Board Members

Anne Evens

Chief Executive Officer

Anne Evens, M.Sc., Ph.D., is the Chief Executive Officer of Elevate, a nonprofit organization based in Chicago. Elevate works to promote and create access to clean, healthy, safe, and affordable heat, cooling, power, and water for people in their homes and communities — no matter who they are, or where they live. Elevate designs and implements housing upgrade programs that reduce costs, protect people from the health effects of climate crisis, and ensure that the benefits of clean and efficient energy use reach those who are most in need. In doing this work, we create revenue for diverse small businesses and jobs for people in their communities.

Dr. Evens has worked for more than thirty years in both the nonprofit and governmental sectors to advance public health and economic development in the United States and southern Africa.  She also is an adjunct faculty member of the University of Illinois Chicago School of Public Health.

Dr. Evens holds a Bachelor of Science degree from Cornell University, Master of Science from the University of Pennsylvania, and a Ph.D. from the University of Illinois Chicago. She is an alumna of the Harvard Business School’s program in Strategic Perspectives in Nonprofit Management, and Goldman Sachs’ 10,000 Small Businesses program.

Dr. Evens is a winner of the 2022 Health & Medicine Lifetime Achievement Award and the 2022 Heinz Award.

Bob Weissbourd

Board Member

Bob Weissbourd is the president of RW Ventures LLC where he assembles teams of experts to invent products and enterprises that drive market-based economic development across neighborhoods, regions, and industries. His specialty is technical and economic analysis of urban assets and markets. Bob finds a strong fit with Elevate Energy’s ethos. He feels the organization is creative and smart about how we achieve greater energy efficiency in that we not only focus on policy and research, but also on creating effective, practical products and programs like hourly pricing through data and modeling.

Bob was Elevate Energy’s founding Board Chair, and was a former Chair and long-standing board member of our affiliate, the Center for Neighborhood Technology.

When not working, you can find Bob taking adventure trips with his family rafting the Grand Canyon or hiking in Patagonia.

Carlos Martín

Board Member

Carlos Martín is Director of the Remodeling Futures Program, a Lecturer at the Graduate School of Design, and has over 25 years of experience researching housing technology and the physical quality of existing homes. Dr. Martín’s research on housing adaptation to climate change, housing decarbonization, disaster mitigation and recovery, substandard housing, construction innovation, and the construction workforce connects the bricks-and-mortar of existing housing to its social outcomes.

Carlos came to the Center from the Urban Institute, where he was a senior fellow. Previously, he was an assistant staff vice president for construction codes and standards at the National Association of Home Builders, SRP professor for energy and the environment at Arizona State University, and coordinator for the US Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Partnership for Advancing Technology in Housing. Carlos is a fellow at the Brookings Institution and serves on several National Academy of Science committees. He has previously served on advisory boards for HUD, EPA, and FEMA.

Carlos received his BSAD in architecture from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and his MEng and PhD degrees in civil and environmental engineering from Stanford University.

Chinwe Onyeagoro

Board Member

Chinwe Onyeagoro is the Chief Executive Officer of PocketSuite. Previously, she was chief strategy officer of Great Place to Work and formerly co-founded and served as CEO of FundWell, a platform that matches small businesses to the right financing options and provides financial health coaching. She also co-founded O-H Community Partners in 2004, a boutique consulting firm which has raised $120 million in grants, loans, tax incentives, government subsidies and owner equity financing for non- and for-profit clients. At OHCP, she worked with foundations, corporations, government entities and financial institutions, designing and implementing strategic/business plans, project management and performance monitoring programs. As a former McKinsey consultant, she provided strategic business and financial advisory services to Fortune 1000 executives across industries, including telecommunications and retail. At Monitor Company, she conducted market research, strategy consulting and financial analysis for public and private sector clients. She consulted with an agricultural equipment firm in Tel Aviv and a government-owned postal service company in Madrid. Chinwe, with three other investment analysts, oversaw the Pritzker Realty Group’s $3 billion in real estate assets, including retail, mixed-use, multifamily, senior living and Alzheimer’s care facilities. She graduated magna cum laude with a joint degree in Economics and East Asian Studies from Harvard University. She is a member of the Economic Club of Chicago and Lambda Alpha International. In 2007, she was named one of Chicago’s 40 under 40 by Crain’s Business. In 2008, she received an Emerging Leaders Award from the Anti-Defamation League of Chicago and the YWCA of Metropolitan Chicago’s Women of Achievement Award. Her work has been featured in Reuters, Crains, Chicago Tribune and Sun Times. Chinwe is a 2008 Henry Crown Fellow and a member of the Aspen Global Leadership Network at the Aspen Institute.

Dave Shryock

Board Member

Dave Shryock has three decades of experience in financing small businesses.  Following business school, he spent eleven years at South Shore Bank in Chicago, initially as a commercial lender and eventually as President and CEO of the Bank.

He then founded SB Partners Capital Fund.  The Fund raised $25 million from investors, returning $57 million during its dozen years of existence.  The Fund focused on small businesses, and seven of its eight portfolio companies were run by ethnic minorities or women. 

Dave serves on the board of Elevate, a rapidly growing Chicago based non-profit committed to smarter energy use for all, having previously served as its Chairman.  He also is a director of Metal Flow Corporation in Holland, Michigan; and the Slovak American Foundation.  Dave is a graduate of Harvard College and Yale School of Management.

Jennifer Tescher

Board Member

Jennifer Tescher comes to our board as the President and CEO of the Center for Financial Services Innovation (CFSI), the nation’s authority on consumer financial health. CFSI leads a network of financial services innovators committed to promoting high-quality financial products. Jennifer founded CFSI in 2004 and has since achieved notable success in championing increased access to high-quality financial products and services for underserved consumers as an objective for the industry. She has become a nationally known expert on this topic, frequently quoted in national and financial press, including The New York Times, NPR’s Marketplace, and Washington Post, with major speaking engagements at a broad spectrum of industry and policy convenings.

Jennifer also launched CFSI’s annual conference, “Emerge: Consumer Financial Health Forum,” which presents cutting-edge thought leadership and showcases innovators, executives, and emerging companies in the financial services industries. She lives in Chicago with her husband, Jonathan Eig, and her children, Lillian, Lola, and Jeffery.

John Cleveland

Board Chair

John Cleveland serves as Elevate Energy’s Board Chair. John is all about process and learning opportunities, and strongly believes that in order to change a system, one must have a deep understanding of the operating details of those systems. For example: If you want to make manufacturing more sustainable, you have to know how manufacturing works. The same goes for electricity supply—if you want to improve the grid, you have to know how utilities work alongside public commissions and energy supply. And, if you want to work on buildings, you better understand not only building science but also how city government works.

John’s approach stems from his earlier days in which he spent ten years doing strategic planning work for automotive suppliers (think stamping, injection molding, and sales). John is particularly interested in Elevate Energy’s hourly pricing programs. John was also involved with our multifamily buildings initiative and helped us establish new markets, opportunities, and platforms.

During the summer, John can be found out in the woods, in his flower garden, or enjoying his favorite warm weather hobby, which is building stone walls. In the winter, look for him on the ski slopes.

Kimberly Lewis

Board Member

Kimberly Lewis is the Chief Equity Officer of Havenz Network in Waldorf, MD.

“I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel. ” Maya Angelou

After 18 years of experience and accomplishments, Kimberly Lewis knows better than anyone that market transformation begins with people. Kimberly is a catalyst and executive leader in the global green building movement, championing the critical issues of diversity, equity, and inclusion as the center of the sustainability and climate agenda worldwide.

With this vision Kimberly has recently transitioned to work with a diverse network of partners in service of a clean energy future that lifts ALL people and communities. Formerly Senior Vice President of Market Transformation and Development, North America for the US Green Building Council (USGBC) Kimberly directed USGBC’s 40 local community advancement teams (Chapters) along with members, volunteers and emerging professionals delivering on the USGBC mission to improve the quality of life for all through more sustainable buildings, cities, and communities worldwide. Under her leadership, the values of service and respect undergird people-centric strategies to provide the council and the movement with a strong foundation of stakeholder-based support. Kimberly’s love for people stems from a solid base of faith and family. She is a minister and past leader of women’s and youth ministries for Harvest United Ministries, Clinton, MD (United Churches of Jesus Christ – Apostolic.)

Kimberly is a movement builder who developed the award winning Greenbuild International Conference & Expo. Part market development platform and part tent revival, Greenbuild was created to propel thought leadership and be the epicenter for sustainability in the built environment and beyond. Under Kimberly’s guidance, Greenbuild became the largest sustainability conference in the world with an annual operating budget exceeding $15 million, 28,000+ attendees, 1500 exhibitors and sponsors, 700+ global speakers, and 500+ media outlets. In 2014, Greenbuild was acquired by Hanley Wood LLC (and later Informa) to grow the show and expand it globally. Recognizing the journey of women in the built environment, Kimberly fights for gender equality. She created, and lead, the global Women in Green (WIG) mentorship programs, summits, and events in the US, Brazil, China, Europe, India, and Mexico.

Leah Turnbull

Board Member

Leah Turnbull has spent the past seven years working in J.P. Morgan’s Commercial Bank in their ESOP Advisory Group. Leah has created customized solutions and thought leadership to business owners, management teams, and Boards of Directors of a diverse range of employee-owned businesses. Leah started her career at Duff & Phelps in their investment banking group providing fairness and solvency opinions to shareholders and Boards of Directors. After D&P, Leah joined Principal Financial Group as part of their ESOP consulting group. Leah has recently decided to change firms and will be joining BMO Harris Bank beginning in October as part of their Corporate Advisory Group. In her new role, Leah will continue to be a trusted advisor to middle market businesses providing a wide range of strategic advice from ownership transition (including ESOP) to acquisition strategies and capital raising. Leah graduated with a BS degree in Finance from the University of Louisville. Leah lives in Chicago with her husband, Andrew, and 5-month-old daughter, Aubrey. She loves to run, read, and drink wine.

Margaret O’Dell

Board Member

Margaret O’Dell joined Elevate Energy’s board in 2014. She is currently a senior fellow, writer, and editor for pfc Social Impact Advisors. For twenty years, she served as Program Officer for the Environment at the Joyce Foundation, where she oversaw the Foundation’s energy and environment grants.

Margaret has also served as Associate Director for Foundation Relations at the University of Chicago and managed the editing of more than 100 journals and periodicals published by the University of Chicago Press. A former board chair of the Environmental Grantmakers Association, Margaret currently serves on volunteer boards including the Center for Neighborhood Technology and the Surface Transportation Policy Project.

A lifelong resident of the Great Lakes region, Margaret is delighted to be able to contribute to Elevate Energy’s efforts to expand efficient and sustainable energy options to urban communities throughout the region and beyond.

Scott Bernstein

Board Member

Scott Bernstein leads the work of Elevate Energy affiliate, Center for Neighborhood Technology, to understand and better disclose the economic value of resource use in urban communities, and helps craft strategies to capture the value of this efficiency productively and locally.

President Clinton appointed Scott to the President’s Council for Sustainable Development, where he co-chaired its task forces on Metropolitan Sustainable Communities and on Cross-Cutting Climate Strategies, and contributed to other federal advisory panels on climate change, development strategy, and science policy. Scott is a Fellow of the Center for State Innovation, a Board Member of the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy and Congress for the New Urbanism, and helped create the Chicago Climate Action Plan. Scott also offered strategies for incorporating location efficiency into Memphis Mayor A.C. Wharton’s visionary plan to reduce the city’s poverty rate by 10% in 10 years.

Some key ideas in Scott’s work are that successful urban and metropolitan economies work best if founded on economies of scope or network economies as opposed to simple economies of scale, and that communities contain assets that too often are hidden, disconnected, or poorly deployed—all of which are changeable conditions. A beneficial result of these ideas is a blurring of the lines between “consumers” and “producers” of public goods.

Susan Page Estes

Board Member

Susan Page Estes, aka Scotti, is an entrepreneur, technologist, and strategic problem solver. She’s built companies as well as digital art installations. She joined the Elevate Energy board because she is committed to neighborhoods and the power of collaboration for our collective local and global goal of smarter energy use for all.

Scotti is a founding partner of DesignHouseChicago, an organization committed to revitalizing local manufacturing through design, technology, and education. Her efforts utilize existing machines to help create jobs and educate people on skills needed for prototyping and manufacturing. With a strong local focus, her goals also include efficiency gains through lower travel and shipping costs.

Elevate Energy looks to Scotti for her extensive experience in technology, strategy, finance, job creation, and community building. When she’s not in the board room, Scotti can usually be found in her studio painting, making videos, or composing.