Paula R. Jenkins is a leadership speaker, facilitator, author, and Founder and CEO of LFS Consulting LLC. Her experience spans corporate, nonprofit, higher education, government, and community organizations, giving her a unique perspective on the communication and leadership challenges that affect people across sectors. Drawing on more than 20 years of corporate leadership experience, Paula helps leaders and teams communicate more effectively, navigate difficult conversations, strengthen collaboration, and lead with authenticity and emotional intelligence. She is the author of Show Up Like You Mean It: Living, Leading, and Speaking Your Truth, an Emotional Intelligence Practitioner, and an adjunct faculty member at Oakton College. At the heart of her work is a simple belief: everything begins and ends with communication..

Bio coming soon.

Paula R. Jenkins is a leadership speaker, facilitator, author, and Founder and CEO of LFS Consulting LLC. Her experience spans corporate, nonprofit, higher education, government, and community organizations, giving her a unique perspective on the communication and leadership challenges that affect people across sectors. Drawing on more than 20 years of corporate leadership experience, Paula helps leaders and teams communicate more effectively, navigate difficult conversations, strengthen collaboration, and lead with authenticity and emotional intelligence. She is the author of Show Up Like You Mean It: Living, Leading, and Speaking Your Truth, an Emotional Intelligence Practitioner, and an adjunct faculty member at Oakton College. At the heart of her work is a simple belief: everything begins and ends with communication..

Bio coming soon.

Amy Boston is the founder and CEO of Threology, an HR consulting firm helping organizations align their people strategy with real-world success. Amy’s HR experience spans professional services, public accounting, union environments, and the nonprofit sector.  She’s known for a candid, “straight-talking” approach that cuts through the noise and gets to what actually works. A SHRM-CP credentialed professional, she has built HR departments from the ground up and regularly leads roundtables, panels, and strategy sessions for organizations of every size. Audiences leave her sessions with practical, actionable tools and a fresh way of thinking about the people side of their work.

Jill Olson is the Executive Director Emerita of CASA DeKalb County, having served in that role for 25 years after a 20+ year career as an attorney.  She has served on numerous DeKalb and Kane County nonprofit boards, including as a member of the Advisory Board of the NIU Center for Nonprofit Studies and as past chair of the DCNP Steering Committee.  She is currently working as the Local History Outreach Coordinator for the DeKalb County History Museum and is the principal of J Olson Consulting which provides consulting services to boards and staffs at area nonprofit organizations.

Marc Hooks is an experienced grant manager and community engagement leader with a background in the nonprofit and public sectors. He currently serves as the Grants Specialist for the Boone-Winnebago Regional Office of Education. Marc is passionate about community service and creating a meaningful impact. When he isn’t writing grants, you can find him taking trips into Chicago, running, kayaking, or keeping up with his two golden retrievers.

Danita Sims is a Chicago native, self-published author and nonprofit leader boasting +15 years of experience in workforce development and a Master’s in Urban Planning. Since 2009, she’s supported social service and economic development efforts throughout the DeKalb County (IL) community. @CoachDanita is the founder of Passion Pursuit Inc., a 501(c)(3) nonprofit dedicated to providing Career Coaching and executive resume writing services to underserved populations and those transitioning careers. She currently leverages her talents as DeKalb Township’s Career Coach, curator of the viral “Who’s Hiring?” weekly job leads list, and both the Lead Instructor and Program Director for Opportunity DeKalb’s Breakthrough Community Business Academy.

Michelle is the Executive Director of the DeKalb County History Center and appointed DeKalb County Historian in 2020. She played a key role in the initial discussions of a county museum to the official creation of the DeKalb County History Center in 2018, as well as completing the $1.6 million “History Matters” Capital Campaign to fund a new building. Previously, Michelle served as Executive Director of the Sycamore History Museum for 13 years, (until it transitioned to the History Center). Her prior work experiences include research assistant, volunteer coordinator, archivist, and educator, with employment at large institutions such as the Art Institute of Chicago and Newberry Library as well as local historical societies in Wheaton and Geneva. Actively involved in the local nonprofit community, she serves on the Steering Committee for the DeKalb County Nonprofit Partnership. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in History as well as a Master’s in Public History, with concentration in museum education from Loyola University in Chicago. In 2019, she was elected to the Illinois Association of Museums board of directors.