEO/Executive Director of Metra, James M. Derwinski oversees one of the nation’s largest, busiest and most complex commuter rail systems. Metra, which has 242 stations, 11 routes and some 1,200 miles of track, serves as an economic engine that extends far beyond its service area. Following a long, distinguished career with Metra, Mr. Derwinski was unanimously elected CEO/Executive Director by the Metra Board in 2017. Prior to this appointment, he served as Metra’s Chief Mechanical Officer managing the work of 650 professionals assuring the safe operation of nearly 1,200 railcars and locomotives. Among his many responsibilities were oversight of Metra’s railcar and locomotive rehabilitation programs, department contracts, and the installation of Positive Train Control, bringing a new level of safety to an agency that provides nearly 290,000 passenger trips each weekday. Mr. Derwinski began his career at Metra in 1997 as an electrician, rising steadily through the ranks, holding positions of ever-growing responsibility as a foreman, general foreman, shop superintendent, director of systems maintenance, locomotive superintendent, division director, and senior director of mechanical operations before assuming the role of Chief Mechanical Officer in 2013. A six-year U.S. Navy veteran, Mr. Derwinski served our country as an electrician in America’s nuclear submarine fleet. Upon leaving the service, he began his career with the Chicago & North Western Railroad in 1993. A longtime champion of public transportation, Mr. Derwinski is both a founder and chairman of the Commuter Rail Coalition (CRC), an advocacy organization that launched in 2019. The CRC is an association of commuter rail agencies, operators and other interested parties acting together to educate and engage stakeholders on the importance and value commuter railroads bring to the nation as a whole and the communities they serve. Throughout the CRC’s crucial first two years, Mr. Derwinski has steered the direction of the association as Chairman of the Board of Directors, invested in the association’s growth and impact, and has represented the CRC on Capitol Hill, before House and Senate Committees, and in the media. Also, Mr. Derwinski is a member of the American Public Transportation Association Board of Directors (APTA), serving on several key committees; is a member on the Safety Operations and Management Committee of the Association of American Railroads; and the Transportation Technology Center, Inc. Board of Directors.

As CEO/Executive Director of Metra, James M. Derwinski oversees one of the nation’s largest, busiest and most complex commuter rail systems. Metra, which has 242 stations, 11 routes and some 1,200 miles of track, serves as an economic engine that extends far beyond its service area. Following a long, distinguished career with Metra, Mr. Derwinski was unanimously elected CEO/Executive Director by the Metra Board in 2017. Prior to this appointment, he served as Metra’s Chief Mechanical Officer managing the work of 650 professionals assuring the safe operation of nearly 1,200 railcars and locomotives. Among his many responsibilities were oversight of Metra’s railcar and locomotive rehabilitation programs, department contracts, and the installation of Positive Train Control, bringing a new level of safety to an agency that provides nearly 290,000 passenger trips each weekday. Mr. Derwinski began his career at Metra in 1997 as an electrician, rising steadily through the ranks, holding positions of ever-growing responsibility as a foreman, general foreman, shop superintendent, director of systems maintenance, locomotive superintendent, division director, and senior director of mechanical operations before assuming the role of Chief Mechanical Officer in 2013. A six-year U.S. Navy veteran, Mr. Derwinski served our country as an electrician in America’s nuclear submarine fleet. Upon leaving the service, he began his career with the Chicago & North Western Railroad in 1993. A longtime champion of public transportation, Mr. Derwinski is both a founder and chairman of the Commuter Rail Coalition (CRC), an advocacy organization that launched in 2019. The CRC is an association of commuter rail agencies, operators and other interested parties acting together to educate and engage stakeholders on the importance and value commuter railroads bring to the nation as a whole and the communities they serve. Throughout the CRC’s crucial first two years, Mr. Derwinski has steered the direction of the association as Chairman of the Board of Directors, invested in the association’s growth and impact, and has represented the CRC on Capitol Hill, before House and Senate Committees, and in the media. Also, Mr. Derwinski is a member of the American Public Transportation Association Board of Directors (APTA), serving on several key committees; is a member on the Safety Operations and Management Committee of the Association of American Railroads; and the Transportation Technology Center, Inc. Board of Directors.

Dane Chapin -- CEO, USAopoloy

Dr. Scanlan was appointed by the Oak Point University Board of Directors to the position of President in June 2016. Prior to this role, she served as Interim President from March – June 2016 and as Chief Operating Officer and Chief Financial Officer where she led a multitude of governance, legal, construction and financial initiatives through the University’s enormous period of growth. For the past 10 years, she has held significant positions throughout the University’s history; from the former West Suburban College of Nursing to what is now Oak Point University. In 2010, the University embarked upon a change of control process to become an independent organization from the non-profit parent health system: a very involved, detailed and lengthy process. During this conversion, Dr. Scanlan was instrumental in leading the contract, financial, governance and regulatory aspects of the process. In addition to the control process change, the University was also planning, constructing and relocating from Oak Park to Chicago. Dr. Scanlan led these initiatives, managed the change, and kept the University community and its constituents informed and involved. In December 2012, the University moved to its new location ahead of schedule, where it now stands and continues to grow inside the walls of Presence Saint Elizabeth Hospital at 1431 N. Claremont in Chicago. Dr. Scanlan’s vision for the University has continued into 2016 with the development of a new 14-room state-of-the-art Interprofessional Education Simulation Learning Center at Oak Point, which replaces the one-room Simulation Learning Center that was built in 2012. This new center allows our students the opportunity to work collaboratively on interdisciplinary patient care teams in both colleges through didactic clinical, classroom and simulation education, which will generate graduates who practice patient-centered, integrated team-based healthcare. In addition to her work at Oak Point University, Dr. Scanlan has held various administrative positions within different sectors of higher education and non-profit management. These positions include District Director of Student Revenue for the City Colleges of Chicago, Regional Director at the Council for Adult and Experiential Learning and Director of Financial Aid at both DeVry Chicago and Governors State University. Dr. Scanlan also was a faculty member in the School of Education at Capella University.

Neeraj Gunsagar is the CEO and President of byte®, a direct-to-consumer aligner company that is revolutionizing the orthodontic industry. Byte was recently acquired by Dentsply Sirona for $1.04 billion to expand its DTC Aligner business to dentists across the world. Prior to joining byte®, Neeraj was the Chief Marketing Officer, Chief Revenue Officer and SVP of Finance & Operations at TrueCar, Inc (NASDAQ: TRUE). In his various roles, Neeraj was responsible for the Company’s overall marketing strategy, corporate communications, consumer acquisition, research, finance and business operations (BizOps). Neeraj helped the Company go public in 2014 and played a significant role in profitably scaling the business from $70M of revenue in 2012 to over $350M in 2018. Prior to joining TrueCar, Gunsagar spent the first 15 years of his career as a Private Equity/Venture Capital Investor. He was Vice President at both Matrix Partners’ India and Garnett & Helfrich Capital, and a Financial Analyst with Qualcomm Ventures. Gunsagar started his career on Wall Street at Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette (DLJ), where he advised companies such as Worldcom and Iridium on complex restructurings and acquisitions. Gunsagar holds a B.S. in Business Administration from the Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley.

Michael Rosengarden - President at Autohaus Automotive, inc

Marilynn Kelly Gardner is a visionary, strategist and passionate advocate for Chicago. As President and CEO of Navy Pier, one of the Midwest’s top-attended cultural destinations and leading mission-driven institutions, Gardner continues to build on her reputation as one of the region’s most respected leaders. Appointed to her current role in 2011, Gardner has been the driving force behind transforming the Pier’s 50 acres of premier waterfront space into the multifaceted cultural destination it is today. Her stewardship has inspired nearly $380 million of philanthropic and private capital investment in Navy Pier’s current redevelopment. Since construction began in fall 2013, Gardner has overseen every aspect of the effort—from design and redevelopment to programming and fundraising. For Gardner, impactful endeavors—like programmatic partnerships, the Community Rides program, and the Pier’s first employer initiative, to name just a few—are essential to positioning the Pier in its second century. Gardner has spent the better part of two decades establishing Navy Pier as one of the top-attended destinations in the Midwest, typically welcoming nearly 9 million annual guests. To ensure the future vitality and growth of the People’s Pier, Gardner led efforts to secure several multi-million-dollar gifts from prominent private and corporate donors. In 2014, Navy Pier received a historic $20 million legacy gift from the Polk family through their Foundation, the Pier’s single largest private gift. These funds were essential to revitalizing the Pier’s entrance, now Polk Bros Park, complete with an interactive fountain and two performance lawns making the Pier one of the most highly sought-after venues for arts and culture in Chicago. In 2015, under her leadership, Navy Pier secured a multi-year, multi-million gift from the Aon Corporation to underwrite the Pier’s summer firework series and Grand Ballroom, further establishing Navy Pier as a world-class programmatic destination. In 2018, two further multi-year partnerships enabled construction of the People’s Energy Welcome Pavilion and a revitalization of the Fifth Third Bank Family Pavilion. The Sable, a 220-room boutique hotel, will welcome its first guests in fall 2020. Throughout her career, Gardner has proudly told the Navy Pier story to millions of Chicagoans and guests. She began at the Pier during its first redevelopment effort in 1994 as the Assistant Director of Public Relations. She subsequently held a variety of positions before leading the Pier’s transition to a nonprofit in 2011 and accepting the role of President and CEO, becoming the first female leader of Navy Pier. Due to her more than 25-year tenure at Navy Pier, Gardner’s distinct vision is apparent in all facets of the Pier’s continued growth and evolution. Gardner has been featured as a guest speaker at events hosted by the City Club of Chicago, YPO Gold, Harvard Business School Alumni Organization, Global Cultural Districts Network, Urban Land Institute, and Choose Chicago. A lifelong Chicagoan, Gardner is a member of the Civic Committee, The Chicago Network, and Economic Club of Chicago. She shares her experience as a member of the Regional Advisory Committee of the Ireland Funds—America, the Magnificent Mile Association, and the Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce. She also serves on the board of CURE (Citizens United for Research in Epilepsy). Gardner attended St. Ignatius College Prep on the near west side of Chicago, where she now chairs the Mission and Academics Committee as a member of its Board of Directors. She received her Bachelor of Arts in Journalism from Marquette University in Milwaukee, Wis., and currently serves on its National Alumni Board of Directors and as a longstanding valued mentor in the university’s alumni mentorship program. In 2015, St. Ignatius recognized Gardner’s many contributions to the Chicago business community with the Alumni Business Leadership Award, the first to be awarded to a woman leader. She also received Marquette University’s ‘Communicator of the Year’ award in 2017. That same year, the Public Relations Society of America’s Chicago Chapter recognized her as the 2017 Chicago Skyline Executive of the Year. She is also the recipient of the Clarion Award from the Association of Women in Business, which recognized her extraordinary leadership in advancing Navy Pier’s Centennial Vision. The Executive’s Club of Chicago named her their 2018 Innovator of the Year, and Crain’s Chicago Business included her in their 2019 list of Notable Women Executives Over 50. Most recently, Chicago Magazine recognized Gardner as twenty-ninth among list of the 50 Most Powerful Women in Chicago in May of 2020.