Chicago alumni board
Our alumni support our work and drive change in their local communities long after serving with City Year.
Andrew currently serves as the City Year Chicago Alumni Board Chair. He was an Americorps Member in Chicago serving in the City’s Greater Grand Crossing neighborhood from 2013-2015. Currently, Andrew is an Internal Auditor at Nuveen. Outside of work he enjoys rugby, bike rides, and aquariums.
Antonio Marshall is a Chicago native hailing from the south side's West Englewood community and currently serves as Vice-Chair of the City Year Chicago Alumni Board. During his service year, Antonio proudly served at the Johnson School of Excellence in the beautiful North Lawndale community. After completing his year of service, Antonio spent some time in Washington D.C where he worked with D.C. City Council to pass the Fair Access to School Act, which banned suspensions for K-12 students in the District of Columbia. Currently, Antonio is the Individual Giving Associate Manager for the Carole Robertson Center for Learning where he is responsible for generating revenue for the organization from individual and corporate donors. Antonio has been a member of the Alumni Board since 2017.
Lydia Alter is currently earning her Masters in Social Work from Loyola University Chicago. In May, she plans on working with children and families in a clinical community setting. Lydia is passionate about working with children and families and supporting their social and emotional needs. Lydia graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison with a degree in general and special education. Before pursuing her master's, Lydia was a special education teacher at a therapeutic day school. Lydia proudly served as a City Year corps member in Boston during the 2013-2014 school year. This amazing experience placed her on a journey to support children and families with their educational and emotional needs.
Alexander Bejar is currently a College Success Advisor at Bottom Line supporting low-income first-generation college students to reach their professional and personal goals. As well he supports the Bottom Line Chicago site by implementing career resources for students connecting them with jobs that align with their career interests. Alex grew up in Cicero, Illinois, and graduated from Morton East High School. He received his bachelor’s degree in organizational communication from DePaul University in 2018 and volunteered in his first AmeriCorps experience with Jumpstart for Young Children, he also supports college students through their Alumni Sharing Knowledge mentorship program. Alex completed his two years of national service as an AmeriCorps Member and Team Leader with City Year Chicago in 2018-2019 and 2019-2020.
Ashley Clark is a Senior Recruiter at Classkick. Her focus is on building and scaling a diverse team for the rapidly growing, Series A funded, ed-tech start-up. Prior to joining Classkick, Ashley led recruiting teams in the nonprofit sector by supporting career changers and recent graduates entering the teaching profession. Ashley hails from the Northwest suburbs of Chicago. After receiving her bachelor’s degree from Hampton University, Ashley joined City Year Denver’s founding corps. Following her year of service, Ashley obtained two master’s degrees and joined City Year Chicago’s alumni board. Ashley looks forward to continuing to leverage her learnings as a corps member to support systemic changes in education.
Holly Cornelius served as an AmeriCorps Member and Team Leader with City Year Chicago in FY13 and FY14 at Tilden Career Community Academy. After City Year, Holly earned her MBA at Boston University in Nonprofit Management and Organizational Transformation. Holly went on to work at Year Up Chicago as an HR and People Development Manager, and now works at Golub Capital in Change Management. Holly joined the City Year Alumni Board in spring 2021 and looks forward to staying involved with City Year.
Jacob Ferguson is an alumnus of City Year Chicago who served as both a Corps Member and Team Leader in the Englewood community from 2015 to 2017. He currently works as a Fan Service Ambassador for the Chicago Fire Football Club and is attending Lewis University working towards a Master of Science in Business Analytics. Jacob has been a member of the Alumni Board since 2022.
Jon Ganci is an alumnus, and former staff member, of City Year Chicago. After serving in 2013, Jon earned his Master’s degree in Public Administration from the University of Illinois at Chicago and joined the staff as an Impact Manager. After 3 years, he switched departments and joined the development team as an Individual Giving Manager. He is passionate about nonprofits, serving others, and making the world a better place for his daughter. His favorite founding story is Cathedral Building, and his favorite PITW is #49. Jon now works at Best Buddies as a Director of Mission Advancement.
Molly Ginnegar is the City Year Recruitment and Admissions Analyst based in Chicago, IL. In her role, she works to cultivate confidence in her team through intentional Learning and Development. Molly grew up in Los Angeles, CA, and Pittsburgh, PA, and graduated high school in Ohio where she first discovered her passion for education equity and policy while tutoring with Cleveland Public Schools and the Red Cross. She received her bachelor’s degree in Political Science from the University of Illinois-Chicago and served with City Year Chicago in 2018.
Emma Kolander is the Assistant Director of Event & Program Marketing with the Rustandy Center for Social Sector Innovation at Chicago Booth, and pursuing her master's at the University of Chicago. Since serving with City Year, she has told stories for other social sector organizations, from increasing awareness about the disparities in Boston’s school selection process to making the case for tackling social impact challenges with a cross-sector approach. These experiences lit the spark for her desired career and have motivated her to support City Year AmeriCorps members in their vital work with students as a member of the alumni board.
Maggie served with City Year Chicago during the 2019 school year and returned as a Team Leader for the 2020 school year. She was fortunate to serve both years at Gage Park High School and continue to build relationships with students and staff for two years. Prior to joining City Year, Maggie attended Marist College in Poughkeepsie, NY, and earned a Bachelor’s of Social Work. Currently, Maggie works as a School Adoption Manager at an education technology start-up, Albert. She is passionate about connecting teachers with resources and strategies to help them best support their students. Her experiences coaching youth and adults and building curricula, in tandem with her educational background in social work, give her a holistic view of the way policies and biases create social inequalities, which she has seen at both the micro and macro levels. She hopes to utilize her skills and experiences to act as an ally in the fight for equity, no matter where injustices occur.
Daniel Ready was born in Detroit and proudly raised in southeast Michigan, after which he attended Xavier University and majored in Classics, Mathematics and Theater. After graduation, he moved to Chicago and joined City Year, an education NPO that you may have heard of, almost by accident, serving two years as an AmeriCorps Member on the Young Heroes and Civic Engagement teams. He spent the next nine years in different roles on the staff, most recently as the Learning & Development Director where he discovered his passion for training, development, and organizational design. After moving back to Michigan to be closer to family, he spent a year working at and starting up a construction company while pursuing his Master’s of Science in Human Resources and Organizational Development. He is currently Eastern Michigan University’s Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs (GEAR UP) Program Coordinator, where he partners with Detroit and Ann Arbor public schools to provide college and career access programming to students in underserved schools and their families. As a leader, he strives to create spaces for self-awareness and personal growth and to use a dash of humor to breathe excitement and possibility into others and himself. He is also an avid Detroit sports fan who enjoys comedy and the occasional reality TV show.
