John Anderson, Chair
Illinois Institute of Technology
John Anderson has served as the president of Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT) since 2007. He is a member of the National Academy of Engineering and a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the American Association for the Advancement of Science (Chair of the Engineering Section).
Anderson’s technical interests are in membrane science and separations, coatings and colloidal suspensions, and polymers. He has served on the chemical engineering faculties of Cornell and Carnegie Mellon. His previous leadership experience includes dean of engineering at Carnegie Mellon and provost at Case Western Reserve University. He has chaired several boards and study committees for the National Research Council. He received a bachelor’s degree from the University of Delaware and a Ph.D. from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Gerald J. Roper, Treasurer
Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce
As President and CEO of the ChicagoLand Chamber of Commerce, Gerald Roper has been a leader and an advocate for the entrepreneurial community in Illinois – as demonstrated by his leadership in the formation of Chicagoland Entrepreneurial Center, an affiliate of the Chamber, the Center’s innovative Bridge Program that connects emerging companies to established firms to their mutual benefit, and the Illinois Innovation Accelerator (I2A) Fund to bolster access to venture capital.
Roper represents the voice of the Chicagoland business community on the Mayor’s Zoning Reform Commission, the Mayor’s Council of Technology Advisors, and the Chicago Workforce Board. Roper was also appointed by Mayor Daley to serve on the Chicago 2016 Transportation Advisory Council, the Mayor’s Taskforce on the Employment of People with Disabilities, and by Governor Blagojevich to serve on the Illinois Works Executive and Steering Committees, the Workers’ Compensation Advisory Board, the Illinois Blue Ribbon Pension Commission, and the Illinois Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission.
Steve Johanns
Eaton Electrical
Steve Johanns is the Area Manager responsible for the development and management of Eaton Electrical’s construction business in Chicago and the surrounding areas. Eaton is a market leading provider of electrical power distribution, control, and energy solutions in Chicago. Steve has 15 years of experience in electrical infrastructure markets with Westinghouse and Eaton Corporation. His diverse experience includes leadership roles in operations, project management, channel, and sales.
Steve also has experience working with venture capital firms and technology companies as a founder of a business consulting firm that worked with clients from pre-revenue to Fortune 500 in early 2000. Along with their core infrastructure business, Steve and the Chicago based Eaton Team are experienced in the emerging markets of renewable energy, energy efficient smart buildings, and electric vehicle infrastructure.
Vince Kwasniewski
GTL Resources
Vince joined the GTL Resources team in July 2007 as COO and General Manager of Illinois River Energy (IRE). At IRE, Vince successfully led IRE in doubling plant capacity, improving operational performance amidst difficult challenges, and tightly managing risk in wildly volatile commodity markets. In February 2010, Vince moved into his present position to lead business development efforts at GTLResources while continuing to oversee risk management and commercial activity at IRE. Prior to joining the Company, Vince was Commercial Manager for marine logistics at Innovene USA LLC, the petrochemicals subsidiary of BP based in Chicago with a worldwide marine logistics network supporting $30B of global sales in 2006.
From 1999 through 2004, Vince progressed from an operations planning & business analyst position to value chain manager and finally to a director of operations planning for the North American olefins business within BP Chemicals, a producer of commodity building block petrochemicals principally used in the manufacture of plastics.
John Larson
Abbott Laboratories
John P. Larson joined Abbott in 1999 as a marketing manager in the hospital products division. Since 1999, Larson has held marketing, business development, and strategic planning positions in the Pharmaceutical Business Development Group, Abbott Nutrition, and is currently the General Manager, Global Alliance Management.
Prior to joining Abbott, Larson was an associate director at Searle where he held marketing and strategy positions including positions in Cardiovascular Franchise and Corporate Strategic Planning. John earned a bachelor’s degree in English and political science from Wesleyan University and an MBA from administration from Northwestern University’s J.L. Kellogg Graduate School of Management. John currently serves on the following Boards and Committees: Mayors Counsel of Technology Advisors, IBIO Board of Directors, and the Kellogg Biotechnology Advisory Board.
Jeffrey Mays
Illinois Business Roundtable
Jeff Mays is President of the Illinois Business Roundtable, serving in this capacity since joining the organization in 1998. Prior to coming to the Illinois Business Roundtable, Jeff served as Executive Vice President of the Illinois State Chamber of Commerce. Jeff also served as Special Assistant to the Chicago Regional Administrator of the US Department of Housing and Urban Development from 1990-1992.
Prior to service with HUD, Jeff was elected to five terms in the Illinois General Assembly, representing a large portion of West Central Illinois. As State Representative, Jeff was the Minority Spokesman of the House Appropriations committee, and served on the House Labor and Commerce Committee, the Executive Committee, the Transportation Committee, and the Select Committee on Veterans Affairs.
Mark Zanoni
Comcast
Mark serves as Vice President of Information Technology Infrastructure. Mark is responsible for the operation of the divisional converged telecommunications, call center, server and network storage systems. Mark’s team supports a division which consists of over 20,000 employees and 6 million video customers. Prior to his most recent divisional role Mark served as VP of IT/IS for the Chicago region at Comcast. He maintained and enhanced the technological infrastructure supporting over 7,500 employees serving over 2 million customers.
Percival Barretto-Ko
Astellas
Percival Barretto-Ko is Senior Vice-President, Corporate Strategy and Government Affairs, at Astellas US LLC, the North American affiliate of Tokyo-based Astellas Pharma, Inc. He leads the teams responsible for corporate planning, business development and alliance management, government policy and external affairs, and state government affairs.
Prior to assuming this position, Percival held the position of executive director, corporate strategy and communications at Astellas Pharma Europe Ltd. While there, he led the organization’s corporate strategy, corporate planning, corporate communications, crisis management and corporate social responsibility functions. Before joining Astellas, he held senior marketing and sales positions with the Roche Group in the United States and United Kingdom. Percival earned his undergraduate degree from Cornell University, an MBA from Yale School of Management, and an MS from MIT Sloan School of Management, where he recently served as a Sloan Fellow for Innovation and Global Leadership.