Megan Kashner, LCSW, MBA is a self-proclaimed “Ticked-Off Social Worker” who loves to turn conversations, programs and approaches on their heads. A seasoned nonprofit leader with more than 20 years of strategic management, community partnership building and organizational planning experience across the nonprofit sector, Megan is a Clinical Assistant Professor in Kellogg’s Public-Private Interface and Director of Social Impact. Megan is also the founder of Benevolent - a platform using bleeding-edge technology and leveraging donor proclivities to fill gaps in the safety net for low-income families. Megan previously served as an executive director for the Taproot Foundation and before that spent a career in direct service with families and individuals in a variety of social service settings. Megan holds an MBA from Northwestern's Kellogg School of Management, has a Master's from the University of Chicago's School of Social Service Administration and a B.A. in Public Policy from Brown University. She has spoken at the White House and at national conferences on social innovation, philanthropy and entrepreneurship. She has been featured on CNN, in FastCompany, Mashable, MSNBC, the New Yorker and more.
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Elizabeth Schwan-Rosenwald is the go-to-person for bringing companies, nonprofits and philanthropy together to address community and sector-wide challenges with creativity and panache. With over fifteen years of
experience in cross-sector business and partnership development, Elizabeth has held leadership roles with
the Taproot Foundation since 2009, serving as both Executive Director for
the Chicago office and Director of National Partnerships working with partners and foundations nation-wide. Previously, she
founded 20% Theatre, an all-women’s theatre company dedicated to addressing the
inequity of women and power imbalance in the theatre arena. Elizabeth served as Artistic and
Producing Director of 20% Theater from 2003-2010. More recently, she joined the
Benevolent team in 2014 as Vice President of Partnerships, bringing her stringent discipline and ardent mission-focused approach to the young digital nonprofit. Her nonprofit
fundraising career spans some of Chicago’s most prominent arts and social
justice organizations. Elizabeth holds a BA from Smith College in English and
Theatre.
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Aleca Tesseris Sullivan jumps right in and brings a cross-sector history and approach to the impact arena. She has over 25 years of experience in strategy, analysis, partnership building and business consulting, crossing the private, nonprofit and government sectors. Aleca has worked in management consulting for private firms in both the United States and internationally, provided national standard and guideline oversight for the National Park Service Technical Preservation Services, and developed and led education and community building initiatives. Most recently she served as a founding member and key innovator for Benevolent. Aleca earned her Masters Degree from Boston University in American Studies and BA in Economics from the University of Michigan. Aleca is skilled at stepping into a conversation, problem or opportunity and seeing past the short- and intermediate-term challenges and confusion all the way to the long-range synergies and solutions.
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Emily Brittain stands with one foot in the social sector and the other in the tech sphere. Her specialties include systems and internal operations, tech implementations, and special projects. She’s an accomplished team leader and facilitator, having led consultation and training workshops on topics ranging from program design and management to grant writing and supportive collaboration. Emily also has extensive experience in customer relations, community partnership building, and youth development, as well as technological troubleshooting. Before moving to Chicago, she served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Armenia. Emily earned her Master's from the School of Social Service Administration at the University of Chicago, with a focus on community planning, organizing, and development. An avid listener, she is a strong advocate of strengths-based approaches to personal and community change.
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Lindsay Rosenfeld proudly serves as the Benevolent Group’s Swiss Army Knife, simultaneously engaging her skills in writing and research, operations, and storytelling. She has over 5 years of experience within the social sector in a wide range of roles and issue areas — from operations to crisis intervention to development, nonprofit consulting, marketing and tech. Docked in Chicago via North Carolina, Lindsay spent a year serving as a Resident in Social Enterprise through New Sector Alliance, an 11-month fellowship designed to develop emerging professionals in the social impact sector. After spending her residency with the digital startup Benevolent, digging her heels into the organization’s operational and marketing worlds, Lindsay continued to build the future of giving through cross-sector collaboration as the team’s Development & Programs Coordinator. A graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in Anthropology and Global Studies and a Morehead-Cain Scholar, she brings to the team an eagerness to help bridge the blurry boundaries that too often separate individuals, communities, organizations, and institutions.
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