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A Resource for Skilled Immigrants. An Opportunity for America.
Donate NowName: Mushtaq Dakhil
Country: Iraq
Profession: Engineer
In an effort to attract and retain top talents, Greeley and Hansen, a leading national environmental engineering and consulting firm specializing in water, wastewater, and related infrastructure, took a unique approach by entering a partnership with Upwardly Global to find qualified new talent.
"I feel very fortunate to be a member of Upwardly Global. Without them, I will certainly not be able to find my directions."
Name: Shuang Li
Country: Afghanistan
Profession: Analytics Consultant
Company: MSCI
180 N. Wabash Ave, Suite 310
Chicago, Illinois 60601
Phone: 312-431-1923
How to Get to Our Office:
Brown Line to the Randolph & Wabash stop and then walk north on Wabash
Blue Line to the Clark & Lake stop and then walk east on Lake to Wabash
Red Line to the Lake stop and then walk east on Lake to Wabash
Our Chicago office grew out of a collaboration with the State of Illinois in 2008 as part of the Governor’s Office New Americans Initiative. In Illinois, disparities in skilled immigrant employment exceed the national average with 34.6 percent of skilled immigrants working in unskilled, low-wage jobs. With our help, more of Chicago’s educated immigrants are securing professional positions, achieving financial stability for themselves and their families, and reintegrating into the economic and civic fabric of our communities. We primarily serve individuals in Cook, Dupage, and Lake County but have served job seekers throughout Chicagoland and the state.
Our partners help make our work possible. They recognize that partnering with us strengthens our community and economy. Each one of our partners contributes to our success. Contact our office to learn how you can become a partner.
The Lloyd A. Fry Foundation
The Polk Bros Foundation
The Field Foundation
Northern Trust Charitable Trust
The Richard H. Driehaus Foundation
The Duchossois Family Foundation
Wells Fargo
Investing in Communities
Accenture
Google
Northern Trust
Fifth Third Bank
Greeley and Hansen
Health Care Language Services
JPMorgan Chase
OverNorth
Mesirow Financial
Northern Trust
Rotary International
Sears
State Farm Insurance
talentRISE
The Pampered Chef
United Airlines
Truman College
Heartland Alliance
World Relief
RefugeeONE
Pan-African Association
Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Chicago
Immigrantconnect.org in collaboration with Northwestern University Medill School of Journalism
Ethiopian Community Association of Chicago
Jewish Vocational Services
Niles Township Schools’ ELL Parent Center
Literacy Chicago
College of DuPage
Iraqi Mutual Aid Society
Please visit our Calendar for upcoming events.
The Leadership Council is a group of dedicated volunteers who support Upwardly Global’s work by fundraising, building awareness, recruiting volunteers and strengthening employer partnerships. The Council provides leadership opportunities for individuals interested in becoming more involved with Upwardly Global. To learn more, contact Rebecca Tancredi at rebecca@upwardlyglobal.org.
Joel Ayee, Chair
Aleksandr Ablamunets
Jane Beatty
Ariana Drule
Keelie Fallon
A.J. John
Nancy Kramer
Carl Kutsmode
Winita Lau
Joel Ayee, Chair
Joel is a Securities Analyst in the Asset Management & Trust Group at MB Financial Bank, N.A. and works with the investment group to devise and implement investment strategies for high net-worth individuals and institutional clients in addition to equity and mutual fund research. Prior to his current role, Joel spent some time working in 401(k) plan operations at Aon Hewitt. He also spent two years as a board member and young alumni representative for the Wheaton College Alumni Association. A native Ghanaian, Joel grew up in South Africa, Ghana, and the United States. He earned his B.A. in Business/Economics from Wheaton College and is currently pursuing the CFA designation as well as an M.S. in Management Information Systems at the University of Illinois Springfield.
Aleksandr Ablamunets
As a Management Consulting professional at MarketSphere, Alex focuses on Marketing Operations and Marketing Automation for medium and large size organizations across different industries. His passion is to help clients better understand, streamline and automate their marketing processes with use of innovative technology and strategic process improvement. MarketSphere Consulting helps their clients outline strategic plans for creating, implementing and managing Marketing Operations. Additionally, they assist with campaign and resource management and help measure campaign ROI. Alex strives to work with diverse organizations and people who like to think outside of the box.
Alex is a proud graduate of the University of Minnesota business school where he studied Entrepreneurial Management and Accounting. In his personal life, he tries to stay involved with his community and other philanthropic endeavors. He also enjoys travel, spending time outdoors, trying new food and watching live music. He is a life long Minnesota Twins fan.
Jane Beatty
Jane is a Partner with OverNorth, a retained, senior executive search firm based in Chicago. She began her search career in 1996 at Ray & Berndtson, a global executive search firm. Her pre-search industry experience includes 16 years of general management, sales, and operations expertise in the logistics and transportation industries. She served as General Manager of a joint venture between Burlington Northern Railroad and Santa Fe Railway. Previously, she was Vice President of Sales & Operations at a national motor carrier. Jane has a BA in Business Administration from Coe College. Born in Iowa and raised on a cattle and grain farm, she is a speedy walker and a mediocre tap dancer.
A.J. John
A.J. is a Consulting Executive within the Operations practice at Accenture. He works specifically with clients to grow their capabilities within Product Development and Innovation, Private Label Growth/Strategy, Operating Model/Design, and Merchandising Operations. His clients have included some of the world's most visible Fortune 500 companies within the Consumer Goods and Retail industries. A second generation Indian American and native Chicagoan, A.J. has also provided pro-bono consulting services to non-profit organizations within the city.
He holds a B.S. in Materials Science and Engineering with a concentration in Biomaterials and a minor in Chemistry from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Carl Kutsmode
Carl has over 15 years of diversified corporate management consulting experience. He works to help dynamic organizations, across a variety of industries, re-align their talent acquisition, selection and retention practices with their changing business needs. Carl has worked with companies ranging in size from private equity backed startups to multi-national, global industry leaders. His passion is acting as a strategic advisor to the senior level corporate executives of organizations experiencing change due to M&A, downsizing or expansion into new markets. His expertise helps them overcome challenges, cut costs and improve the effectiveness of their future talent acquisition practices.
Carl is a graduate of Loyola University of Chicago with a B.S. degree in Psychology. He is a nationally known subject matter expert, frequent writer and paid speaker at numerous HR and Staffing industry conferences, where Carl shares his insights on the topic of leading practices in corporate talent acquisition.
Winita Lau
Winita is a Vice President in the Commercial Real Estate REIT Finance Group at Wells Fargo Bank, N.A. With a focus on public real estate investment trusts, she is responsible for establishing and developing client relationships, providing unsecured and secured financing, and assessing portfolio performance. Winita has a B.S. in Business Administration from the Haas School of Business at the University of California at Berkeley.
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