Meet the ACCION Chicago 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
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 Aldridge
Vice President, Lending and Marketing
Jill joined the ACCION Chicago team in 2009, and she 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.
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Mary Fran Riley
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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Jordan Henstra
Director of Accounting
Jordan joined the ACCION Chicago team in February 2007 as an accounting
and finance intern through the Chicago Semester program. When the
program ended, ACCION asked Jordan to remain on staff. As Director of
Accounting, Jordan 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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Brett Simmons
Director of Programs and Policy
Brett Simmons joined ACCION Chicago in August of 2009 as the Resource
Development Associate through the Americorps*VISTA program. In addition
to grant writing and supporting other development efforts, Brett took on
multiple other roles on staff. In August 2010, Brett became Director of
Programs and Policy. He is responsible for government relations and
stand alone programmatic initiatives. Before joining ACCION, Brett
worked as a short-term consultant at The World Bank Inspection Panel in
Washington, D.C. Brett holds a BA in Economics and History with minors
in Theology and Gender and Diversity Studies from Xavier University in
Cincinnati, OH.
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Elizabeth Dwyer
Program and Policy Associate
Elizabeth joined ACCION Chicago in 2011 as Program and Policy Associate
to manage ACCION's expanded programmatic initiatives and government
relations. Prior to joining ACCION, Elizabeth worked abroad designing
and implementing USAID-funded capacity building projects and
microsavings initiatives with Catholic Relief Services in Sri Lanka,
Brazil, and Peru. She has worked with local community development NGOs
in Nairobi and Rio de Janeiro, and led the Latin America communications
team at Rotary International. She began her career as a project manager
at Intellibridge (now Eurasia Group) and short-term consultant at The
World Bank while studying for an M.A. in International Development at
American University. Elizabeth volunteers annually as a financial
counselor and tax preparer with the Center for Economic Progress,
helping Chicago's low-income families move toward financial security.
She is fluent in Portuguese and Spanish.
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Priscilla Cordero
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 Pilsen and is excited to be part of the community development efforts in the area. She currently resides in Homewood, Illinois, with her husband and two children.
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Maria Fernanda Almeida
María joined ACCION Chicago in February of 2005 as a Credit Analyst. She became a Senior Loan Officer
in February 2008. She currently manages a team of 3 loan officers and the Latino Outreach Program of the organization. She
has helped over 600 clients with access to capital and to technical assistance. In
addition,
she establishes partnerships with other organizations in the Chicagoland Area to promote the microlending program of ACCION.
María
is a 1998 graduate of Universidad SEK, where she earned 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 was a Financial Manager for small
enterprise and also worked as a commercial banker for small and medium
enterprises at Banco del Pichincha (a local partner of
ACCION International) in Ecuador.
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Nitika Chauhan
Team Manager - Lending & Special Programs
Nitika joined ACCION Chicago in 2008. In her current role, she manages two loan officers, ACCION's internship program, and the Microfinance Alliance of ACCION Chicago (MAAC). She continues to work directly with ACCION's clients and has helped fund more than 150 businesses since she has joined. She is also responsible for community outreach among banks, community development organizations, and the City of Chicago.
Before coming to the US, Nitika worked 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 such as the National Community Investment Fund and the 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
Senior 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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Tricia Scully
Senior Loan Officer
Tricia joined ACCION Chicago in June of 2009 as an
intern, and in July of 2010 as a Loan Officer. She holds a B.A. in Commercial
French Studies from the University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana, along with a
Certificate in Global Business Culture with Area Specialization in African
Studies. She currently sits as the Co-Chair of Marketing and Communications
Committee for Women Advancing Microfinance Chicago-Midwest Chapter and
volunteers with an after-school program helping high school students to
understand economic concepts and to further financial
literacy.
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Trina Ntamere
Loan Officer
Trina is extremely excited to be at ACCION Chicago and brings with her a diverse background. She began her career as an analyst for Bank of America where she covered a subset of the Bank’s global insurance clients. Though she really enjoyed what she was doing, she was compelled by a deeper desire to make a bigger contribution to the redevelopment of Chicago's inner-city communities. Fueled by this, she left the bank to pursue that path at Heartland Alliance for Human Needs and Human Rights where she worked in the area of Workforce Development.
Just prior to joining the team at ACCION Chicago, she completed internships at Opportunity Finance Network and IFF (formerly known as Illinois Facilities Fund). She also served on a committee that conducted a feasibility study to launch Darden’s first student-run micro-loan fund for local entrepreneurs.
Trina holds a B.A. in finance from Millikin University, an M.A. in education policy from Loyola University Chicago, and an MBA from University of Virginia’s Darden School of Business.
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Idaima Robles
Loan Officer
Born in Mexico but raised in South Chicago, Idaima holds a master in Economics from the University of Illinois at Chicago as well as an undergraduate degree from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Prior to joining ACCION, you would have found Idaima teaching economic courses at St. Augustine College and developing 3D models of skyscrapers. Idaima is a fluent speaker of Spanish.
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Nicolas Baria
Loan Officer
Nic joined
ACCION Chicago in April of 2010 as an Accounting and Operations Associate and
became a Loan Officer in 2012. Prior to ACCION he received his undergraduate
degree from Indiana University and later earned his MA in Economics from
Roosevelt
University, where he
concentrated in macroeconomic policy and community development. While at
Roosevelt he also studied issues in the Latino labor market in Chicago as a research
assistant in the Department of Economics. Outside of ACCION, Nic is an adjunct
instructor at St.
Augustine College, a community college in the Uptown
neighborhood.
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Claudia Gomez
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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Olubukola (Bukie) Adekoje
Resource Development Associate
Bukie joined ACCION Chicago as a Resource Development Associate in August 2011. She graduated from Loyola University with a Masters in Social Justice and received her undergraduate degree from Rutgers University in New Jersey where she majored in English and Africana Studies. Bukie is excited to join the team at ACCION and learn more about how microfinance develops communities in Chicago.
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Amy Clinton
Marketing & Community Outreach Coordinator
Amy joined ACCION as the Marketing and Community Outreach Coordinator in 2011. Before coming to ACCION, Amy worked on new product development and social impact monitoring as a young fellow for Sé Más Microfinanzas in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. She graduated from Hope College in December of 2010 with a B.A. in International Studies and Business Management. During her time at Hope, Amy studied and interned in Chile, India, and the Dominican Republic. She speaks Spanish and enjoys working as a translator in her free time.
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