Executives in Residence

Sara Chamberlain, is co-founder & managing director at Earth Foundry, an early-stage venture capital firm which has backed some of the most transformative energy and cleantech companies. Sara is the driving force of the firm, leading investment activity and actively building the fund’s portfolio companies, including Advanced Diamond Technologies (acquired by SMIN), Azumo, e-Zinc, Intellihot, NanoGraf, Network Perception, Polystyvert, Tank Utility (acquired by Generac), and Volexion. Prior to Earth Foundry, Sara built a government advisory practice at Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati and helped climate tech startups raise $300M in non-dilutive funding. She also held roles with GE Energy and environmental consulting firm, GaiaTech.

Todd Connor, '07, is currently CEO of Veterans for all Voters, an organization he co-founded to fight political polarization and advocate for more political competition and choice for voters and is the founder of Bunker Labs, a national entrepreneurship organization dedicated to helping the military-connected community start and grow businesses in over 40 chapters across the United States. He is the founder of The Collective Academy, a leadership development consulting firm, as well as Emerson House, a luxe retreat venue in La Porte, Indiana. Todd also serves as the lead facilitator for the President George W. Bush Veteran Leadership Program in Dallas, Texas.

David Ellis is Founder and co-CEO of Hatch Africa. Hatch works across six countries in sub-Saharan Africa supplying resilient, high-yielding chickens to rural smallholder farmers, thereby improving their income and nutrition. In 2023, Hatch supplied over 40 million chickens to more than 4 million smallholder farmers throughout Africa and employed 2,000 full-time personnel.

Sonny Garg spent 25 years as a senior executive in the private, public, and nonprofit sectors. He led the energy division at Uptake Technologies, was a member of the executive committee at Exelon Corporation, and worked in the administrations of Chicago mayor Richard M. Daley and US president Bill Clinton. Garg serves on the boards of the Invisible Institute and the Institute for Nonviolence Chicago. 

Andrew Leon Hanna is the founder of Mona, a social venture that highlights and invests in underserved entrepreneurs, including by connecting primarily refugee, immigrant, and women-owned small business across the United States to $1m+ in zero-interest loans. Hanna’s book, 25 Million Sparks: The Untold Story of Refugee Entrepreneurs (Cambridge University Press), was named a Financial Times Best Book of the Year and received the Bracken Bower Prize. Previously, Hanna was a consultant at McKinsey, where he led the launch of the Generation youth employment nonprofit in his hometown of Jacksonville, Florida, and also served in the White House and US Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division.

Brittany Henry, '17, is on the investments team at Impact America Fund, a venture capital firm investing in tech-driven businesses that provide economic opportunities to communities of color in the US. Brittany focuses on investing in fintech solutions such as personal finance tools as well as technology to support the growth of small to medium businesses. Prior to joining IAF, she worked as a management consultant in the strategy practice at KPMG, focusing on mergers and acquisitions for large corporate clients, and on financial process improvement for clients at Accenture.

Dorri McWhorter is president and CEO of the YMCA of Metropolitan Chicago. Most recently, McWhorter was CEO of the YWCA Metropolitan Chicago, leading the 140-year-old social service agency's expansion of digital services and helped develop an exchange-traded fund (ETF) for women’s empowerment. A winner of innovation awards and a 20-year veteran in large-scale change management consulting, McWhorter was a partner at Crowe Horwath LLP and a senior leader at Snap-on Incorporated and Booz Allen Hamilton.

Priya Parrish is adjunct assistant professor of strategy at Chicago Booth and partner and chief investment officer at Impact Engine, a venture capital and private equity firm investing in companies driving impact in economic empowerment, education, environmental sustainability, and health. She advises investment firms and asset owners developing and managing impact investment strategies and previously was chief investment officer at Schwartz Capital Group and a senior investor at Aurora Investment Management.

Laura Payne is the director of public markets at Builders Vision, responsible for equity and fixed income investments across various portfolios. She is a frequent speaker on topics of investment management and climate change related risk and opportunity. Payne spent more than a decade focused on alternative investments, serving as a director at Citadel LLC and a vice president at Goldman Sachs. She began her career as an institutional investor at the University of Chicago Investment Office, followed by Glenwood Capital and the Pritzker Group.