Meet Our Team
Our organization is diverse, dynamic, passionate about our work and ready to collaborate with the business owners, partners and supporters who play key roles in our ongoing success. Here are just some of the people who are part of the ACCION Chicago team:
Jonathan Brereton joined ACCION Chicago in November of 2000 as a Community Outreach Coordinator through the AmeriCorps*VISTA volunteer program. With a degree in Business and Economics from Wheaton College, he was responsible for both fundraising and the establishment of additional community partnerships. Following his year of service, Jonathan was named Director of Operations in November of 2001 and was responsible for the creation and maintenance of relationships with funders, as well as various operational matters. Jonathan was promoted in October of 2003 to Chief Operating Officer, and again in October of 2004 to Chief Executive and Lending Officer.
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Jill Stephens
Vice President, Lending and Marketing
Jill joined the ACCION Chicago team in 2009, and leads lending, client intake and local community outreach efforts. Jill has been with the ACCION Network since 2003, starting at ACCION New York as a loan officer in Upper Manhattan and the Bronx, and went on to oversee lending, intake and customer service branches in New York and New Jersey. Prior to ACCION New York, Jill worked for a rural microfinance loan fund while serving in the Peace Corps in the Dominican Republic. She holds a BSBA in Marketing, International Business and Economics from Washington University in St. Louis and is fluent in Spanish.
Mary Fran joined the ACCION Chicago team in July 2006, as Vice President of Development. Mary Fran's Career focuses on supporting nonprofits in the areas of fundraising, communications, and marketing. She is committed to Chicago's vibrant community development field where she has worked for the past 25 years. She regularly shares her experiences and knowledge with several organizations including as a Board member for the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless, Providence Family Services, and as a volunteer for The Chicago Community Media Workshop, Architreasures, Oak Park Regional Housing Center, and the Oak Parks Area Arts Council. She is a graduate of St. Mary of the Woods college, Terre Haute, Indiana where she received a BA in Liberal Arts. She attended graduate school at the University of Illinois, Chicago in Education. She provided training in fundraising, communications and special events through the Association of Fundraising Professionals (AFP) Chicago, NeighborWorks America and other non-profit organizations. Mary Fran, a native Chicagoan, is married to Frank Maggio and is a mother of two. She has lived in Oak Park IL for the last 23 years.
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Priscilla is a Senior Loan Officer with ACCION Chicago. She has worked in the financial industry for the past 11 years. She previously worked as a Loan Officer at ACCION Chicago for two years before moving to the Women's Business Development Center where she assisted small business owners in assessing different sources of capital and obtaining the appropriate type of funding. While at the Women's Business Development Center, Priscilla facilitated $1.9 million in financing for small business owners. Priscilla rejoined the ACCION Chicago staff as Senior Loan Officer in March 2007. Her responsibilities include assessing small business owners' financing and technical assistance needs and guiding them through the loan process as well as developing relationships with Chicagoland community organizations and banks in order to promote ACCION Chicago's microlending program.
Priscilla has a Bachelor's of Science degree in Economics with a concentration on Economic Development from the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana. Priscilla is a native of Pulsen and is excited to be part of the community development efforts in the area. She currently resides in Homewood, Illinois with her husband and son.
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María joined ACCION Chicago in February 2005 as a Credit Analyst and later became a Senior Loan Officer in February 2008. Her responsibilities include assessing small business owners' financing and technical assistance needs and guiding them through the loan process as well as developing relationships with Chicagoland community organizations and banks in order to promote ACCION Chicago's microlending program.
María is a 1998 graduate of Universidad SEK, where she got her bachelors degree as a Financial Engineer. In 2002, she got her Master's degree in International Relations with mention in Economics and Finance at Universidad Andina Simón Bolívar. She is originally from Quito, Ecuador. She has been involved with the small and micro enterprise environment in her country, where she wrote her thesis about International Cooperation and Rural Microenterprise projects. She also worked as a loan officer for small and medium enterprises at Banco del Pichincha in Ecuador.
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Jessica Horn joined ACCION Chicago in June of 2007. She was promoted to Loan Officer in January of 2008 and Senior Loan Officer in August of 2008. She previously worked as a loan portfolio manager at Ithala Finance Development Corporation in Durban, South Africa while researching her master's thesis on how low-income South Africans use savings accounts. Her responsibilities include analyzing small business owners' financial and technical needs, guiding them through the loan process and developing relationships with community organizations and banks in order to promote ACCION Chicago's microlending program.
Jessica has focused her studies on microlending and poverty reduction, earning a MA in African Studies with a minor in Gender Relations and International Development and a BA in Economics and Political Science with a minor in women's studies from the University of Illinois in Champaign-Urbana. She has lived in South Africa and traveled extensively through Southern Africa, Burkina Faso, Europe and Mexico. She is conversational in Zulu and Spanish.
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Nitika Nautiyal Chauhan
Senior Loan Officer
Nitika joined ACCION Chicago in 2008. Her responsibilities at ACCION include working with loan applicants (small businesses) by analyzing their financial and technical needs and guiding them through ACCION's micro-lending program and working with the loan underwriters to facilitate the loan approval process. She is also responsible for community outreach among banks, community development organizations and business owners.
Before coming to the US, Nitika worked in India for Self Employed Women's Association (SEWA), a leading micro-finance non-profit in India. Prior to joining ACCION Chicago, Nitika volunteered with community development financial institutions and microfinance organizations in Chicago, like ShoreBank and Global Alliance for Africa among others.
Nitika completed her entire education in India. She holds a 'Masters in Social Work' from Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai, a 'Post-graduate Diploma in Advertising and Public Relations' and an 'Undergraduate degree in finance' from Shri Ram College of Commerce, New Delhi.
Nitika is fluent in Hindi and is learning Spanish.
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Kyama Kitavi
Loan Officer
Kyama joined ACCION Chicago in January 2010. As a loan officer he assesses small business owners' financial and technical needs, guides clients through the loan process, and expands ACCION's outreach throughout the community.
Kyama grew up in Grand Rapids, MI where he attended Calvin College. He graduated with a major in Political Science in 2006. In 2009 he earned a Masters in Public Policy from the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy at the University of Michigan with a concentration in international economic policy and development. Born in Kenya, Kyama's academic and professional interests have centered on Africa. However, he has a passion for economic development and believes in the potential for microfinance to improve communities in the Chicago area.
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Jordan joined the ACCION team in early February of 2007 as an accounting and finance intern through the Chicago Semester program. When the program ended in May, ACCION asked Jordan to stay through the summer as an accounting/finance assistant. At the end of July, Jordan was promoted to the position of Accounting and Operations Associate and joined the ACCION team full time. He is responsible for maintaining documentation and contracts, running day to day operations, monitoring cash flow, and completing the monthly financial statements.
Jordan is from a rural community near Sioux Falls, South Dakota. He went to college in Sioux Center, Iowa and graduated in 2007 with a bachelors degree in finance. Though his background is in agriculture and small town USA, Jordan has fit in well with both the city and ACCION.
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Jon joined ACCION Chicago in July of 2009. His responsibilities include lending and portfolio administration, recovery strategy, monitoring ACCION's financials, as well as facilitating larger development undertakings. Jon is eager to familiarize himself with microfinance and ACCION Chicago's expanding platform.
Before coming to ACCION Chicago, Jon spent six years in institutional sales, originally in the fixed income capital markets group with Legg Mason, Inc. and more recently on the domestic equities desk at Merrill Lynch & Co. here in Chicago. Jon is a 2002 graduate of the University of Notre Dame and a native of Winchester, Massachusetts. When Jon's not busy putting ACCION dollars to work you can find him on the New Trier Township sidelines coaching the Boy's Varsity Lacrosse Team.
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Claudia joined ACCIÓN Chicago as a temporary receptionist/loan assistant through Office Team in March of 2006. In August 2006, she was offered the position of AmeriCorps*VISTA volunteer at ACCION Chicago, and completed her year-long project in September 2007. Once her project was complete, she was asked to stay with the ACCION team as a Client Intake Specialist. Her responsibilities in this new role include client intake, both in English and Spanish, and taking our customers through the prequalification process. Claudia is from the Little Village neighborhood in Chicago, Illinois. She holds an associate's degree from Fox College.
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Sophia joined ACCION Chicago in August of 2009 as the Community Outreach Coordinator. She is from Chicago, and is happy to be back home after four years away. Her responsibilities include event planning, public relations, marketing and community outreach.
Sophia graduated from Boston University in 2009 with a degree in International Relations. She is excited to be a part of ACCION Chicago, and is especially interested in how microfinance can improve communities and the lives of women.
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Brett joined ACCION Chicago in August of 2008 as the Resource Development Associate. His responsibilities at ACCION include grant writing to generate capital to support ACCION’s microloan program. He is originally from the small town of Columbus, Indiana. He holds degrees in Economics and History from Xavier University and minors in Theology and Gender and Diversity Studies. In school Brett focused on international development, carrying out independent research on microfinance in Tanzania through Xavier’s Brueggeman Fellowship, and urban policy studies in Cincinnati’s Over-the-Rhine community. Brett eventually published an article on constraints to microfinance lending and is also the 2008 Harry S. Truman Scholar for the State of Indiana. He is excited to learn more about microfinance at ACCION and to apply his learning to expanding ACCION’s programs.
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