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Chapter Leadership
Heather Evans, Chicago Chapter Director
Heather is passionate about women’s issues and is thrilled to be a part of YWTF. She is a Research Analyst at the YMCA of the USA focusing on demographics, collaborations, women in the YMCA movement, and youth leadership. Heather sits on the steering committee of the YMCA Women’s Leadership Network and is in the process of developing a YMCA Emerging Leader’s Network. She graduated from DePaul University in 2007 with a M.S. in Public Service Management (Public Policy concentration) and a Graduate Certificate in Women’s and Gender Studies. In 2000, Heather graduated from Denison University with a B.A. in both Dance and Communication. Heather is on the Board of Directors of Rape Victim Advocates and was a 2008 member of the Women’s Leadership Mentoring Program (joint program between Chicago YWTF and Chicago Women in Philanthropy). Heather received the YWTF Alexis Knox Fellowship Award in 2008 and is using the funds to develop a collaborative knowledge-sharing website for women’s organizations in the Chicago area (WomeneConnect). She enjoys traveling, running, and spending time with her friends and family.
Colleen Norton, Scribe and Historian
Colleen graduated with her MSW from UIC in 2007 and has been the Senior Court Advocate at Between Friends, a local domestic violence agency, ever since. She has been interested in the women's issues since her first women's studies class in high school and graduated in 2003 from UIUC with a BA in Labor Economics. She has worked and volunteered with women and girl serving organizations in Chicago and Urbana such as Girls in the Game, Feminists United, GirlTalk, and Girlzone. Born and raised in Chicago, she now lives in Logan Square and likes to travel, eat, and play ping pong in her spare time.
Dorothy Brackett, Fundraising and Development Director
Dorothy Brackett serves as the Fundraising and Development Director, coordinating the Chapter's grant applications, annual appeal and fundraising events. Dottie studied Russian literature at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, including a semester in St. Petersburg, and graduated with a J.D. from Vanderbilt Law School. After two years at a law firm, she now happily works as a staff attorney for Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Chicago. Her previous experience includes working as pro bono counsel at the Vanderbilt Domestic Violence Legal Clinic, a law clerk at the American Bar Association Commission on Immigration in Washington DC, and a teacher for Street Law. Aside from the law and long novels, her biggest passion is bicycling advocacy: you're most likely to spot her cycling down the street, even in the snow. Her favorite pastime is exploring the beauty of Chicago with her bicycle and camera. She lives in the city with her husband Greg and cats Chloe, Ollie and Ted.
Erin Peed, Marketing Director
Erin is originally from Lincoln Nebraska and moved to the big city to attend DePaul University. After suffering through learning public transportation, she settled well into a life in Chicago. After a short stint in London, England working at Haymarket Publishing and a semester at Oxford University, she returned to complete her degree at DePaul University. After college, there was a misguided two years at a law firm which prompted her to consider a career in the non-profit world. Several interviews latter she was hired at Rotary International where she has most recently been working in the Foundation as a Scholarship Coordinator for the Ambassadorial Scholar program. Besides working fulltime, participating in WLMP, and caring for a high maintenance miniature dachshund she is also studying at Northeastern Illinois University as a Graduate student in the Political Science department. Erin is also looking forward to participating in a graduate research internship in the Fall of 2009 with the UNITE Campaign to End Violence Against Women at the United Nations in New York.
Nancy Ukpe, Membership Director
Nancy is a native New Yorker who moved to Chicago four years ago to pursue her Masters degree in Counseling Psychology. Upon finishing her degree she landed a job with the YMCA of the USA headquarters office in Chicago, IL as a Contact Center Representative. Her role at YMCA of the USA is to provide customer service to the general public as well as Y-USA and local YMCA staff and members. In her first year with Y-USA Nancy spear headed a very successful coat drive campaign for a local YMCA on the west side of Chicago. The coat drive helped provide warm coats and accessories for adults and children. Nancy is very passionate about working with the underserved population and giving them the tools to succeed through education and strong support systems. In addition to being the membership director for YWTF she also serves as secretary for the YNPN board chapter in Chicago. In her free time Nancy enjoys spending quality time with family and friends, traveling, running, biking, climbing and golfing.
Niki Fritz, Board Member
Niki is a native of Green Bay, Wis. but luckily no one in Chicago seems to hold that against her. She is a graduate of UW-Madison where she double majored in Journalism/Mass Communications and International Studies. During her college stint, Niki studied gender relations in Buenos Aires for six months. Since this life-changing adventure she has been interested in women’s issues. Niki currently works at Christopher House, a nonprofit dedicated to helping low-income families thrive. In additional to supporting the leadership team, Niki coordinates the organization’s e-marketing, website updates and internal newsletter. In addition to being a rather big dork about anything related to e-marketing, Niki also loves utilizing social media to increase communication between organizations and the public. Her special task while on the Board will be to create a wiki for YWTF. As for her passions beyond the computer screen, Niki loves attempting animal-named yoga positions, cooking anything with the word spicy in the title and reading the New Yorker cover to cover.
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