Loyola University Chicago

We are pleased to announce that Amina Dickerson, Senior Director (Retired), Corporate Community Involvement for Kraft Foods, Inc, will be the event's Guest Speaker.  She leads Kraft's global community involvement, including all of company’s charitable giving, humanitarian aid and employee involvement programs. With her 7 member staff and an $18.3 million budget, Dickerson guides international programs in hunger, health and wellness, sustainability and community engagement, including the arts. She brings to this post three decades of experience with non-profit institutional development, arts, education and cultural programming with an emphasis in museums, and public/private collaboration.

 Previous to her appointment to Kraft in 1997, Dickerson held senior appointments for the Chicago Historical Society, the DuSable Museum of African American History, the Afro-American Historical and Cultural Museum of Philadelphia and Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of African Art and numerous boards, panels and consultancies.  Currently, she is a board member of the Harris Center for Music and Dance at Millennium Park, co-chair of the Peer Network for International Giving of the Donor’s Forum of Chicago and Vice Chair of the International Committee of the Council of Foundations.  In 1996 Dickerson was a Distinguished Visitor with the MacArthur Foundation and was appointed a Class XVI Kellogg Fellow.  In 2002 she was named Chicago’s Professional Grantor of the Year, and in 2004 received the 10^th Annual Sor Juana Award from the Mexican Fine Arts Center Museum and a legacy award from eta Creative Arts Theater, both in Chicago.  Joined by four other funders, Amina was named Chicagoan of the Year by the Chicago Tribune in 2005 for the partnership to advance jazz she helped to initiate.  She received the Timuel Black Award for Community Service from the Jazz Institute of Chicago in 2006.  She is a frequent speaker and panelist on various philanthropy, arts and education, non-profit and community issues in Chicago and nationwide.  

Most recently she was the 2009 recipient of the Handy L. Lindsey Award for Inclusiveness in Philanthropy.  She delivered an electric, thought-provoking and inspiring lecture entitled “Keeping the Tradition:  Honoring the Path of Our Forbearers.  Through two central points, “Bearing Witness” and “Making Way for the Future”, Dickerson delivered a landmark lecture that is a model for leadership transitions within the philanthropic sector and beyond.  She is a 2009 recipient of The Network Journal 25 most influential Black Women in Business award.

Additionally, on May 2, 2009, Dickerson will receive the Association of Black Foundation Executives eighteen James Joseph award at the annual Council on Foundations.

Ms. Dickerson holds a M.A. in arts management from the American University in Washington, DC, and was named to their Alumni Hall of Fame in 2005.  She studied theater arts at Emerson College and holds a certificate from the Harvard University program in Arts Administration. She resides in Chicago with her husband, Julian Roberts. 

The NMPS will present the 2009 Louis T. Delgado Social Justice in Philanthropy Award to Ngoan Le, Vice President of Programs for The Chicago Community Trust. Before being promoted to this position, Ms. Le was the senior program officer of the Trust's Basic Human Needs program. In this capacity, Ms. Le focused grant making and policy development regarding access to housing, food and other basic human needs. In 2005, she was named by Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich to co-chair his commission on immigrant integration.

Prior to joining the Trust in 2004, Ms. Le served as the special assistant to Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley on homelessness. In the role, she coordinated the city’s Inter-Agency Task Force on Homelessness and co-chaired the Chicago Continuum of Care, a consortium of more than 200 public and private homeless stakeholders. 

Ms. Le has spent many years working in the field of human services, serving as the managing deputy commissioner/chief program officer with the Chicago Department of Human Services.  Additionally, she spent more than 10 years working for the State of Illinois serving as assistant to the secretary of the Illinois Department of Human Services, was deputy administrator for the Division of Planning and Community Services of the Illinois Department of Public Aid, and served as special assistant to the governor for Asian American Affairs.  A refugee from Vietnam who came to the United States in 1975, Ms. Le served as the first executive director of the Vietnamese Association of Illinois. 

In May 2000, Ms. Le was appointed by former President of the United States Bill Clinton as one of 15 community leaders to serve on the President’s Advisory Commission for Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders.  She was the only Vietnamese native included in President Clinton’s official delegation to visit Vietnam in November 2000.

Ms. Le has received many recognition and awards for her work, including recognition for her "Outstanding Contributions to the U.S.," given in 1991 by Jewel Lafontant-Makarious, former U.S. Ambassador for Refugee Affairs.  In 1989, she was named to the "40 Under 40: Most Dynamic Civic and Business Leaders in Chicago" list by Crain's Chicago. 

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2009 HOST COMMITTEE

Co-Chairs     

• Ellen S. Alberding, President, The Joyce Foundation
• Terry Mazany, President and CEO, The Chicago Community Trust

Committee

•     Evette Cardona, Senior Program Officer, Polk Bros. Foundation; Officer, Chicago Latinos in      Philanthropy
•     Shelley A. Davis, Director of Programs, Chicago Foundation for Women
•     Ricardo Estrada, Executive Director, Erie Neighborhood House
•     Robert Glaves, Executive Director, The Chicago Bar Foundation
•     Trish De Preter, Development Officer, McCormick Foundation; Board Chair, Chicago Women in Philanthropy
•     Deborah Harrington, President, Woods Fund of Chicago
•     Jane Kimondo (NMPS alumna), Program Officer, Crossroads Fund
•     Deborah Kobak, Foundation Market Strategist, Mission Based Deposits, ShoreBank
•     Karen May, President, Daniel and Karen May Foundation
•     Lisa Montez, Associate General Counsel, John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation
•     Aurie Pennick, Executive Director, The Field Foundation of Illinois
•     Christine Plautz, Manager, Circle of Service; Chair, Asian Americans/Pacific Islanders in Philanthropy
•     Lori Ramos, Executive Director, Chicago Global Donor’s Network
•     Nicole Robinson (NMPS alumna), Associate Director of Corporate Community Involvement, Kraft Foods
•     Mark Rodriguez (NMPS Alumnus), Executive Director, Changing Worlds
•     Unmi Song, Executive Director, Lloyd A. Fry Foundation
•     Sylvia M. Zaldivar-Sykes (NMPS alumna), Executive Director, Lake County Community Foundation
•     Ernest Vasseur, Executive Director, Healthcare Foundation of Northern Lake County

2009 PFAS Planning Committee

Chair

• Ivan Medina, Director – Nonprofit Management and Philanthropy Sector Program

Committee

• Erika Cornelisen, NMPS Student; Advancement Coordinator, Loyola University Museum of Art (LUMA)

• Nancy Garza, Sr. Associate Director – Corporate and Foundation Relations

• Elaine Lehman, Assistant Director – Corporate and Foundation Relations

• Alicia Menchaca de Cerda, Director – Corporate and Foundation Relations

• Katrina Miller, NMPS Alumna; Program Officer - The Northern Trust

• Othel S. Owen, NMPS Alumnus; Senior Training Specialist – Center for Progress

• Mark Rodriguez, NMPS Alumnus; Executive Director – Changing Worlds