IL

Lisa Marsh became an entrepreneur by accident. For 27 years, she served in federal law enforcement, working in five different duty stations before returning home to Chicago to spend the last five years of her mother's life with her. Her mother was the strongest woman Lisa has ever known. Alongside Lisa's father, she raised six resilient children on the South Side of Chicago. Lisa became the first of her siblings to earn a four-year college degree, complete a long and successful career in federal law enforcement, and retire with the vision of building something new—something needed.

As Small Business Majority's Senior Fellow, Geri Sanchez Aglipay leads policy and fundraising efforts in Illinois. Previously, she was the former presidential appointee as the Small Business Administration (SBA) Great Lakes Regional Administrator in the Biden Administration. In that role, Ms. Aglipay oversaw the agency’s field office programs, education programming and communications and public affairs strategy alongside a team of directors’ outreach operations in Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, Wisconsin and 36 sovereign tribal nations.

Nikki Bravo is a dynamic entrepreneur and community builder. As a first-generation American with West Indian-born parents, she is dedicated to economic development and community empowerment. She spent most of her early career in city government with Chicago's Department of Planning and Development and later served as the Deputy Commissioner and Chief Administrative Officer of the Public Building Commission of Chicago.