Ensuring that hard work and ambition will be met with equality of opportunity

Meredith Daw first joined University of Chicago Career Advancement in 2003 and has led the office since 2006. As Associate Vice President of Enrollment and Student Advancement and Executive Director of Career Advancement, Meredith directly manages UChicago’s undergraduate career services and is a key member of the undergraduate admissions and financial aid leadership team. During her tenure, UChicago has increased paid internships tenfold, achieved a 93% placement rate for the graduating class, and implemented a first-of-its-kind early engagement model designed to help students start preparing for their career from the moment they arrive on campus. Meredith holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Illinois and a master’s degree from the University of Pennsylvania.

Robin Lavin is the co-founder and President of The Osa Foundation, a family foundation focused on improving opportunities for Chicago’s youth through education and career preparation.

Robin takes an active role in the philanthropic community, serving as a board member and advisor to numerous non-profit organizations, as well as playing a leadership role in funder collaboratives. Robin serves on the board of directors of One Million Degrees, Spark (Chicago), and Braven (Chicago). She is also a member of the Leadership Council of The Chicago Public Education Fund, the Advisory Council for Embarc, and the Civic and Business Advisory Council for Healthy Schools Campaign. Additionally, she is the co-chair of the Progressive Pathways Fund of the Chicago Workforce Funders Alliance.

Prior to founding The Osa Foundation, Robin’s professional experience was in the financial services industry in the U.S. and London. She began her career at the New York City based money management firm, Jennison Associates, then later in cash management for both Maryland National Bank and Bank of America.Robin then joined Dun and Bradstreet in NYC and London, where she was responsible for managing internal treasury activities and later directing the marketing of international credit services for D&B, Europe.

Robin has a Bachelors of Arts in Economics from American University. She lives in Chicago with her husband, Jack, and enjoys spending time with her three adult children.

Ron is a partner with Deloitte Tax LLP and has over 34 years of experience in all aspects of U.S. taxation.

He currently leads a restructuring organization within Deloitte Global, supporting Deloitte member firms around the world. For the last decade, Ronhas held leadership positions in the U.S. Tax practice helping drive national operational strategy and client and business growth. Ron has also served as a member of the Deloitte U.S. Firm Board of Directors and on the Risk and Regulatory Committee and the Strategic Investment Committee.

He received his Bachelor of Science degree in Accountancy from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and his graduate degree in Taxation from DePaul University in Chicago. He is a certified public accountant and a member of the American Institute of CPAs and the Illinois CPA Society.

Ron currently serves on the Chicago Advisory Board for Braven. For his entire career, Ron has been active within the community, with a focus on education and youth organizations.Although he has served on many non-profit boards, he currently serves on the boards of Working in the Schools and Beber camp.He has also been awarded the Outstanding Leadership in Advancing Diversity Award from the Illinois CPA Society, the Alter and Stone Volunteer Award from WITS, and the Deloitte Community Impact Award.

Sarah is the Executive Director of OneGoal – Chicago, an innovative, three-year college persistence program that identifies, trains and supports our nation’s most effective teachers to lead under performing high school students to reach their full potential and graduate from college. Under her leadership, OneGoal – Chicago is partnering with over 80 non-selective high schools to serve 6,500 Fellows in 2017-2018.

Sarah is chiefly responsible for driving programmatic success of OneGoal – Chicago. She manages strategic relationships with key stakeholders, leads the development of a long-term vision for OneGoal Chicago, manages the regional Board of Directors and the Chicago staff team. Sarah is charged with raising $6 million to expand our model locally, and ensuring program outcomes are met. Sarah plays a key role in the development and expansion of the national organization as a member of the Executive Leadership Team and works closely with the organization’s national team to share best practices, further the mission of this entrepreneurial, data-driven organization, and ultimately help grow a movement to ensure that every student in our country has a legitimate opportunity to graduate from college.

Prior to joining OneGoal in 2013, Sarah served for over two years as a consultant at Bain and Company, where she worked with clients in private equity, healthcare, financial services and technology. Before joining Bain and Company, she led Ashoka’s Global Development team and served as the Director of the Entrepreneur-to-Entrepreneur Program in Latin America, launching a program to engage business leaders with social entrepreneurs. Sarah also worked with DAI, an international development consulting firm, where she managed multi-year economic development projects across Latin America.

Sarah began her career as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Panama, where she led the effort to establish the area’s first rural information technology center and helped run a national women’s education initiative. She holds a BA in economics from the University of Michigan and an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University, where she was an F.C. Austin Scholar. She is an associate of the Prison Creative Arts Project based in Ann Arbor, a member of the Chicago Ideas Week Co-op and a partner with Social Venture Partners, Chicago. Sarah also serves as a member of the board of directors of Braven and of the Erie Elementary Charter School, is an Alumna of Leadership Greater Chicago, and is a current member of the Kellogg Alumni Council.

As President of the Cleveland Avenue Foundation for Education (The CAFÉ), Liz is deeply engaged in the nonprofit community and passionate about youth development and education.

She began working with nonprofits in 1993 as founding Executive Director of City Year Chicago, a national service organization that was the template for the AmeriCorps Program. Then in 1995, Liz served as Executive Director of a Montessori school in Denver, where she led a $5 million expansion. In 1998, she became active with boards in the San Diego area, which further fueled her interest in philanthropy and education.

Prior to her work with nonprofits, Liz had a ten-year career with Ameritech Corporation, culminating in her role as special assistant to the CEO of Ameritech Illinois and director of a three-state region for Network Field Operations.

Liz serves as a Trustee for the University of Chicago, is Chairman of the University of Chicago Charter School Board, and serves on the Steering Committee of the University of Chicago Women’s Board. She is a director for the Museum of Science and Industry and serves as Vice Chair of the Partnership for College Completion. She is an alumnus of the Non-Profit Leadership Program of Denver and of the Leadership Greater Chicago Program where she currently also serves as a Director. Liz loves spending time with her family and friends, and cherishes her title of ‘Queen of Useless Facts’.