INNOVATE® CHICAGO Volume 1 by Sven Boermeester

VOLUME 1

CHICAGO

InnovationsoftheWorld.com

“In order to succeed, we must first believe that we can.” — NIKOS KAZANTZAKIS

CONTENTS

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03 25 33 53 CHAPTER ONE

THOUGHT LEADERS

CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER THREE

FUTURE CITIES & COMMUNITY FINTECH, BANKING DEVELOPMENT & INVESTING

CHAPTER FOUR

SOFTWARE, WEB SERVICES & APPS

173 179 193 199 CHAPTER TEN

PRODUCT & SERVICE INNOVATIONS

CHAPTER ELEVEN

FOOD & LIFESTYLE

CHAPTER TWELVE

REAL ESTATE

PUBLISHING INC.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

IT, OUTSOURCING & PUBLISHING MANAGED SERVICES

GLOBAL VILLAGE

Global Village CEO

Publishing Partner

Sven Boermeester

Glen Edwards

Ravi Handve GLOBAL

Global Village President

Sue Ritz

VP Digital

Callie Van Graan

Executive Assistant

Justin Jones

Global Village COO

Production Manager

Writer

Sue Rooney

Anita Govender

Evan Rothman

ISBN: 978-1-949677-29-4

Art Direction & Design

info@globalvillage.world

InnovationsoftheWorld.com VILLAGE Globalvillagepublishinginc.com

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87 95 115 139 163 CHAPTER SIX

CHAPTER FIVE

TECHNOLOGY & MANUFACTURING

DATA & ANALYTICS

CHAPTER SEVEN

HEALTHCARE

CHAPTER EIGHT

SOCIAL INNOVATION

207 227 235 241 CHAPTER FOURTEEN

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

PROFESSIONAL CONSULTING

MARKETING, ADVERTISING & MEDIA

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

HR & STAFFING

CHAPTER NINE

EDUCATION

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

INNOVATION ENABLERS, FUNDERS & INVESTORS

IT’S A KIND OF MAGIC...

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Disclaimer: Every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of the information in The “INNOVATE® Chicago” vol 1. Neither “INNOVATE® Chicago” nor Global Village assume any responsibility for errors or omissions. All rights reserved: No part of this publication shall be reproduced, copied, transmitted, adapted, or modified in any form or by any means.

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The “INNOVATE® Chicago” Team would like to give a special thanks to all the participants and the following companies for their support and assistance in making this project a reality.

Meet the people that are building a better CHICAGO for tomorrow

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INNOVATE™ CHICAGO: A MULTIMEDIA EXPERIENCE AND MORE.”

SVEN BOERMEESTER - FOUNDER/CEO, INTERNATIONAL GROUP PUBLISHER Sven Boermeester - Founder/CEO, International Group Publisher with Callie Van Graan - President, Global Village Publishing Inc.

INNOVATE™ Chicago showcases the best of Chicago’s innovation and entrepreneurial ecosystem. Embedded in its pages, you will find augmented reality videos that accompany nearly every feature, and when you use the free GLOBAL VILLAGE AR app, the world of the future will open up before your very eyes.

the Chicago ecosystem, and who play or want to play an active role in its growth and development. This inaugural edition of INNOVATE™ Chicago is part of a global series. We are currently launching volumes in cities throughout the Globalvillagepublishinginc.com publishing partnership network.

But “INNOVATE™ Chicago” is far more than a tech-enabled publication; it is a multimedia experience centered around the deluxe hardcover coffee-table book you are now holding, which includes AR videos and also an online web platform and multilevel social media networking. Online, the full e-book will be viewed in the millions through the InnovationsoftheWorld.com online library.

By experiencing INNOVATE™ Chicago, you are part of our Global Village network, and we are happy to have you. I trust you will join us as we continue the journey of the INNOVATE™ series. Sven Boermeester Founder/CEO International Group Publisher

This publication aims to celebrate those involved in the Chicago ecosystem, but it is also meant for all business leaders and decision-makers who can effect change in their industries throughout the USA and the world. We publish INNOVATE™ Chicago for the open-minded folk who want to know more about the exciting changes that have recently transpired in

Glen Edwards Publishing Partner

Sue Rooney COO

Sue Ritz Executive Assistant

Anita Govender Production Manager

Ravi Handve Designer

Justin Jones VP Digital

Evan Rothman Writer

CHAPTER 1

THOUGHT LEADER

“Success is where preparation and opportunity meet.” — BOBBY UNSER

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BMO HAS ALWAYS BEEN AN INDUSTRY LEADER IN CREATING LEADERSHIP TEAMS THAT ARE DIVERSE. LESLIE J. ANDERSON, GLOBAL TECHNOLOGY EXPERIENCE AND U.S. CHIEF TECHNOLOGY RESILIENCY AND EXPERIENCE OPERATIONS OFFICER

Leslie J. Anderson is BMO’s Global Technology Experience and U.S. Chief Technology Resiliency and Experience Operations Officer. She is at the center of BMO’s Digital First strategy where she innovates and finds new ways to strengthen the employee experience. Like it or not, one can’t simply dissociate my experience in banking from a couple of inescapable and obvious facts: I am Black, and I am a woman – and Black women in banking, let alone Black women in leadership roles in banking – and especially in technology – are still far less common than they should be. This is despite the fact that research amply demonstrates that diverse leadership teams lead to more and better innovation and improved financial performance. What does DEI have to do with innovation? Simply put, diverse teams are more successful at unlocking the innovations that create competitive advantage and drive market growth. But diversity alone is not enough. Unless you engage and include a diverse set of voices and ideas in everything you do, your ability to grow beyond your current state will forever be limited. You won’t be competing at your best. An interesting thing happens to organizations that embrace DEI. Innovative ideas flow, new solutions are created, and we win more often in the marketplace. What’s more, those wins are infectious and make us more cognizant of other voices we might be missing – and, therefore, wins we might be missing. Inevitably, all of us have blind spots when dealing with people who are different from us or situations we have not experienced before. We suffer that same weakness when reimagining products and services and may be blind to a shortcoming glaringly obvious to someone with a different perspective or life experience. So, you see, if innovation is your north star – and let’s be clear that it should be – DEI is no longer something your leaders can manage on the side of their desk. It is the desk. It is the factor that separates successful organizations from the rest. It is the essential ingredient for winning in today’s market. BMO Financial Group lesliejanderson ChicagoLJA leslie.anderson.353

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THE FUTURE IS MORE EXCITING THAN EVER, WE ARE TRULY FORTUNATE TO BE LIVING IN A TIME WHERE EACH GENERATION WILL EXPERIENCE SIGNIFICANT IMPROVEMENTS IN TECHNOLOGY, SPECIFICALLY AROUND HOW WE WORK AND PLAY.” JOHN STOJKA, CO-FOUNDER AND CEO, SERTIFI INC.

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STOP THROWING THE HAIL MARY PASS As entrepreneurs we are risk takers by nature, we shoot for the moon, and swing for the fences. But this attribute can also become our biggest weakness as it leads many entrepreneurs towards the path of frustration and eventual failure. We are all looking for the 10x technology advancement, but the reality is advancement comes in small increments. True disruptive innovations do not happen overnight. Innovations are typically iterations of existing technologies that eventually hit a tipping point and lead to the next big thing. This is true for some of the largest companies in the world today including Apple with the iPhone and Google’s search engine. Behind the scenes these companies were truly great at specifically one thing, iterating quickly. Lots of small advancements when aggregated appear as one large 10x innovation. Sertifi, my current company, is a good example of a company that participates in a market where small advancements in existing technologies lead to an innovation that changes the way we live and work. The SaaS market is an architectural change to a global client server network. How did this happen? Did it come from some brilliant overnight engineer who had an aha moment in the shower? Of course not, it was an iteration of the existing client server network that utilized advancements in other technologies such as broadband, advances in security and computing power. In addition to being a CEO of a SaaS company, I am also an investor in many other companies leading the way towards innovation. My recommendation to them is always the same; based on your resources find a place in the market where a small incremental advancement can solve a large pain. For example, one investment is pursuing an exoskeleton market with a 100B Total Addressable Market (TAM), but early on had little traction. We redirected their efforts to focus on a very niche application where they are now selling their products to Navy Seals who are using the technology to run 3x faster when put in drop zones. Another investment is an autonomous technology that had great success adjusting their market to serve commercial carriers so that their aircraft can reliably and securely be flown from the ground.

The future is more exciting than ever, we are truly fortunate to be living in a time where each generation will experience significant improvements in technology specifically around how we work and play. It will take all of us working together making small steps that will eventually lead to 10x innovation. As opposed to throwing the Hail Mary pass, focus on small improvements and iterate fast. Sertifi Inc Sertifi, Inc. jstojka@sertifi.com

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HUMAN-TO-HUMAN.

WILL BEOGLIN, CEO, TIMEDOC HEALTH

The healthcare sector is renowned for breathtaking innovations and technological advancement. We receive news of breakthroughs thought impossible a handful of years ago every day. The reality on the ground is slightly different. Roughly 10,000 new patients age into Medicare each day, drastically outnumbering the staff capable of serving their needs, and the lingering staffing shortage will continue to significantly impact how patients are cared for over the next few years. Innovations in technology can bring a certain amount of flexibility to ease this challenge but the vendor markets have primarily approached this issue incorrectly. While the industry has innovated at an impressive rate over the last 20 or so years, the technology adoption curve has been mostly flat. This is because innovation hasn’t really helped a provider do more in their time with patients and, in all truthfulness, often creates more burden than relief. That’s why a solution provider like TimeDoc Health is uniquely positioned to provide a combination of technology and services that can enable providers to really focus on the patients in front of them. And in a fee-for-service arrangement, TimeDoc can help deliver a new significant revenue stream while those participating in value based contracts recognize the benefits of reduced costs and improved population health. What is exciting about the digital health space today is the variety and impact of innovations that provide practical solutions. The old way of innovating was to think about the future and build solutions that support long-term impact and “transformation.” But that was often a bridge too far as the industry and patients need practical solutions for their very immediate problems. The latest generations of entrepreneurs and innovators have shown that they can come at problems from both angles, offering unique perspectives. There seems to be no filter about how things used to be, rather they think about how things should be. They are mission oriented and socially conscious, making their innovations scalable and practical for today and tomorrow.

are so critical but they should always be used to enhance the person-to-person connection which fuels better health and well-being. We must be careful that we don’t forget how medicine actually works: the human is so vital because connections are essential. We need smart tech – but it must be focused on enhancing the connection between patient and provider so that we can drive the outcomes we want: a healthier world.

The thing about seeing a provider is that you, as a patient, want that human-to-human contact; we are emotional beings and providers aren’t robots. You want to be cared for by a person who wants to make you feel better: physically and emotionally. Providers want to spend more time with patients but are burdened by back-to-back schedules and an overwhelming amount of boxes to check. Many innovations try to replace provider effort with clever tech or AI – which can absolutely help in certain situations – but in many ways forgets about the patient. Advances in tech

TimeDoc Health timedoc timedochealth

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ONE DAY, A DOCTOR WILL REACH OUT TO YOU BEFORE YOU EVEN KNOW YOU’RE SICK.” STEVEN COLLENS, CEO, MATTER

I’ve been the Chief Executive Officer at MATTER — the global healthcare innovation hub headquartered in Chicago — since it was founded in 2015. Over the last five years, one of the most interesting dynamics we’ve observed — coming both from entrepreneurs developing novel technologies, as well as from large providers, payers and life sciences companies exploring new ideas — is the beginning of a fundamental shift away from the episodic, reactive and impersonal healthcare paradigm we are in today.

If we were really good at this job, we would notice that something was starting to go wrong hours, days or weeks before we experienced any material changes to how we felt or how we looked. We’ll never be that good — but machines will be. By analyzing the data that they will collect from us in real time, they will alert us that something might be starting to go awry before we or any physician would notice. Rather than waiting until we have a stroke to see a doctor, the system will notice that we are very likely to have a stroke in the near future and send a healthcare intervention to us that might stop the stroke from happening at all.

Today’s healthcare model works well if the goal is to manage an acute condition, like a sprain, stroke or heart attack. It is not, however, a good system if the goal is to keep people healthy or manage long-term, chronic conditions. By 2040, our healthcare system will be optimized for those things. We will have an anytime, anywhere healthcare system that is predictive and bespoke, and that allows us to achieve better health outcomes at a lower cost.

Impersonal to bespoke Healthcare today is based on averages and norms. But the tools to analyze risk factors and stratify people are blunt instruments. We don’t have enough information about individuals, or the ability to analyze the data efficiently, so these population-level views are the best that we can do.

Episodic to anytime, anywhere Most people today interact with the healthcare system for brief periods of time, and then disappear off the system’s radar until the next time they set foot in a doctor’s office, hospital, pharmacy or other care site. It’s always been that way, and in a world where health insights come exclusively from human interactions, it always will be that way.

That’s changing. It is becoming easier to collect and analyze a stew of various “omic” data and combine it with phenotypic information to enable a future of truly personalized health. For example: Rather than a woman learning that her weight means she is at higher risk of a heart attack, she will learn that, based on a potpourri of individual data, she has a 21 percent greater chance. Her treatment recommendations will also be tailored to her specifically, and might include a combination of medications, nutritional changes and behavior modifications unique to her individual situation.

We are starting to see changes, however, as a result of sensors and software that can harness data from people in real time, mostly passively, regardless of where they are physically. It won’t be long before nextgeneration wearable devices will be able to provide accurate, real-time blood pressure, EKG, blood oxygen level and respiration rate. The healthcare system will effectively follow us around all the time. Rather than checking in with our physician based on a predetermined schedule, we’ll be continuously monitored by sensors, triaged by software and will see a healthcare professional only when necessary.

Building the future of healthcare Since MATTER opened its doors, we’ve seen significant leaps in the technologies needed to make this fundamental shift a reality. But what’s needed to get to that state by 2040 involves more than just technology advances — achieving this vision for healthcare will require creative new collaborations that bridge policymakers, industry, investors and startups. At MATTER, we bring together a global community of hundreds of cutting-edge startups, hospitals and health systems, universities and industry-leading companies to solve the right healthcare problems in the right ways. Together, we are building the healthcare system of 2040.

Reactive to predictive Today, healthcare is delivered reactively. You have a stroke or a heart attack, and the system tries to repair the damage. First something goes wrong; then we notice that something has gone wrong; and then we hope the professionals can fix it. We are the most reliable warning systems we have today, and we generally base our decision to seek treatment based on how we feel, or how we look to others.

MATTER 222 W Merchandise Mart Plaza Suite 1230, Chicago IL 60654 8

MATTERhealth

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IF YOU WANT TO BUILD AN ENTERPRISE DESIGNED TO SERVE ALL OF HUMANITY, START WITHIN YOUR OWN FOUR WALLS.

DORRI MCWHORTER, PRESIDENT & CEO OF YMCA OF METROPOLITAN CHICAGO Those balance sheets are biased. How often have you heard the phrase, “Our people are our greatest asset.” Maybe it’s the accountant in me, but I always laugh and wonder why our balance sheets rarely look at it that way. It’s common practice in corporate America to see employees as expenditures, making them literally expendable. They are seen as expenses and liabilities. Sure, we’re using very specific accounting terminology, but it truly affects how we treat people. Assets have value. Assets are worth investing in. Assets are unique. Imagine the power of treating every person at the company as an asset. The pandemic has given us the opportunity to put our money where our mouth is. Ditch the onesize-fits-all solution and create customized employee growth plans. Show your people you understand their individual value and that you’re willing to invest in helping them grow. Then, watch your increased satisfaction and retention numbers more than cover the cost. There is no “like” without “love.” The most important shift accelerated by the pandemic is transforming the very definition of the word “work” itself. Think about it. The word connotes a degree of difficulty, struggle, and hardness. “It was a lot of WORK.” Nobody wants that. As humans, it is in our nature to seek joy. This is a conflict that society has been dealing with for decades. The future relies on our ability to let joy lead the way. We now have the responsibility to create space for those moments of joy to exist within the workplace. We have proven that work is about more than compensation. It’s about contribution, connection, and community. These are the things people genuinely love about their jobs. It’s essential that we help them uncover that joy and include it in the value equation. As the poet Kahlil Gibran puts it, “Work is love made visible.”

People will be studying the global pandemic’s effects on the workplace for decades to come. The trends it accelerated. The inequality it exposed. The countless challenges and opportunities it created. However, there is one thing that is already perfectly clear, and business leaders in every industry across the country should be acting on it today. We are still in the very beginnings of the most significant shift in the American workforce since the invention of the 40-hour workweek, and nobody knows for sure how it’s going to play out. Let’s just be sure we’re asking the right questions. How does humanity show up in my workplace? What can I do to foster its success?

We are on the verge of a future that isn’t going to look anything like the past. We don’t even know what’s possible yet because we haven’t seen anything like it before. But when we do – watch out world! There’s no going back. Until then, let this be our guiding principle moving forward: doing good is creating a better human experience from wherever you are.

They’re humans, not resources. At the start of the pandemic, the first big shift was companies were forced to come to a simple realization of “oh my goodness, we’ve got people that work here.” Job descriptions, titles, and time cards were replaced by actual human beings, complete with their actual human struggles in the workplace and the world at large. As leaders, we realized this was an opportunity to empathize and start doing better by the very people right in front of us. So we got flexible with where, when, and how people worked. And we discovered that when given that freedom, people didn’t flounder. They flourished. We created a better environment for actual people to thrive and saw an increase in performance and satisfaction. You can devise your own social responsibility strategies. But start by deeply engaging with the people closest to you, and you’ll see an immediate, positive impact on the surrounding communities.

Dorri McWhorter is a highly-experienced accountant, socially-conscious business leader, and an accomplished optimist. She is President and CEO of YMCA of Metropolitan Chicago where she brings her innovative brand of thinking to reimagine how the 164-year-old brand can build on its legacy of impact. “Value creation and social impact are not mutually exclusive” is the mantra driving her to reinvent how the YMCA advances society through its unique position of creating value and accelerating social impact for the 22nd century. YMCA of Metropolitan Chicago

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SECURING OUR FUTURE.” THIS MEANS THE FUTURE OF OUR COMPANY, OUR CLIENTS, OUR EMPLOYEES, AND EVEN OUR INDUSTRY. TO ACCOMPLISH THIS MISSION, WE ARE MOTIVATED TO NOT ONLY BE THOUGHT LEADERS, BUT THOUGHTFUL LEADERS. LINDA MACLACHLAN, FOUNDER, CHAIRPERSON AND PAMELA DIAZ, CEO, PRESIDENT “Resilience” is a common word heard among the cyber security and IT crowd. Solution providers boast of tools that your business can employ to stay ahead of the pack – because, after all, it’s not the entire herd that’s taken down by a lone predator, but the slowest member. At Forecheck and Entara, we do not subscribe to this belief. For over two decades, Entara has provided best-in-class IT and security operations to our clients, but we have realized that this is not enough. Cybercrime is on the rise, and in response, we developed a new service provider classification, the eXtended Service Provider, so we could hold ourselves and our community accountable for doing better. We also developed Forecheck, an automated incident management, remediation, and resilience platform built for ingesting incidents from Linda Maclachlan, Founder and Chairperson Pamela Diaz is CEO and President several companies. Through Forecheck, we Linda Maclachlan is the founder and Chairperson of Entara. Passionate about can learn from each other and create a safer world for all. helping organizations fight cybercrime, Linda also co-founded a new SaaS company, Forecheck, which was spun out from Entara in January 2022. As Through each of these new initiatives, both companies are CEO, Linda supports the organization’s goal to transform organizations from committed to dismantling the traditional definition of resilience being vulnerable to cyber-resilient. She is frequently invited to speak about the in our industry. We have continued this trend in our company challenges and joys of building a company and the importance of core values. cultures because not only do we want our clients to have resilient environments, but we want to embolden resilient people. Pamela Diaz is CEO and President of Entara and the Co-Founder of Forecheck. She’s dedicated to connecting organizations with the IT and cybersecurity Entara’s vision statement is, “Securing Our Future.” This means solutions that their businesses need to thrive. Passionate about building the future of our company, our clients, our employees, and even relationships and connecting with individuals that challenge the status quo, our industry. To accomplish this mission, we are motivated to not Pam regularly presents about equality and the importance of mentorship. only be thought leaders, but thoughtful leaders. As leaders, we are responsible for the wholistic resilience of our communities, Entara employees, and businesses. So, we ask you: how are you working to Claire.sullivan@entaracorp.com create more resilience in your community? EntaraCorp

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JUST AS LIGHT TRAVELS FAST, EVERYTHING AT AZUMO HAPPENS FAST... WE HAVE GATHERED A TEAM THAT WORKS PERSISTENTLY TO PURSUE INNOVATION AND BOLD IDEAS THROUGH EXPLORATION, EXPERIMENTATION, AND PROBLEM-SOLVING. MIKE CASPER, CO-FOUNDER & CEO, AZUMO The display industry has become omnipresent in society. We find displays all around us, in our smartphones, tablets, laptops, TVs, ATM machines, thermostats, gas station pumps, e-bikes... the list is never-ending. In the LCD industry, like many large industries, they tend to take whatever was working last year and make it just a bit better. Many hardtech companies, for example, have been focusing on advancing battery technology, which has made great strides. However, most consumers don’t realize that the #1 power drain in most mobile electronics is the display. At Azumo we decided to take a different approach -- as innovators we ask ourselves,“Why don’t we make displays that consume less power?” Founded in 2008 in Chicago, Dr. Tony Nichol, Shawn Puclyowski, and I are the founders of Azumo. We are changing the way people view and experience light. Continuously innovating and searching for the latest and greatest in lighting a display, we have turned Azumo into a company that is delivering efficient lighting to a variety of applications using a compact system of LEDs and advanced materials. We had to overcome many trials and tribulations to get where we are now, this being the third iteration of our business. We started up a company called BriteIce, where we sold an NHL team on a proposal to embed fully lit promotional advertising into the ice that could be flashed on and off throughout the game. However, at the eleventh hour, the team’s management canceled the idea. We pivoted to our next application, which led to our previous company FLEx Lighting, where we sold our product InvisiSign, a fully lit promotional ad that went in the glass doors of beverage and food coolers in stores. Then, as Dr. Nichol was completing his doctorate in optics at M.I.T., the world of flat-panel displays was making rapid changes that needed new solutions. Even though displays were getting thinner and thinner, the lighting in the LCD was draining the device’s battery life.

Overall, with great focus and an upbeat attitude, we drive results quickly for our customers, providing them with advanced solutions for their complex problems. What has led Azumo to what it is today is our experience; it has allowed us to think freely and not be trapped in the box of how the industry has developed LCD innovation in the past. As innovators and business leaders in the city of Chicago, relationships are key to building a successful business in this passionate city. Whether it’s friends, family, employees, investors, or customers… Azumo strives to maintain relationships and emulate our character in everything we do, which can outlast any business venture.

Just as light travels fast, everything at Azumo happens fast. With the ceaseless innovations that come with being in the technology industry, we have gathered a team that works persistently to pursue innovation and bold ideas through exploration, experimentation, and problem-solving. With our latest funding round, we were able to purchase production equipment for our next generation optical films that are only 1/20th of a millimeter thick. Azumo’s display, which we’re calling LCD 2.0TM, is helping customers work in a variety of challenging lighting conditions – and saving them lots of energy and money in doing so.

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ISSUE SPOTTING DATA PRIVACY AND CYBERSECURITY LEGAL OBLIGATIONS ALLOWS INNOVATORS TO MAINTAIN FORWARD PROGRESS IN A FLUID LANDSCAPE. JOEL B. BRUCKMAN, ATTORNEY, FREEBORN & PETERS LLP I support innovators by providing them with a comprehensive approach to data privacy and cybersecurity to both protect them and free them to function at full capacity. This includes providing clients with: i) a clear understanding of the data privacy laws and regulations applicable to their businesses; ii) guidance in conducting an operational risk analysis and recommendations on subsequent implementation of administrative, physical, and technical safeguards to best protect trade secrets and regulated personal information (e.g., PII, PHI, financial information, etc.) and iii) a comprehensive Incident Response Plan to respond to potential data security incidents quickly, efficiently, and effectively to contain threats and mitigate loss. Currently, the United States does not have a unified set of data privacy laws, such as GDPR in the EU. Each state continues to develop its own legislation regulating the safeguarding, collection, transmission, and use of protected information. See California’s 2020 Consumer Privacy Act amendment (regarded as one of the most robust and stringent state data privacy legislation); New York’s recent enactment of the SHIELD Act (mandating safeguards of personal information for employers with New York employees); and Illinois’ Biometric Information Privacy Act (mandating civil penalties of $1,000 or $5,000 for each instance of misuse of biometric information). Clients must also be informed of their regulatory obligations regarding data privacy and cybersecurity. For example, the Department of Health and Human Services has been vocal in establishing guidance for health care providers regarding compliance under HIPAA’s Breach Notification Rule. Likewise, the SEC continues to pursue enforcement actions against SCI entities for failure to maintain appropriate cybersecurity safeguards. Several other federal and state regulators continue to pursue similar enforcement actions. Innovators must be able to navigate this web of laws and regulations while remaining trained on their mission. Therefore, it is essential

i) individuals immediately following discovery of the potential incident (this should always include your counsel to maintain attorney-client privilege); ii) information regarding your cyber liability insurer; iii) the protocol to be taken by IT to identify and quarantine the risk (while preserving forensic data); iv) known investigation and notification deadlines (you may only have 72 hours); and v) a plan to handle client communications (vendors, call centers, public relations etc.).

to understand the ability to lawfully use information and data to innovate. It is also necessary to implement safeguards to protect the “secret recipe” that gives your business a competitive advantage. It is worth noting that in cases regarding the theft of trade secrets, courts look to the protective measures taken before determining information to be a trade secret. To establish proper safeguards, you must begin by conducting a thorough risk analysis to identify the location, access and flow of personal and sensitive information. This will uncover vulnerabilities jeopardizing the secrecy of that information. Thereafter, businesses can implement appropriate administrative, technical, and physical safeguards. By taking such measures, businesses can demonstrate diligent efforts to protect the most sensitive information and data in their custody or control. Such evidence is valuable not only in trade secrets matters but also in regulatory compliance investigations, and data breach litigation. Effectively responding to a potential data security incident begins with implementing a robust Incident Response Plan (“IRP”). You know that it is only a matter of time before you have to address your next potential data security incident and a proper response is critical to the containment of risk and mitigation of loss. Your IRP should include but not be limited to : 12

The information above is not meant to be exhaustive. But, think about the issues identified herein and what steps you have taken to address your data privacy and cybersecurity legal obligations. Feel free to reach out with any questions or concerns, and together we can allow you to continue to “advance the ball” as innovators! Joel Bruckman is a Freeborn & Peters LLP attorney whose practice concentrates on Data Privacy & Cyber Security, Commercial Litigation, and White Collar Criminal Defense & Investigation matters. As a former prosecutor, Joel has experience investigating and prosecuting cyber offences as a former member of both the FBI Cyber Crimes Task Force and Cook County Regional Organized Crime Task Force. Joel counsels innovators across industries including emerging technology developers, manufacturers, education institutions, and more on legal obligations regarding data privacy and cybersecurity.

Freeborn & Peters LLP jbruckman@freeborn.com +1-312-360-6461 freeborn-&-peters-llp Freeborn-Peters-LLP Freeborn_Peters freeborn_peters

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ALL OF US ARE SECONDS AWAY FROM BEING DIFFERENT OR LOVING SOMEONE WHO IS DIFFERENT. NANCY GIANNI, FOUNDER AND CHIEF BELIEF OFFICER It could happen with a simple fall off a bike, the birth of a new baby or grandbaby, or a debilitating illness. Differences do not discriminate. They do not care who you are. They do not care that you’re “low risk” or “not those kinds of people.” When you experience that difference in yourself or someone you love, your world changes drastically, and you’ll find yourself yearning for a more accepting world; that is exactly what GiGi’s Playhouse works towards every day. 19 years ago, I didn’t know that the birth of my daughter GiGi and the shock of a Down Syndrome diagnosis would be a miracle, but let me tell you, it has triggered a series of miracles that are changing the world every single day.

Our Playhouses are hit with vandalism. Our kids are attacked, excluded from organ transplants, and segregated in their schools and communities. People with disabilities still endure discrimination, and it is not OK. We have activists who stand up for women, animals, different races, and sexual orientations, but no one is protecting our amazing individuals with special needs. Why are people not outraged by this? I am happy that people are stepping up to start movements for change, but let’s not just stand up for what is popular at the time. Let’s stand up for what is right. Let’s stand up for the people who have the most (so much?) to teach us in life.

What began with one Playhouse in 2003 grew into 60 locations and startups by 2020. GiGi’s Playhouse operates with a replicable, hub-andspoke model originating from the National office. We have developed a strategic, step-by-step process created for communities that want to open a GiGi’s Playhouse. Our organization is 99% volunteer-run, with 5% general operating expenses. As of this writing, we are serving individuals in 82 countries with a mix of virtual and in-person programming.

That is where our social movement for change, #GenerationG, comes in. #GenerationG is a conscious decision to be better every day. Be accepting, be generous, be kind. We can all do this. GiGi’s has created a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion initiative for schools, communities, and corporate America called iacceptyou.org. The time is overdue for people with disabilities to have a voice in this world. I encourage you to take the #GenerationG pledge for acceptance at iacceptyou.org and make your voice count.

When you mix unwavering belief and a great business model, you create an unstoppable force! When you can scale that mix to the masses, you create change! I know that running a 16 million dollar international not-for-profit funded by private donations and providing extensively researched, intensive and successful programs for free does not fit into any Fortune 500 CEO’s business model. But you know who wins with the model? The kids and the world. Has it been easy? Absolutely not. Are we changing lives? Absolutely. When you can spread your entrepreneurial spirit and help others find theirs, amazing things can happen!

When I think back to the day I was blindsided by GiGi’s diagnosis I see the true meaning of miracles. Miracles are not always pretty or easily found, and sometimes you have to search for them. They may even be disguised in pain or tragedy. But it’s what you do with the pain that brings the miracle to the forefront. It is finding that inner strength that propels you to action. Don’t think you don’t have that strength! You are born with it. We all have it, sometimes we just have to find it. Thankfully I found mine and now it is changing lives every day. (Worldwide? Globally?) When you think beyond business and open yourself up to belief and miracles incredible things can happen. I am living proof of that.

That is the key to our GiGi’s model: empowerment and innovation! Help people find their passion and give them the tools to execute. 60 GiGi’s locations and startups are serving families every day in their communities with free tutoring in literacy and math, free speech therapy and therapeutic-based programming, free career skills training, and the social tools they need to succeed in life. At the very same time, they are giving their community a dedicated place to learn about the value of acceptance and how they can be a part of changing lives. A place that feels like Disneyland but has the bravery of a lion.

Nancy Gianni is the Founder and Chief Belief Officer of GiGi’s Playhouse Down Syndrome Achievement Centers. Launched in 2003, today there are 61 GiGi’s Playhouses and startups in the United States and Mexico, serving families in 82 countries with free therapeutic, educational and career programming.

info@gigisplayhouse.org GiGis_Playhouse gigi’s-playhouse

All of the incredible programming is getting individuals with Down Syndrome ready for the world. But is the world ready for them?

gigisplayhouse

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TO REMAIN A GLOBAL FINTECH INNOVATOR, HALO LEADS THROUGH IMPACT. BIJU KULATHAKAL AND JASON BARSEMA, CO-FOUNDERS, HALO INVESTING

respondents want their retirement income plan to include guaranteed income payments or, at least, principal protection.

Chicago’s rich history of financial innovation is world-famous for a reason. In 1848, the Chicago Board of Trade launched to promote commerce—most notably around agricultural commodities. Today people recognize Chicago for its role in revolutionizing global finance. It’s here where financial futures, options, and derivatives trading began. This vibrant and bustling history made Chicago a unique global nexus for finance and technology.

Our award-winning platform does just that, helping ordinary investors access and assess protective investments for the first time. Additionally, Halo works with forward-thinking financial advisors to find creative ways to transfer financial risk while expanding access to cost-effective lifetimeincome solutions.

Our modern life, with its many comforts, conveniences, and freedoms, critically depends on the financial plumbing Chicago provides. Most days we take for granted the hard work that began 150 years ago, but its impact remains with us always. Its effects are felt in the lives of consumers worldwide. Every day, the financial instruments and technologies, forged in Chicago, influence everything from credit card interest rates, to the cost of gasoline, to the price of deep dish pizza.

It used to be that protective investments were offered only to high-networth and institutional clients. Through our groundbreaking technology, Halo’s platform democratizes these financial instruments by enabling access, reducing costs, and promoting transparency to ALL investors, regardless of wallet size. While Halo cannot eliminate all investment uncertainty, we can significantly reduce financial anxiety, increase retirement security, and allow investors and savers alike to enjoy positive financial outcomes with more confidence. Said differently, Halo offers hope to future generations at a time when hope is needed most. That’s true impact.

What makes Chicago exceptionally positioned to lead from the front? It is not a penchant for scientific discovery, nor education, nor engineering skill—though there is no shortage of such world-class institutions in the Windy City. For example, Chicago is a global leader in economics, with 32 researchers affiliated with the University of Chicago awarded the Nobel Prize in economics. It’s also not the entrepreneurial spirit with a passion for transformation that built a sleepy lakeside trading post into a bustling global city. These pieces are certainly important, but what makes Chicago unique is a willingness to roll up its sleeves and take challenges head-on.

To help bridge the gap between technological innovation and financial inclusion, Halo’s mission as a FinTech company remains “Impact Before Profit.” Today, our team and culture embodies this vision and tireless passion for helping everyday investors and their financial advisors secure more stable financial strategies and more dignified retirements. It is not only what Chicagoans work so hard to secure, but also what the world strives so hard to achieve.

Nobel laureate Robert Solow proved 40 years ago that the well-being of an economy is linked to its ability to innovate. Kenneth Arrow, another Nobel laureate who spent time in Chicago, observed that financial innovations may very well be just as important to economic development as technological innovations, such as the semiconductor or steam engine. Financial innovation has proven itself vital to progress—a steady tide lifting boats across the centuries. Such creativity helped make the American economy what it is today, offering future generations more hope and promise than those preceding them.

Today, investors face significant challenges, and effective solutions will require fundamental changes in both strategic execution and intellectual outlook. Thankfully, a new era of financial innovation is emerging. Financial innovation now requires combining and recombining entire fields of knowledge to make financial well-being more inclusive. A modern reality is that innovation is never a single event. The next generation of economic, cultural, and social advances require fundamental concepts to collide with important problems on their way to creating impact.

While technological innovation represents one of the most powerful forces to shape human history, financial innovation is less obvious. Still, they are equally significant factors. Since financial innovation has historically favored institutional and wholesale channels over the retail mass market, this lack of renown is not altogether surprising.

So why “Impact Before Profit?” To this end, Halo looks to Chicago’s humble agricultural roots, where prairie farmers used futures contracts to “innovatively” lock-in financial security. If the next big ideas are to truly deliver impact, we strongly feel they must be accessible to all, not just a privileged few.

Halo Investing is out to change that. A recent USA Today poll found that 51% of those surveyed thought the economy is in a recession or depression. Sadly, financial stress is an unnecessary fixture of contemporary life. To no surprise, in a separate survey, 90% of

Halo Investing , Inc

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WE NEED TO REEVALUATE OUR SUPPLY CHAIN AND PREPARE FOR THE INEVITABILITY OF A CRISIS. DAN BROWN JR., PRESIDENT OF LOGGERHEAD TOOLS & CEO OF INSTASHIELD

Next, we need to reevaluate our supply chain and prepare for the inevitability of a crisis. For example, “Just-in-Time” (JIT) supply chains are not reliable. While JIT reduces inventory costs, it can quickly put a kink in the supply chain. An example is our current car shortage, resulting from a scarcity of computer chips. Similarly, relying heavily on imports leaves us vulnerable. When a country that exports goods runs low, it often stops exporting and starts hoarding. When its recipient is cut off from necessary supplies, rebuilding the infrastructure or growing these commodities can take years. In 2018, China produced 43 percent of the world’s PPE imports. The lack of domestic PPE production put our medical teams in peril during COVID-19. Most importantly, we need to provide incentives for companies to bring their manufacturing facilities back to American soil. Our government can provide tax credits and tax cuts to encourage businesses to bring production back home, which will boost our economy with additional tax revenue, create jobs, and improve pay and working conditions. After all, the best social system is a good job. Finally, we need to make it easier for consumers to buy American products. As a start, I have created a petition (wewantmadeinUSA. com) to request that Amazon add a “Made in USA” search filter so that consumers can easily find American-made products when searching on Amazon. Consumers will benefit because American manufacturing produces higher-quality products and uses processes that are better for the environment.

At the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, consumers faced shortages of toilet paper, hand sanitizer, and PPE. Now we’re looking at the global scarcity of computer chips and fertilizer, coupled with the highest inflation seen in 40 years. These events have pointed a spotlight on the health of the U.S. manufacturing base – and it isn’t looking good. We have discovered that our current supply chain works only in the absence of a crisis.

Current events prove the true cost of outsourcing essential products is much greater than any short-term savings. Outsourcing weakens our knowledge, expertise, and infrastructure for making necessities in the next crisis. Our leaders must prioritize rebuilding the U.S. manufacturing base, or we will be seeing many more empty shelves in the future.

Growing up with an inventor father who founded an American tool company, I know U.S. manufacturing is vital to the well-being of our nation. Unfortunately, many executives don’t even consider making their products here because they assume overseas production is more costeffective. It’s time to consider the costs of over-reliance on other countries for our manufacturing. Here are a few ways the U.S. can take action:

Dan Brown Jr. is an advocate for U.S. manufacturing and patent reform. He is an entrepreneur and serves as president of LoggerHead Tools and CEO and owner of InstaShield, two Chicago-based companies that manufacture products in America.

First, we need to rebuild our current manufacturing base and make 100 percent of essential products in the U.S., such as pharmaceuticals, PPE, and components for our infrastructure. The COVID-19 pandemic demonstrated that we are too reliant on China and other countries for essential goods, which could easily create a national security risk. It’s scary that 90 percent of pharmaceuticals manufactured today have at least one active ingredient not made in the U.S.

Loggerhead Tools LoggerHeadTools BionicWrench

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PEOPLE ALL OVER THE WORLD TRUST US TO DELIVER FLAWLESS SOUND.

CHRISTINE SCHYVINCK, PRESIDENT AND CEO, SHURE INCORPORATED Business leaders choose different paths that eventually lead them to their present positions. Each individual journey can provide unique perspectives for unlocking success at their organizations. I’m proud of the path I chose, because it enabled me to immerse myself in the vision established by our company’s founder, S.N. Shure, in 1925.

One area we have strengthened is our position in the global business space. More and more business is being conducted virtually, so having the right audio conferencing equipment – and support – is essential. We understand that the growing number of devices, end points, and locations created by AV conferencing creates another huge responsibility for IT professionals, so we are actively engaged with customers to provide solutions that make those connections feel effortless. We want our solutions to be seamless for them and effortless for the end user to enable quality connections. Bringing the customer along on that journey helps grow the relationship.

Starting my career as a quality control engineer, I was exposed to the types of issues audio professionals encounter and ensured that our products didn’t contribute to those issues. Shure’s reputation is built on quality products, and this company remains committed to delivering the best products of their kind.

Another area I’m excited about is our continuous innovation. We are always improving our products – or developing new ones – to help meet the demands of our customers. In some cases, we’re working with customers to create new solutions for them. We’ve celebrated almost 100 years in business by not being “just okay” with the status quo.

I’ve held a number of roles at Shure and experiencing that diversity has given me a perspective that any CEO would value: a deep respect for what our Associates in every functional area are doing to contribute to our success. Our Associates put the needs of our customers first. When it comes to audio, customers are very particular about the products they use; they must perform at the highest quality possible.

We’re helping others look at more of the big picture solution for their customers. Not just the right products, but the right software. The right training. The right support. Also, systems that can easily be updated and grow with the organization are important. No one wants to invest in equipment that will be outdated in a year or will not be compatible with new equipment.

People all over the world trust us to deliver flawless sound. Shure customers include government leaders, music artists, public speakers, students and faculty, business professionals, theater performers, news and broadcast media, film and television producers, and content creators.

Also, responding to globalization is important. Years ago, we’d see requests for six microphones for six rooms at a university. Now, we are seeing requests for audio solutions for 100 rooms to be connected around the world.

We strive to develop essential products and innovate for the next generation. We are also working on better positioning Shure with customers globally, as our products are sold in more than 120 countries. While our home has been the Chicago area since 1925, our presence has expanded internationally to better serve customers around the world.

Each business has its own challenges but remembering to implement and stay true to core values can be pivotal. We would not have grown for 96 years without the great foundation established by Mr. Shure and his legacy that continues today.

As a company celebrating our 96-year anniversary, there’s a tremendous level of pride throughout Shure about where we are today. But business is changing. Customer needs are changing. And, to be successful for another 96 years, we need to continue our evolution.

Shure Incorporated 5800 West Touhy Avenue Niles, Illinois 60714-4608, USA +1-847-600-2000 roth_dane@shure.com

It’s a lesson all business leaders should follow: build on a foundation of integrity, develop respect for your coworkers, and focus on customer needs. We try to do that by helping customers understand the solutions that can benefit them not just for the present, but for the future as well.

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WHY IS AN ORGANIZATION’S BLOG STILL A CHANNEL WORTH INVESTING IN?” ANDY CRESTODINA, CO-FOUNDER & CHIEF MARKETING OFFICER, ORBIT MEDIA

If you’re still skeptical, I recommend trying any of the following: Search for the services you offer. Who ranks? Who’s winning the traffic and the charge to generate a lead? Pause your advertising. What happened? Are you suddenly invisible? Check out the Analytics account of a mature content marketing program. Mine is 1M+ visitors and 500+ qualified leads per year. Keep in mind, this account has no advertising. To the contrary, our marketing generates revenue (book sales and event registrations). What is your definition of a blog? It should be the helpful, useful section of your site, filled with articles, advice, and answers. It doesn’t sell. It teaches. The call to action isn’t “contact us.” It’s “subscribe.” It’s the magazine. It’s the mini-version of Wikipedia for your industry. It’s the news, opinion, and how-to. As we said, without it, the website is simply a brochure. How has blogging evolved over the past five years? They’re bigger. Year after year, the length of the average blog post grows. Five years ago, the majority of bloggers wrote short posts of 1,000 words or less. Today, the average blog post is 1,236 words. Every year, a greater percentage of bloggers report routinely writing 2,000+ words articles.

Why is an organization’s blog still a channel worth investing in? Andy Crestodina, Co-founder & Chief Marketing Officer, Orbit Media I’m going to start my answer with a few questions: Why would anyone pay attention to your brand? How do you demonstrate your expertise? How will you ever get your service pages to rank if you don’t have content worth linking to? Why would anyone give you an email address? How do you share your best answers to your prospects’ top questions? Is your website simply an online brochure? If the answer to that last question is yes, then you are the proud owner of a fancy online ad. A digital business card. There is probably no reason to visit your site except to get basic contact information or to confirm your services. But if you invest your time in content, if you share your expertise, then your website has something to learn from, link to, subscribe to and share. Your advice and expertise can travel via search, social, email and word-of-mouth. 17

Other changes? Bloggers are using more video, more images, more research, more collaboration. Blogs are becoming more sophisticated and the process for creating them involves more use of editors and data.

Orbitmedia.com 4343 N Ravenswood Ave Suite 316, Chicago, IL 60613 773-348-4581 orbitmediastudios orbiteers Orbit Media Studios Orbitmedia

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LISTENING ALSO HELPS YOU GAIN TRUST AND BECOME A GO-TO-ADVISOR.” NAVEEN VENKATAPATHI, FOUNDER, WAVICLE DATA SOLUTIONS

Naveen Venkatapathi, Founder, Wavicle Data Solutions

Niyaz Kamookagath, Founder, Wavicle Data Solutions

LEARNING TO LISTEN WAS KEY TO WAVICLE DATA SOLUTIONS’ SUCCESS AND THEIR CUSTOMERS

The other advice we have to share is to be fearless. Failing is okay. All entrepreneurs will fail at some point so make it a positive. There are always lessons to be learned. Recognize them and quickly move on.

What we’ve learned as consultants, entrepreneurs, and leaders, is that listening and quickly learning from mistakes are two of the most important skills you can have.

One quote that reminds us not to get bogged down by baggage or failure from the past is:

“The Past is frozen and no longer flows, and the Present is all lit up with eternal rays.” — C.S. Lewis

As consultants in the technology space, it’s very easy for our clients and employees (and ourselves) to get swept away by the “cool” factor of the latest and greatest technology.

It reminds us to make better use of the present in order to make good decisions. That is how we lead our teams and our business — turn yesterday’s failures into today’s successes.

However, if you focus and understand what is driving a prospective client’s need for technology, then you can uncover how to deliver value to them. We’ve had to learn to ask important questions at the start of the project, not the end, like:

Naveen Venkatapathi and Niyaz Kamookagath founded Wavicle Data Solutions, a data and analytics consultancy, in 2013. Before they went into business together, they worked together as consultants at leading retail and restaurant chains for over a decade. Both sought to utilize innovative technology and approaches to streamline the implementation of data and analytics technology, empowering their clients to make better decisions, while reducing the timelines, costs, and risk associated with large technology projects. Today, Wavicle employs over 300 people in the US and India. It has made the Inc fastest-growing private company list for 3 years running. It has also been recognized as a Crain’s Fast 50 growing company and Chicago Tribune Top Workplace in 2021 and 2020.

“What challenges do you face with your data today?” “Who is using the data?” “What outcomes do you hope to achieve by completing this project?” Listening also helps you gain trust and become a go-to-advisor. When you really understand a client’s business challenges, you become more than someone who can sell or implement a solution. You become a strategic partner. When a client succeeds because of something we suggested or built, then they are more likely to trust us with their next challenge.

Wavicle Data Solutions info@wavicledata.com

We’re constantly working to be more proactive when communicating with everybody — customers, our own teams, all stakeholders. It’s so important to create transparency and effective communication from day one to ensure we are all focused on the same outcomes instead of focusing on our own priorities.

wavicle-data-solutions WavicleDataLLC Wavicle Data Solutions

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NOT-FOR-PROFIT IS A TAX STATUS, NOT A STATE OF MIND JOAN M. STELTMANN, FOUNDER AND CEO, BOUNCE CHILDREN’S FOUNDATION

To succeed, everyone must learn, grow, and adapt – from their own experiences and those of others. For not-for-profits, this includes learning from those tasked with making a profit. After all, we “run businesses” too. Like our for-profit counterparts, not-for-profits serve clients, solve problems, employ people, account for operations, create digital relationships, manage logistics, build brands, leverage technology, and innovate. It’s just that our “businesses” have a different “bottom line”, paying neither dividends nor taxes, but making others richer in ways that really matter. Growing those bottom lines deserves every best practice, every proven strategy, every advantage. If you’re in the not-for-profit sector, “borrow” from both sectors and use it for good. Learn from all with something to teach. Connect with those who make you think. Share your best practices. You have much to offer. If you’re not in the sector, seek out someone who is and note the similarity of challenges and strategies. You’ll learn and develop newfound respect. Better leadership will result on both sides. CHANGING OUR MINDSET WILL MOVE THE PRIVATE AND SOCIAL SECTORS CLOSER TOGETHER – ENHANCING BOTH.

Bottom line – the space between for-profit and not-for-profit is not as large as we once thought. Corporations are paying more attention to social responsibility, bowing to market pressure to do good while making money. The social sector is paying more attention to financial performance as a driver of greater mission impact. The shift from “non-profit” to “not-forprofit” thinking leads to more social good. And that’s a win for all!

If you still say “Non-Profit”, it’s time to upgrade your thinking to “Notfor-Profit”. Why? It conveys purpose and intention, without placing limitations on outcomes. For social service organizations, like Bounce Children’s Foundation that transforms the lives of chronically ill children and their families, “profit” is called “change in net assets.” A positive one is good, building the “rainyday fund” required to invest in additional capacity and new approaches to improving lives.

Joan M. Steltmann, Founder and CEO of Bounce Children’s Foundation, is a passionate advocate for children and families. While consistently driving double digit growth in the number served, she led Bounce to earning a Chicago Innovation 2019 Social Innovator Award, just four years after launch. Always building, Joan blends proven best practices garnered during 15 years at IBM with 20 years of executive leadership experience transforming lives.

Not-For-Profit as a Tax Status? Yes! Organizations doing good deserve a break. They pick up where others - large corporations, small businesses, and governments - leave off, doing what no one else can. And we all win when they do.

Bounce Children’s Foundation BounceChildrensFoundation Bounce ForKids

Not-For-Profit as a State of Mind? No! To announce you don’t want to earn a profit is to declare, up front, you don’t want to succeed. Nothing could be further from the truth for those of us doing good – and the millions who benefit from our work. Not only do not-for-profits want to succeed, we need to succeed.

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ONE KEY TO SUCCESS IN BUSINESS THROUGH INNOVATION IS BUILDING AUTHENTIC PRODUCTS THAT SERVICE YOUR TARGET CUSTOMERS IN NOVEL WAYS. JEREMIE BACON, ENTREPRENEUR, CEO, OUTDOOR ENTHUSIAST, THE FORGE ADVENTURE PARKS

Passion is essential for innovation. One key to success in business through innovation is building authentic products that service your target customers in novel ways. My business partners at The Forge – Chris Gladwin and Bart Loethen – and I created psychographic customer profiles around which we designed a business model that incorporates sustainability and social responsibility meant to bring good to the planet and the people who enjoy our parks. My vision for The Forge is tied to my passion for integrating targeted philanthropy and outdoor recreation into a company that does well by doing good. One innovation that helps us achieve that vision is baked into our core pillars: Exhilarate, Educate and Entertain – our “ Three Es.” The Three E’s are intertwined in everything we create, from our unique activities and attractions, to the guest experiences we try to foster before, during, and after visiting the park. We’re endeavoring to build environments that drive our guests through a coordinated journey that immerses them in the Three E’s without realizing it. Innovation must also have a purpose. It must lead to clear benefits. A business as a force for good – or, a good business in all senses of the phrase – must build a relationship with its customers and accompany them on their journey. The Forge Adventure Parks is trying to take the outdoor recreation industry in new directions. At the heart of our company’s purpose is the desire to create communities by converting underutilized or otherwise unusable spaces in cities and suburbs into spectacular destinations that can sustain long-term positive social impact and become gathering places for communities of like-minded people. To me, innovation is about figuring out how to take what people have been doing, and do it differently to make it more accessible, sustainable, and inclusive while improving the customer experience. I believe that combining that framework with the right people, passion, and purpose is a recipe for success.

THREE ES OF INNOVATION -JEREMIE BACON The things I love to do when I’m not at the office are the things I’d like to do forever. That ambition sparked my vision to build an innovative business centered on purpose, passion, and people. People drive innovation. Everything starts with positive leadership and highly functional teams: groups of high achievers with opposing personalities and perspectives that embrace and learn through healthy friction. In my experience, this kind of team is integral to building an organization that enables innovative thinking. When you get the right group of passionate people who are united in purpose into the same room, they can do amazing things.

The Forge Adventure Parks

theforgeadventureparks.com The Forge: Lemont Quarries theforgelemont

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DANCING WITH STARTUPS BY DEAN DEBIASE

CEOs constantly hear noise about competitive “disruption” in their sectors, fueling concerns about their organization’s ability to innovate in an increasingly competitive and agile global market. This creates natural pressure to grow and meet earnings targets—but growth can be slow and expensive. With Open-Innovation and Co-Creation platforms, it doesn’t have to be. In order to reboot innovation, organizations must focus in on the top Reboot Zones—People, Platform and Passion. To excel in “Platform” Innovation, smart leaders are turning to co-creation approaches to growth. These platforms rely on partnerships, engagement with multinational entrepreneurial ecosystems and collaboration with organizations who have enabling products, services, business-models and people to bring efficiency and greater effectiveness to growth, innovation, ventures and other initiatives.

People

Enable & Engage

Platform

Extend & Expand

Passion

Entice & Energize

Reboot Targets

Examples

Innovation Goals

Petting Zoo

Hours

Silicon Valley Tours

Introduction Awareness

Tastings

Days

Hackathons

Product/Project Focus

Projects

Months

Accelerators

Targeted Innovation

Programs

Years

Dancing with Startups

Systemic Transformation

Linkedin.com/in/FollowDean

Community: Improving DEI & ESG / Renewing Employee Purpose & Passion / Civic Appreciation / PR & IR Credibility Growth: From sourcing, manufacturing and product development to channels, retail, ecommerce, social, digital and DTC, this decade has emphatically underlined the notion of “Uber yourself before you get Kodaked!”

Innovation Impacts

These trendy words are easy to say but difficult to live up to unless you learn how to “Disrupt the Disruptive Disruptors”—or Dance with them. With an emphasis on building new products, services and ventures, we work with large corporations to actively identify, vet, and develop opportunities through the curation of hybrid partnerships with startups, incubators, accelerators, and emerging large companies. We also work with innovation labs and educational and governmental groups to achieve outcomes ranging from new supplier relationships that expand capabilities, improving efficiencies and reducing costs to the co-deployment of strategic offerings into new channels, investment structures and acquisitions.

Rethink Why we exist and What we believe in: Culture: Promotes/supports growth & innovation Stories: Energizes professional-personal engagement Purpose: Fulfills needs for Fun, Money & Impact

Linkedin.com/in/FollowDean

TIME

Culture: Expanding Employee Engagement / Leadership Agility / Business and Operating Models

Rebuild What and How we are going to do things: Partnerships: Expanding BBB Innovation Extend/expand offerings of Products, Technology: Disrupting the Disruptive Disruptors Experiences and Business Models. Entrepreneurship: Dancing with Startups

@DeanDeBiase

LEVELS

Co-creation engagement levels can address organizational impact opportunity areas. Some popular areas include: Growth: Accelerating Open, Agile Innovation / Co-Creation Partnering / Investment Intelligence & Optionality

Redesign Who is going to do things: Attracting, enabling/engaging diverse Environments: Virtual & physical collaboration spaces multinational, multigenerational Styles: Organizational and entrepreneurial diversity groups in and outside organization. Structures: Contingent On-demand blend of the best: Organizations: Gigsters, Freelancers & Crowds

Entice/energize employee’s, gigsters and partners with compelling/believable vision, strategy and sense of purpose.

Open Innovation/Co-Creation Engagement Levels

@DeanDeBiase

Dancing with Startups is a co-creation program that enables executive teams navigate and leverage the global entrepreneurial movement— tapping into Entrepreneurial-Innovation, DEI and Gig-Economy talent networks to co-create products, services and ventures. Through a combination of processes and engagements, the program both performs and enables teams with tools to improve their strategy and achieve actionable results that provide optionality and agility. Beyond

Zones

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Open Innovation/Co-Creation Targets/Matching

cookie-cutter outreach programs or slide-show innovation consulting, Dancing is rooted in focus and execution—doing the work and delivering together. Dancing programs situationally target diverse organizations (not just startups) to define, research, evaluate, vet, meet, negotiate and engage with organizations on a variety of levels. These are not only for the introduction of new products, services, technologies and ventures, but also to accelerate specific growth areas, increase go-to-market speed, improve operational efficiencies and magnify the impact of innovation. Programs need to be flexible and customizable to an organization’s needs—with agile engagements ranging from a few weeks for high level involvement in our platform to years for the achievement of more systemic transformation.

PROGRAM LEVELS

Individual Startups Civic Engagements Innovation Labs

ENGAGE TIMES

STRUCTURES & ROLES

Situational Rev. Share and Equity Flexible

Fees & Grants 0% equity

Ongoing

Internally Funded/Staffed

Accelerators

3-6 Month Cycles

Co-lo. Mentors/Advisors 3-7% equity

Incubators

1-2 Year Cycles

Co-lo Mentors/Advisors Under 20% equity

CVC

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Strategic Focus Under 20% equity

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First pick & Entrepreneurial Spill-over & Mentoring Outsourced R&D Embedding Entrepreneurs Portfolio balance Tech. Access Acceleration

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Culture: Beyond deploying open-innovation techniques and seizing emerging co-creation opportunities, companies have also been rebooting their culture, improving engagement and renewing morale by inviting and involving employees across functions and geographies in Dancing with Startups processes, meetings, events, and operating environments. The grid on the left shows how companies can think about and execute on infusing organizations with the speed and attitude of successful startups. This, when blended with the sense of urgency and focus of disciplined turnarounds, allows leaders to create more entrepreneurialthinking operating environments. Companies are creating more diverse and inclusive growth and innovation cultures in and around select departments by engaging startups, hiring entrepreneurs, setting up accelerators and innovation labs, conducting targeted hackathons and investing in or acquiring emerging growth companies. Executive teams and corporate boards also participate in our Incubator Immersion in Silicon Valley and other global regional expeditions to jumpstart their outreach, understanding and engagement of global entrepreneurial ecosystems to create value. Many organizations are also leveraging Dancing with Startups platforms to improve their DEI engagement and performance—by integrating their diversity and inclusion programs into their market growth agendas.

Named a “Growth Guru” by Inc. Magazine and a Silicon Valley Serial CEO, Dean DeBiase has served in chief executive and chairman roles of more than a dozen emerging growth companies, accelerating them through market-making hyper-growth phases including global expansion, digital disruption, scaleup, turnaround, roll-up, spin-out, divestiture, acquisition and IPO—with dozens of successful exits. He has also been the CEO of Fortune 500 subsidiaries, and a director on public, private, family-enterprise, CVC, PE and VC boards.

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Develop New Locations and Cultures

Dean is Chairman of Reboot Partners, where he and his team focus on scaling emerging growth companies, and helping startups and Fortune 1000’s to drive global growth together. He is also a leading advisor on how organizations can tackle their most challenging issues, seize emerging market opportunities, develop new channels and business models—and tap into entrepreneurial and DEI ecosystems to co-create new growth initiatives, partnerships, M&A and ESG opportunities.

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A popular keynote speaker, podcaster, best-selling author, media guest, contributor to Forbes and Fortune—and Executive Producer of a variety of media programming including The Reboot Chronicles Podcast and The Reboot Institute’s Executive Education Programs, including the Reboot Fellows, Dancing with Startups, and Boardroom Innovation.

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Dean is a Faculty Member at Kellogg School of Management, a Technology Fellow at Northwestern University, a Board Leadership Fellow at The National Association of Corporate Directors, and an Advisor to the NSF – National Science Foundation.

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Community: Corporations benefit from deploying the program with a civic outreach and community/PR acknowledgment component in their key geographic areas. Though most demo days consist of confidential/private virtual and in-person meetings, select corporations also use Dancing with Startups to demonstrate their commitment to supporting emerging communities through contributions of both human and intellectual capital. These contributions take the form of outreach programs, partnering with or investing in local entrepreneurial ecosystems, and supporting gig-economy initiatives, to name a few.

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TECHNOLOGY CAN BRING ABOUT THE GREATEST GOOD IN SERVICE TO HUMANITY. GARY CONKRIGHT, CO-FOUNDER, CHAIRMAN AND CEO A visionary serial entrepreneur, physIQ co-founder, Chairman and CEO Gary Conkright has a passion for taking game-changing technology from the laboratory to the commercial marketplace to solve important problems. A University of Chicago MBA and Purdue Aeronautical Engineer, Gary previously served as the founding CEO and Chairman of SmartSignal (acquired by GE Intelligent Platforms) to commercialize AI-based predictive analytics to monitor mission-critical industrial equipment. After discovering firsthand how much it was easier for an aircraft technician to remotely monitor a 747 than it was for his mother’s physician to monitor her chronic illness, Gary made it a personal mission to apply predictive analytics technology to healthcare.

The challenges she faced were not unlike those of millions of others living with chronic illness. Her struggles and helping her navigate challenges highlighted for me the need for innovative technology to help physicians monitor and detect problems in patients in their homes who cannot be cured and are at risk for serious or catastrophic health events. After a hospitalization, once stabilized, the patient is sent home to convalesce and manage their disease. However, a high percentage of those folks are still at a significant risk of another readmission into the hospital. We believe such readmissions can be prevented using the same technology we have deployed in the past on jet engines. Putting the “Magic” into New Models of Care Science fiction author Arthur Clarke once noted, “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.” In the era predating streaming data, ubiquitous smart phones, and wearable m-IoT devices, the concept of artificial intelligence (AI) existed for most people only in the realm of science fiction. I have had the distinct privilege of helping to make the magic happen.

Separating the Life-Saving Signal from the Noise An early mentor of mine imparted three deceptively simple leadership tenets that I find valuable to keep in mind and on occasion pay it forward. 1) Build a smart team—surround yourself with the best talent; 2) Empower your team by providing an environment that embraces innovation and allows them to do their best work, and sometimes fail; and, 3) get the hell out of their way.

Our team at physIQ developed a scalable, cloud-based personalized physiology analytics platform to enable proactive care delivery models with applications in healthcare and clinical trials. That’s a long winded way of saying the technology already exists to make healthcare better now. We commercialized an AI-driven digital solution able to help hospitals prevent hospitalizations, reduce length of stays in skilled nursing facilities, and improve the quality of life for patients and – by association – those of us who love them.

People often view startups as energizing and exciting places to be. There’s some truth to that perception. The mystique of entrepreneurship excites the human spirit, but that inspiration is not sufficient to maintain the ongoing growth and challenges of a startup. Bringing a disruptive innovation to market takes a high level of energy, hard work, grit and determination. Throughout my career leading startups, I have held a belief that success requires a steadfast focus on leveraging the company’s core competency and partnering with others to tap their capabilities needed for the startup’s success. Our core competency is “separating the signal from the noise” from biosensor data to provide early and actionable insights to advance human health.

Although a first for the medical industry, this is the second time we commercialized the technology at the core of the physIQ solution. The first time was to monitor nuclear power plants, jet engines, high-speed railroads—applications with costly, complex mechanical parts subject to high vibration and harsh environmental conditions. Technology can bring about the greatest good in service to humanity. Healthcare models must change to become more sustainable, affordable and effective at preventing illness and treating people in need. Failure is not an option in mission-critical operations, so why should it be in healthcare? At physIQ, we are determined to make that happen!

A Personal and Passionate Journey People drive innovation—and innovation starts with a passionate determination to solve a problem. A family healthcare journey informed my decision to tackle the challenge of commercializing and getting innovative digital healthcare solutions into the hands of providers to improve patient care. For a number of years, my mother struggled with a chronic medical condition punctuated by exacerbations. On occasion, this resulted in hospitalizations, usually followed by several weeks or longer in a rehabilitation facility to rebuild strength and mobility.

physIQ 800-516-7902 info@physIQ.com

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TODAY, CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE HAS NAVIGATED TO THE CENTER OF WHAT BRANDS PROMISE AND WHAT CURRENT AND FUTURE CUSTOMERS EXPECT.” JASON VANDEBOOM, FOUNDER AND CEO, ACTIVECAMPAIGN

2. The Future of Customer Experience will be Non-Linear Customers and prospects may stumble across you on Instagram or Facebook, purchase from your business after seeing a case study in a blog, and then re-engage after hearing about you in a podcast. One customer may prefer to deal with you via text – another, equally valuable one may feel more comfortable with email. People choose their own path – and the channels through which they engage with brands. The best customer experiences embrace this, understanding preferences and delivering smartly segmented journeys that work with them. They keep customers in control of how they engage – while keeping data connected so that the choices people make never compromise the value they ultimately get.

NAVIGATING THE FUTURE OF CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE Building and investing in a differentiated customer experience used to be thought of as a nice to have but not a critical item. When it made it into the business plan or the balance sheet it did so as a necessary cost of sale – a cost you’d look to reduce where possible. Today, customer experience has navigated to the center of what brands promise and what current and future customers expect. It embodies the value that your customers are paying for. It turns out a good product with a bad experience attached isn’t such a good product after all.

3. The Future of Customer Experience will be 1:1 The future of customer experience isn’t personalized in the sense of a name or personal detail being dropped into an otherwise standard piece of communication. They are genuinely individualized, segmented and designed based on the signals that people send a business about what they need, what they value and what would be useful for them. These are the experiences favored by the 91% of consumers who report they are more likely to shop with brands that “recognize, remember and provide them with relevant offers and recommendations.”

The levels of anticipation, connectedness, and individualization that customers get from the best customer experiences becomes their reasonable expectation of every business they deal with. Why shouldn’t a car dealership offer the same options for contactless flexible purchasing as a tech company? Why can’t health or financial consultations be delivered virtually when personal training can? If one business can remember what you’ve bought or chosen in the past, why can’t another? From now on, innovating for growth will mean innovating ways to deliver meaningful, valuable and individualized customer experiences at scale. Those that embrace this challenge, that see customer experience as a route to growth rather than a drag on it, will be the businesses that thrive in the new commercial landscape. Here’s what the future of customer experience will look like:

4. The Future of Customer Experience will be Designed for Scale CXA enables companies of every size to deliver the type of unique and valuable experiences that drive growth – and to do so at every stage of their growth journey. By connecting experiences on different platforms through a common source of data, it empowers them to create the experiences that their business and their customers need now, innovating and adding in new elements as the need and opportunity arises.

1. The Future of Customer Experience will be Automated Traditional automated customer experiences trigger images of impossible phone trees, but when done right, automation is essential for accessing the services you need in a way that’s safe, convenient and effective. During the pandemic, ActiveCampaign has grown its customer base to over 150,000 growing businesses. That growth has been driven by businesses turning to Customer Experience Automation (CXA) to help keep them connected to customers. They’ve quickly discovered that a flexible, automated platform enables them to do far more. They can dispense with manual tasks, focus on what they can do for their customers, and grow at the same time as innovating new delivery models. Companies like Wonsulting, Happy Families, and Círculo are among those using CXA to grow their run rates, revenues and customer engagement over the last year.

That is how ActiveCampaign grew from a small business to an over $3 billion unicorn by developing new automations to meet the needs of each growth stage. That provides a map for any business looking to drive sustainable long-term growth by delivering the customer experiences people now expect. It’s the route to the future, and we’re proud to be helping other businesses take it. Active Campaign +1-800-357-0402 ActiveCampaign activecampaign

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CHAPTER 2

FUTURE CITIES & COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT

“If opportunity doesn’t knock, build a door.” — MILTON BERLE

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What does it take to bring a neighborhood, long written off by planners, politicians, and pundits, back to health and vitality? Is it even possible?

We at Chicago Neighborhood Initiatives – from our varied experience in planning, organizing and finance STRONGLY and fervently believe it is possible. Working together with partners in Chicago’s Pullman neighborhood, we have tangible confirmation of our beliefs. Here, after a decade of planning, partnership, and hard work, we see vacant homes restored and affordable to renters and owners alike, and vacant land transformed into needed industries, stores, restaurants and other amenities, as important of the nearly 2,000 new jobs created - most are filled by those who live in the community. Pullman is often seen as exceptional; it need not be. While the efforts of residents and elected officials are exceptional, the building blocks of transformation are not. From our experience, the elements for success include: 27

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An asset-based perspective that focuses and builds on elements such as institutional strength, local organizational strength and resident involvement, proximity to transportation corridors, workforce assetw and even elements that are often considered problems such as vacant land, abandoned buildings and even high unemployment numbers. A comprehensive approach to redevelopment that understands the essential importance and interplay of an array of housing options, robust business development (jobs and services) and amenities (schools, parks, recreational facilities, restaurants and more) that are found in vital, sustainable communities. A commitment to community-driven development plans that reflect, and thus have the buy-in, of the community and its elected and organizational leaders, whose efforts are needed for success. Finally, an approach that sees the work not as alleviating poverty but helping to create wealth for individuals, families, businesses, and the community alike. While the context and specifics vary, it is the foundational nature of these pillars which make them applicable to the other areas in which we are now working including the Chicago southside communities of Roseland and Bronzeville and the west side communities of Austin and North Lawndale – communities which we believe will also be models for what is possible in every community.

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Helping Latino-owned businesses grow The Illinois Hispanic Chamber of Commerce (IHCC) is a community of business owners, entrepreneurs, and professionals committed to empowering individuals by helping them start and grow their businesses. As the largest community of Latino business owners across Illinois and the Midwest, they represent more than 100,000 businesses. Latinos in Illinois have an impressive $53 billion purchasing power, more than any other minority group in the country.

The IHCC motto is “We are here to help” and their mission. They are Jaime di Paulo, committed to helping President & Chief Executive Officer entrepreneurs grow by equipping them with the tools and resources they need to stay competitive in today’s economy. They do this through community advocacy, specialized one-on-one training, networking, and every day helping small businesses grow and remain competitive. These programs help businesses increase their revenue and become more profitable, which ultimately creates jobs and contributes to the financial strength of the economy.

The organization was founded in 1990 as the Mexican American Chamber of Commerce of Illinois. In 2002, the organization transitioned its name to become the Illinois Hispanic Chamber of Commerce to expand its mission to Latino-owned businesses throughout Illinois.

OUR PROGRAMS

The IHCC contributes to the financial strength and well-being of Hispanics by helping businesses grow, create jobs, and drive prosperous communities. Daily, IHCC helps small business owners and entrepreneurs; helping them set up their businesses, attain business licenses, and retain jobs, generating approximately $337,000 in financial resources for them. The IHCC staff is very knowledgeable and many of them have had small businesses themselves, so they personally know of the struggles, long hours, the amount of money and resources that it takes to grow and have a successful business.

The IHCC is one of the largest chambers in the state of Illinois and they are innovators because throughout the years they have built strong relationships and partners on the federal, state, and city levels. Every day IHCC staff is out there visiting local businesses, receiving phone calls, offering one-on-one counseling services, and offering small businesses the opportunity to stay competitive even through one of the most difficult economies with a pandemic that paralyzed many small businesses. The organization has set a high standard for over 30 years, and this is why they’ve become a trusted leader and partner among the business community. 29

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They are constantly evolving and bringing new resources to the small business community. Large corporations often ask the IHCC for help to reach the Hispanic market, the largest growing market in the country. This is how many of the programs get developed. The IHCC helps big corporations brainstorm and develop programs for the small business community.

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One of the newest additions is the Latino Business Policy Institute, which was established by the IHCC in 2021 with the purpose of championing for new policies and legislation on all levels of government that will benefit the future of Latino businesses in Illinois. To accomplish this mission, the Institute’s focus will be on conducting research and generating data — with the collaboration of partnering universities — to better understand the state of the Latino business today and identify the real needs of Hispanic-owned businesses.

One of the companies that they have partnered up with is the Small Business Development Center (SBDC), which brings many resources and training for small businesses from the national to the local level. The IHCC has programs like the Illinois Small Business Development Center which helps small businesses with everything they need to maintain their business successful, including finances, marketing, and production. Programs like these are targeted specifically to the needs of the small business community and are often funded by grants.

The IHCC is constantly growing and evolving and looking for different ways to empower and give the Hispanic small business community a fighting chance to thrive in this economy. It’s not an easy feat, but through hard-work and dedication, the IHCC has earned the trust of small businesses.

During COVID, the Cook County COVID-19 Small Business Assistance Program was developed which provides one-on-one business counseling to those businesses that struggled to stay afloat during the pandemic. As a result of this program, many struggling businesses were able to apply for Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans and were able to pay their employees while not having to recur more debt because many of these loans were forgiven.

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Belfast – Belfast and wider Northern Ireland is a center of excellence for cyber security, with the highest percentage of cyber jobs in Europe.

Bristol – Bristol has the most productive tech output in Britain and in 2018 was voted by CBRE as one of Europe’s top ten tech “super clusters.”

ELEVATOR PITCH

OUR STORY

Climate change, growing aging populations, and rapid technological change have transformed the world in which we live, and revolutionary innovation is necessary to design a brighter future.

Forging these partnerships is the role of the UK’s Department for International Trade (DIT), which helps British businesses export, drives inward and outward investment, negotiates market access and trade deals, and champions free trade. DIT helps thousands of US companies set up or expand in the UK every year with expert assistance and advice, and helps connect them with UK products and services that can streamline and enhance their business.

The UK is rising to the challenge and opportunity of this new world by putting innovation and the policy ecosystem it needs to prosper at the heart of our economy. By enabling research, diverse talent, and cutting- edge developments in artificial intelligence, big data, low-carbon technologies and automation, UK companies and institutions are at the forefront of creating new technology providing solutions to society’s greatest challenges.

There’s never been a better time to connect with DIT to find out how partnering with the UK can help your company innovate and grow… The UK is one of the world’s fastest-growing tech hubs with more than 60,000 tech companies and 30 industry clusters. 2019 was a record-breaking year for the UK tech industry – venture capital investment outpaced that of the US and China, growing 44% to approximately $13 billion. This investment resulted in 8 new unicorns – twice as many as Germany and three times as many as France. The UK ranked 4th globally in the 2018 Global Innovation Index, the highest of the G7 industrialized economies of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the US and the UK.

British organizations have found ways to use AI and data to make old age less lonely, improve prediction accuracy for heart disease diagnosis, neutralize cyber attacks before they take hold of a company’s systems and data, and develop transport that is cleaner, smarter and safer than ever before. However, transatlantic collaboration is central to these efforts, and partnerships between British and American companies, research communities, and government are vital. 31

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Edinburgh – In 2019, Edinburgh was named the cleantech capital of the world for attracting the largest percentage of financial support for eco-friendly companies.

Manchester – Manchester is a robust tech hub with world-class universities, the largest number of digital workers outside London, and significant business opportunities in healthcare and manufacturing.

The UK government invests $21 billion each year in R&D, offers 230% tax relief on R&D costs, and has the lowest corporation tax in the G20. The country is a magnet for highly skilled talent – it’s home to 4 of the top 10 global universities and is the #1 destination for tech talent, attracting 1 in 5 of all international movers. London alone has 240,000 digital technology employees. The UK has become a center for low-carbon innovation. We have the largest offshore wind capability of any country in the world and since 1990, have cut carbon emissions by more than 40% while growing our economy by more than two-thirds.

information to de-risk market entry, including market research, legal and accounting introductions, recruitment support, policy insight, and partnership-building opportunities. We work with all companies, from start-ups/scale-ups through to the Fortune 500. To find out more about “Why UK,” visit great.gov.uk, and contact your local DIT team for advice on growing your business internationally.

The UK’s Department for International Trade department-for-international-trade tradegovukusa Invest in GREAT Britain & Northern Ireland - Technology in the UK greatcampaign

As the #1 destination in Europe for inward investment and home to more fast-growth companies than any other European country, the UK has a lot to offer to US companies seeking global growth. DIT helps thousands of overseas businesses set up or expand in the UK every year with expert assistance and advice, providing tailored

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CHAPTER 3

FINTECH, BANKING & INVESTING 33

“The future depends on what you do today.” — MAHATMA GANDHI

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BMO drives innovation where we work and live ABOUT BMO For over 200 years, BMO has been helping individuals and families, small and medium-sized businesses, corporations and institutions that form the backbone of the communities we serve. We are a highly diversified financial services provider, with a deep sense of purpose and a clear strategy for driving strong customer and employee loyalty, leading efficiency, profitability and long-term growth.

Mobile banking: In 1999, BMO became the first bank in North America

OUR HISTORY OF INNOVATION Embracing change and adopting new and better ways are fundamental to being a leader in this industry. We have had many innovative firsts, such as:

We have come a long way and innovation continues to be critical to our success and contributes to fulfilling our purpose to Boldly Grow the Good in business and life; building on our commitments for a thriving economy, a sustainable future and a more inclusive society.

MECH: In 1969, BMO began building an online network of 1,100 branches with a real-time connection to a central computer. It was the largest banking terminal network in the world. The enhanced efficiency offered convenience for customers and allowed branch personnel to concentrate on customer service and expanded service capabilities.

Our Digital First strategy is one way BMO is driving innovation for our colleagues and our customers. We are building our organization for speed, efficiency and scale. We will continue to make significant investments in our offerings and our infrastructure to enable BMO to provide customers with simple, personalized experiences that put them in control.

mbanx: In 1996, BMO launched North America’s first full-service

Our ongoing success in innovation will come from:

internet banking system. It was an entirely new virtual banking enterprise, designed to meet the needs and realities of timepressed customers.

Our People: We have embedded innovation into our culture. It is

to offer financial services over a browser-enabled mobile device. Wireless banking allowed customers to use their cellphones to access their bank or brokerage accounts. They could also transfer funds, pay bills and get stock quotes.

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sponsors WMNfintech, a fintech industry program designed exclusively for women-led start-ups. Staying connected to these innovative entrepreneurs and building partnerships with organizations that bring fresh ideas to the table, has allowed us to connect to customers and support communities in meaningful ways that have resulted in record growth both in terms of customers and financial outcomes.

continually innovate, simplify work and eliminate complexity. We recruit to build a talented, diverse and inclusive workforce that will incorporate all voices, ideas and experiences to collaborate and innovate with pace.

Technology: We are relentlessly driving digitization in our business processes so that our colleagues can spend more time with our clients. A recent innovative advancement that has helped our customers is BMO Cash Track Insight, an artificial intelligence-driven capability that provides customers a better way to manage upcoming expenses. This leadingedge product received the Celent Model Bank Award, recognizing our solution as a best practice of technology use in an area critical to success in banking. It was also recognized by BAI for Customer Experience Innovation as part of their 2020 Global Innovation Awards.

INNOVATING FOR OUR FUTURE We recognize that our ability to thrive another 200 years, requires us to invest differently than banks have done in the past. To drive that work, we have made bold commitments to promote a thriving economy, a sustainable future and an inclusive society. BMO EMpower is our $5 billion commitment over five years to address key barriers faced by minority businesses, communities and families in the United States. Through lending, investment, giving and engagement in our local communities, we are tackling barriers to inclusion in the financial services industry to create more opportunity for recovery and success.

Strong Partnerships: We recognize that as a large bank that has been in business for more than two centuries, innovation sometimes requires us to step outside our walls and leverage our partners to drive innovation. Working with 1871, the number one ranked Chicago-based global technology and entrepreneurship center, has allowed us to expand how we innovate for our customers and the bank. Through this partnership, we have not only mentored entrepreneurs who are bringing fresh and innovative ideas to how we can better serve our clients, we are working with businesses that are changing the very landscape of financial services. As part of this partnership, BMO also

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Impact Before Profit: Halo’s Mission to Transform the World of Investing Jason Barsema, President & Co-Founder, Halo Investing

Halo Investing has built the first global marketplace for protective investments. Through the Halo platform, advisors and investors can easily access structured notes, buffered ETFs, annuities, and a whole suit of tools allowing them to customize, analyze, and manage protective investments tailored to their unique portfolio needs. Halo’s mission is to provide access to protective investment opportunities previously unavailable to most investors. While this may sound modest, the impact of such access would be revolutionary. At $7 trillion, the structured product market is one of the largest in the world, yet most professional investors have never even heard of it. That’s because structured products were traditionally sold through private banks, and almost exclusively to institutions or ultra-high-net-worth individuals who could meet the standard $1 million thresholds. And then Halo came along. Halo believes that restricting these invaluable investment tools as playthings for 1% of investors is not only wrong, but unsustainable. Demand for portfolio protection strategies is growing rapidly. That’s why Halo has simplified financial products, making the terms and analytics surrounding them easier to understand. Halo’s platform allows for real-time pricing and risk analysis, enhancing market transparency and lowering fees, all while speeding up a process that used to take days into a matter of minutes. It is this groundbreaking technology, as well as a presence in seven countries across five continents (and growing), that makes Halo so uniquely 37

positioned to break down the barriers and democratize investing for a mass market. But while Halo may be a global company, it is proud to be a Chicago-based company. Proud of the “I Will” spirit that has made Chicago worldrenowned as a hub of commerce and innovation. Proud of the Chicago that gave us the cell phone and the futures contract; the Chicago that split the atom; the Chicago that first invented and still remains the Derivatives Capital of the World. But most of all, Halo is proud of Chicago’s greatest resource: its people. The people from whom the

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restless spirit of “I Will” flows, spurring us to greater and greater heights of building, breaking, and rebuilding. The spirit that resounds with Daniel Burnham’s exhortation to “make no small plans.” It is this driving spirit and shared purpose that netted Halo its first FinTech Breakthrough Award, got it named by American Banker as among the Best Places to Work in FinTech, and landed it on Fast Company’s list of World’s Most Innovative Companies for 2021. Halo has no small plans. Halo is on a mission to change the world, and we can’t wait for you to join us. 38

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HELPING HARDWORKING PEOPLE GET ACCESS TO FAST, TRUSTWORTHY CREDIT. Our Story 40% of Americans don’t have a prime credit score. These individuals are hit with unexpected expenses at a higher rate than those with prime credit scores, but they are 10 times more likely to be rejected for credit — especially from traditional credit providers like banks and credit unions. This leaves millions of Americans without access to safe credit options when they need them. Enova was founded in 2003 to help fill this credit gap. We were one of the first companies to deliver loans and financing entirely online. What started as one product in one state expanded to 10 states within a year, and by year four we had funded 3 million transactions. Enova (ENVA) is now a $1B publicly-traded company offering a range of innovative financial solutions to individuals and small businesses. We have issued over $27 billion in loans to more than 6 million customers across the world. 39

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David Fisher, Enova’s Chief Executive Officer, said, “We’re a mission-driven organization helping hardworking people get access to fast, trustworthy credit. Our Focused Growth strategy has enabled us to grow rapidly and deliver on that mission with world-class products and services.” Our Secrets to Success The driving forces behind our success are our

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technology, data, and advanced analytics — and, of course, our people. These competitive advantages enable us to make decisions rapidly and at scale. They have also allowed us to launch a breadth of credit options that provide people with pathways to climb the credit ladder. In addition, we leveraged these capabilities to launch our Enova Decisions analytics-as-aservice offering, which helps businesses across a variety of sectors automate and optimize

operational decisions through machine learning, in real-time and at scale. Our Culture Much of Enova’s success can be attributed to our people and culture. Our Values of Customer First, Accountable for Results, Operate as an Owner, Best Answer Wins, and Top Talent and Teamwork are central to who we are and how we operate. By focusing on making Enova an awesome place to work, we’ve created an environment where our smart team members are empowered with the tools and support they need to contribute meaningfully, drive results and grow their careers — all while delivering on our mission of helping hardworking people get access to fast, trustworthy credit.

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How a social impact fintech is improving the financial health for millions

Rochelle Nawrocki Gorey, Co-Founder, President & CEO When a financial institution’s customers are financially healthy, everyone wins. SpringFour, an award-winning, social impact fintech and a Certified B Corporation, connects financial institutions’ customers with resources that help them make their payments and get back on their feet.

the biggest brands in the industry, including BMO Harris Bank, Capital One, M&T Bank, OppFi, Avant, Enova, and Elevate, helping them to deliver financial resources to customers in need, and has been recognized in American Banker, Forbes, and many other media outlets.

PERSONAL EXPERIENCE BECAME A MISSION

With a digital-based platform of more than 20,000 vetted financial resources, SpringFour helps banks, financial institutions, loan servicers, employers, and nonprofits connect their customers to the support they need to repay loans, reduce expenses, and get back on track. This benefits both customers and institutions, increasing repayment rates and increasing customer engagement and satisfaction by providing them with the support they need.

SpringFour CEO Rochelle Gorey began her career in the nonprofit world, leading policy and innovation on housing and community reinvestment issues and later as a consultant where as she worked with a large mortgage servicer. Inspiration struck when she learned that mortgage collection agents had access to foreclosure timelines across the country. Gorey realized that if servicers had the ability to look up that kind of information while on calls with delinquent borrowers, they should also be able to look up resources that could assist their customers and address the “why” behind their inability to pay.

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Gorey knew what a difference these kinds of resources could make for a family in need – she had grown up in a low-income household herself. Now, Gorey knew that there were countless more government and nonprofit resources available that could ease the burdens of financial hardship – if only they could be made easily available to customers. Gorey believed that if we could address the underlying causes behind a person’s inability to pay, they could begin to pay and even save again. And that’s precisely what SpringFour has focused on since its founding, building a technology solution that would make it easy and efficient for lenders to connect their borrowers with resources that could address their financial needs/challenges. As a result, SpringFour has changed the way the industry responds and communicates with borrowers in distress.

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who are kind of in a moment of truth in their financial life, and really changed the nature of that interaction and the way that we are engaging with them for the better.”

SPRINGFOUR’S RESPONSE – AND GROWTH – DURING THE PANDEMIC Demand for SpringFour intensified with the onset of the coronavirus pandemic, which ground the economy to a halt and threw many people’s finances into disarray. Fortunately, SpringFour was uniquely positioned to help. The team researched and vetted organizations around the country and built out three new COVID-19-specific categories for clients – financial assistance, food insecurity, and employment services. In 2020, referrals grew by 200%, and 91% of users agreed that referrals from SpringFour helped reduce their expenses.

In a survey conducted by SpringFour and Competiscan in July of 2020, 30% of consumers said they weren’t able to pay their monthly bills, and 48% of low and moderate-income families said they were in need of more than $4,000 in an emergency fund. Many aren’t sure where to turn for resources that can help, but 83% of households are interested in receiving financial health resources from a source they already trust – their banks.

“Helping people isn’t just a nice thing to do. It’s the right thing to do,” said Gorey. “Financial resources exist to help, and people in crisis deserve the information they need to access assistance and get back on their feet. When customers are financially healthy, we see the business impact – it’s a win-win for everyone.”

HOW IT WORKS Today, SpringFour offers several ways in which a company can improve the loan performance and financial health of its borrowers and customers. The S4pro tool is designed for employees and agents who work in customer service, collections, and loan servicing, who speak to customers facing financial challenges each day. With SpringFour at their fingertips, they can provide customers with referrals to financial assistance resources in real time. S4direct is a consumer-facing, self-service tool that delivers personalized results and can be embedded on a company’s website or mobile app. These vetted resources span more than 25 categories, including food assistance, employment services, utilities savings, and immigration and tax assistance.

A WIN-WIN FOR ALL As Gorey and her team built the SpringFour platform, they kept a set of principles in mind: They would never take money from a struggling consumer, never put ads in front of them, and never charge an organization that provides financial resources to be on the platform. In doing so, they have become a trusted, independent source of financial resources that the financial services industry depends on to assist their borrowers. They still keep that promise – and consumers are often pleasantly surprised that their lender is offering help. One borrower who’d fallen behind on an auto loan told the collections representative that, because of the referral he received, he found new employment and would be able to make his payments.

SpringFour 222 Merchandise Mart, 12th Floor, Chicago, IL 60654 springfour-inc. SpringFour_

Ben Schack, Head US Digital Partnerships, BMO Financial Group said, “SpringFour has changed the way we are engaging with our customers

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INVESTING AT THE NEXUS OF THE INNOVATION ECOSYSTEM Committed to Growth and Innovation Since 1935 At William Blair, growth and innovation are in our DNA. As an independent, private partnership, we are committed to providing the world’s leading venture firms with the expert guidance and creative solutions required to unlock value for investors and their portfolio companies. We are one of the world’s premier advisors to growth investors, bringing a rigorous and innovative approach to mergers and acquisitions, corporate board advisory projects, equity and debt financing, and wealth planning for liquidity events. We focus on helping venture capital firms identify, advise, and invest in marketingleading, disruptive companies across high-growth sectors, where innovation is the essence of success.

Chicago is the heartland—its very identity is growth. Initiatives such as 1871 continue to make Chicago a hub for innovative companies and growth-oriented investors. — Jim O’Connor, Managing Director, Head of Venture Capital at William Blair

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Through the strength of our relationships with leading venture investors, growth equity investors, and strategic acquirers, we provide entrepreneurs access to the capital and partnerships they need to achieve their visions. — Jim O’Connor, Managing Director, Head of Venture Capital at William Blair

Proud Champion of 1871 At William Blair, we believe innovation starts at home. We are proud of our heritage as a Chicago-based firm and remain dedicated to the growth and support of the vibrant Chicago tech community, including our involvement with 1871 since its inception in 2012. Jim O’Connor, Managing Director and Head of Venture Capital at William Blair, has led many of William Blair’s venture capital efforts, including serving as chairman of the Chicagoland Entrepreneurial Center (CEC) each year since its inception in 2002. The CEC’s flagship project was 1871, which started as an incubator for startups in Chicago’s Merchandise Mart. Jim was a driving force behind 1871’s development and growth, serving as its chairman and president. Jim O’Connor, Managing Director, Head of Venture Capital

William Blair and its professionals have been closely involved with 1871, including serving as mentors and advisors to 1871-incubated companies and facilitating conversations with investors. In 2021, William Blair expanded its support of 1871 as a founding sponsor of BLK•Tech, a new accelerator group and programming initiative devoted to building Blackled startups in the tech sector.

Investing in Convergence As technology continues to drive convergence across sectors, we remain focused on helping our clients navigate these powerful industry currents. We have built leading franchises in the sectors that are driving innovation in today’s economy, which allows us to play an influential role as technology forces industries to converge and businesses to innovate faster than ever before.

BLK•Tech is a prime opportunity to apply our capital markets expertise to help accelerate entrepreneurs with diverse perspectives and fuel even greater innovation.

Our expertise across areas such as education technology (EdTech), cloud services, industrial Internet of Things (IoT), biopharma, and financial technology (FinTech) gives us unique insights into the trends that are disrupting industries, allowing us to collectively engage and act as strategic thought leaders and problem solvers.

— Jim O’Connor, Managing Director, Head of Venture Capital at William Blair William Blair is focused on inclusivity and ensuring that all entrepreneurs get a chance to achieve their dreams. For nearly nine decades, the success of our firm has been driven by our ability to thoughtfully evolve to meet our clients’ changing needs amid dynamic market conditions. We are committed to furthering innovation in Chicago and beyond.

Our investment bank has broken down traditional silos and focused on building diverse, creative teams to drive better outcomes for our clients. Our emphasis on collaboration and cross-sector convergence has been a key factor in our growth and success—including a record year in 2021 in which we advised on over $293 billion in transactions.

William Blair by the numbers

Trusted Advisor to the Venture Capital Ecosystem

Year founded: 1935

As a trusted partner to the venture capital (VC) community, William Blair is built to provide objective insight and advice to VC market participants. We work closely with premier venture firms and their portfolio companies to provide unique perspectives, creative solutions, and optimal execution.

Number of employees: 1800+ Global offices: 20+ Number of Transactions in 2021: 480+ William Blair Corporate Headquarters The William Blair Building 150 North Riverside Plaza Chicago, IL 60606 United States

For William Blair, innovation also means thinking of creative ways to be a strategic partner to the VC ecosystem. We are committed to connecting promising entrepreneurs with visionary investors and strategic acquirers through industry events, such as our annual Technology Company Growth Conference, and we are honored to be able to provide continued support to industry groups, such as the National Venture Capital Association (NVCA) and VCNetwork. 44

William Blair William Blair Investment Banking WilliamBlair +1 312 236 1600 +1 800 621 0687

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INNOVATORS OF THE WORLD

Our Mission Topstep was founded by Michael Patak, a former floor trader in the Dow Jones pit at the Chicago Board of Trade. After blowing out of a series of retail brokerage accounts, Michael decided that he needed to step back and take some time to really develop his strategy. He was given an opportunity with a Chicago proprietary trading firm where he spent 6 months being evaluated in a simulated trading environment. He credits this time as the secret to his future trading success.

At Topstep, our goal is to be where the world goes to safely engage in and profit from the financial markets. In a nutshell, what we do at Topstep is break down the barriers to entry in what has historically been a very exclusive industry. Our mission is to provide a safe experience so futures and forex traders can professionalize their passion. We do this by funding any retail trader that passes our objective evaluation process, known as the Trading Combine®. So far, we have provided live capital to more than 4,000 traders in over 160 countries. Their wins are our wins, and we hope to continue opening market opportunities to anyone with the will to put in the work.

Michael’s experience being evaluated helped him recognize an unmet market need, and that is what led him to start Topstep. He truly believes traders have a better chance of becoming successful if they are given time to test and improve their strategies, learn to manage risk and gain confidence before ultimately trading live capital. This is exactly what Topstep has been doing since 2012.

Our Story The life of the modern day trader is a far cry from the glorious pit trading days of the past. Gone are the days when a kid from the street could walk onto the trading floor, and with a few pencil scratches on a piece of paper lift their family out of poverty and into high society.

Innovation Is At Our Core At Topstep, we believe that innovation never sleeps. This is one of our core values. It’s literally written on the walls in our office to remind us each day of our mission to create a better experience for all traders.

The real day-to-day of a futures trader is a lot less glamorous than you may imagine. While the tall tales of legends like Jesse Livermore and Charlie D. still live on, the reality is you just don’t hear those great “rags to riches” stories anymore.

Each week, employees set aside an hour purely for developing new ideas— nothing is too far-fetched. Every month, our entire firm blocks out four more hours to join together and bring these ideas to fruition. We call this our “innovation lab” and its purpose is to drive future growth down the road.

The game has changed, and it’s become a lot more dangerous. It’s truly a “David vs. Goliath” scenario. The average day trader may simply feel outmatched today. That’s where we come in... 45

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Though the inception of Topstep was an industry innovation in itself, we also believe that innovation can go far beyond complex technologies—it can manifest itself in simple gestures that improve company culture and employee morale. For instance, our employees receive a $500 bonus if they choose to recharge by taking a full week vacation and speaking of vacation, employees are eligible for TopstepTravel. The employees who win this perk receive a free week of exclusive lodging! Also innovative is taking the entire company offsite for two days of team building and rejuvenation to move the business forward. As a company founded by traders for traders, we recognize the importance of having a solid foundation before actively risking real capital in the markets. Traders are truly at the center of our work, and we are constantly striving to find new and novel ways to improve every facet of our business.

Support@topstep.com +1-888-4071611 topsteptrader Topstep TopstepOfficial

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MAKING THE COMPLEX EASY AND THE EASY QUICK

The investing world is at a crossroads. Nearly $70 trillion is expected to be passed on from baby boomers to their millennial heirs in the next 30 years. Many believe roboadvisors have commoditized investment advice and made human advisors obsolete. Investors can trade for free at the brokerage of their choosing. And yet, the latest downturn in the financial markets has made it more clear than ever that investment professionals shouldn’t be taken for granted, and investors should strongly consider employing a real human being to watch over their nest eggs. YCharts believes human investment professionals are best equipped to provide the investing and planning advice needed in times of market turmoil. Fittingly, the company is in the unique position to help those investment professionals demonstrate their value by

providing investors with financial expertise and actionable recommendations. That’s why YCharts was born in 2009; its founders were passionate about enabling access to affordable, accurate financial data in a more user-friendly interface. Terminal-based solutions such as Bloomberg are challenging to learn and ultra-expensive, while free tools like Yahoo! Finance provide limited data with reduced functionality. Identifying its “sweet spot” in the traditionally underserved financial advisor market, innovation at YCharts took flight. By empowering investment professionals with powerful tools for market monitoring, idea generation and data visualization, YCharts forged its path. Fast forward more than a decade later, and YCharts has transformed into a leading 47

Every summer, the YCharts team attends a Chicago Cubs game and sits in the historic bleachers investment research platform trusted by more than 5,000 wealth advisors, financial planners, and asset managers that enjoy its easy-touse, modern tools that enhance client and prospect engagements. The platform combines comprehensive data, powerful visualization tools, and advanced analytics for equity, mutual fund, and ETF data and analysis. Through automated workflows and collaborative features, YCharts’ clients enjoy significant time savings, and have more time to spend serving clients and growing their business. To put it simply, YCharts enables smarter investments and better client communications. What’s the secret sauce? Innovative, purposebuilt tools that make investment data simple

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YCharts team collaborating in their Chicago board room. to understand and easier to communicate about with clients. While many investments may not be “active” in their investment selection, YCharts remains a critical tool as the platform simplifies market monitoring, portfolio analysis and the creation of communication outputs to effectively address client concerns in seconds. But what sets YCharts apart more than anything is customer support. Each client is paired with a member of YCharts’ customer success team to guide them through the platform and be there whenever they have a question, concern or challenge. By arming clients with the know-how and resources to keep their own clients happy, YCharts sustains long-term relationships and enables investment professionals to further grow their businesses. Being a driving force behind its customers’ success has led to rapid growth in a highly competitive market. With a level-headed approach: “Hire great people, make work challenging and fun and remain focused on our customers,” YCharts has been rightly acknowledged as an industry-leader in recent years. A few proof points YCharts hangs its hat on include being named the Best Place to Work in Fintech by an industry trade publication, landing on the Inc. 5000 list of fastest-growing private companies for three straight years and being featured in top-tier media outlets such as Forbes, Fortune and CNBC, to name a few.

YCharts NYC-based engineering team enjoying an end of summer boat cruise Looking to the future, YCharts’ goals are similar to those set a decade ago. Continue to delight financial professionals, remain dedicated to their clients and to never stop innovating. The team at YCharts is confident that staying nimble and anticipating the needs of today’s (and tomorrow’s) investment professionals will enable great things for the company, and even greater success for its clients.

While YCharts continues to climb higher, innovation remains at the heart of its business. At each step in the product development process, the team constantly challenges each other with key questions, such as “How will our clients benefit?” and “What can we do to make our clients’ lives easier?” To answer these questions, YCharts stays informed by turning to clients, industry influencers and employee feedback to help the company make the most educated decisions when developing its next steps. YCharts’ philosophy is simple: Make life easier for investment professionals and enable them to better serve their clients. Keeping this thought at the root of their operations has enabled YCharts to remain bestof-breed. And with the wind of the booming Chicago tech ecosystem at their back, with the help of groups like the Illinois Technology Association and Built In Chicago, YCharts continues to hire top-performers that fold in perfectly to the company culture.

ychartsinc ycharts ychartsanalyst

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INNOVATION’S ROLE IN A HIGHLY VOLATILE WORLD One of the long-term impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic experience is that companies have fundamentally changed the way they look at risk. Risks are more interconnected, so the impact is more profound. For example, increased weather events and supply chain disruptions are happening more frequently and having a greater impact on economies and communities. These forms of volatility used to be on the horizon, but now they’re on our doorstep. And, with increased interconnectivity, it’s not just about the specific risk to your business but how it’s connected to a series of risks over time – a weather incident damages roads, disrupts transport, slows down supply chains and impacts the ability to bring critical goods to market. These risks have far-reaching impacts and, more than ever, understanding that interconnectivity and preparing for it is critical. Because risk and volatility are so interconnected, businesses need to take an entirely different approach. The pandemic has completely altered the CEO agenda. Climate, Pandemic, Intellectual Property (IP) — these are risks that have far reaching impacts but also present opportunities. Our research shows that CEOs are now more willing to address the nature of these risks. It is our responsibility at Aon to ensure we are providing our clients with the best information, analytics and expertise possible so that they can make the best decisions for their business. To successfully address these new forms of volatility, we have to create better access to new forms of capital. The capital across the balance sheets of all the insurers in the world is about $4.5 trillion. That’s an absolutely critical partnership, but we also need to connect with other sources of capital, whether it’s in pension or sovereign funds, which could open up the window to the better part of $150 trillion. So, magnifying that $4.5 trillion to $150 trillion with the mission of matching capital to risk, to reduce volatility as companies take action to do things like move to net zero or address these other forms of volatility is a tremendous opportunity

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Capital is the lifeblood of business and society and its multidimensional nature can unlock new sources of value and protection. For example, we help clients access capital markets using collateral backed by their IP, through our Intellectual Property Capital Market Solution.

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There really needs to be a general shift in mindset around being prepared for risk and having the data and analytics, as well as the expertise, to make better decisions on how to avoid or mitigate the risks organizations face. We are at an inflection point where businesses are not only focused on overcoming the current challenges we are facing but shifting to think about other long-tail risks and how to prepare for them. As leaders look at the future of their businesses in an increasingly volatile world, the pandemic experience continues to reshape their views of risk and sharpens their need to make better decisions. This experience has given leaders the insight they need to start understanding the dynamics of longtail risks, realizing the importance of being better prepared and giving them the confidence and certainty they need to make better decisions.

One recent example - a first of its kind - involved a client using its IP as collateral to borrow more than $100 million from a lender, with the value of that collateral insured based on a collateral protection insurance policy The policy – and the ability to access this capital - was made possible using valuation tools that our IP Solutions team has developed. With our innovative approach, the client raised additional capital to grow their business without diluting ownership. This is a great example of how we are addressing unmet client needs. Another example of innovation at Aon is our use of new tools – artificial intelligence, data, analytics and advanced technology — to create predictive models that power solutions that previously did not exist. Aon’s 2021 Global Risk Management Survey identified Disruptive Technologies as one of the most underrated risks in today’s environment. However, as the COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated technological advances in some industries, this may be an opportunity. In one example, we helped more than 200 Sri Lankan smallholder paddy farmers who are at risk of losing their crops due to extreme weather by partnering with Oxfam in Sri Lanka and Insurtech start-up Etherisc to launch a blockchain based platform that delivers micro-insurance. Combining data and insights alongside predictive models and forward-looking algorithms will allow us to better inform and better advise organizations. In a world of uncertainty and risk, AI and machine learning are powerful tools to support innovation that addresses the risks of today and tomorrow. And it is enabling us to create solutions for markets and clients that previously had no place to turn.

Greg Case Chief Executive Officer, Aon plc

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HELPING ENTREPRENEURS ACHIEVE GREATNESS ABOUT PGVC Pritzker Group, founded by Tony and J.B. Pritzker, has three principal investment teams: Venture Capital, which provides early-stage venture funding to technology companies throughout the United States; Private Capital, which acquires and operates leading North America based companies; and Asset Management, which partners with top-performing investment managers across global public markets. Pritzker Group Venture Capital (PGVC) helps entrepreneurs build market-leading technology companies at the early stages of their growth. Since its founding in 1996, the firm has worked side-by-side with entrepreneurs at more than 250 companies, building partnerships based on trust and integrity. The firm has built a unique investment platform consisting of (i) investment professionals with more than 80 years of experience, including senior partners who have worked together for more than 15 years, (ii) an operating platform built by world class operators, and (iii) relationships that span more than 50% of the F1000 Boardroom and C-Suite. The firm’s proprietary capital structure allows for tremendous flexibility, and its experienced team of investment professionals and entrepreneur advisors offer companies a vast network of strategic relationships and guidance.

SELECT PORTFOLIO COMPANIES

HOW WE CAN HELP YOUR FIRST CALL Empathetic: We know what you’re doing is really hard. We’re here for you. We listen and care. Value-added: We are knowledgeable about your industry and are responsive to your needs. We roll up our sleeves and help you solve problems. FLEXIBLE LONG-TERM CAPITAL No LP’s: We’re an evergreen fund, beside you all the way. We have a long-term view on value maximization, with no artificial exit timelines. CUSTOMER KNOWLEDGE Experienced: We have a knowledgeable, accessible team with 25+ years of success in the venture business.

OUR TEAM

Clout and reach: We manage $8 billion in assets across three operating funds. We have strong ties to F1000 companies. GEOGRAPHY We are a national firm headquartered out of Chicago with strong ties to Los Angeles and New York. We are deeply rooted in these markets, having connections to local entrepreneurial talent, potential customers, and other VCs. We also have a wide array of resources to help you successfully scale your startup. 51

Tony Pritzker Founder

Chris Girgenti Managing Partner

Sonia Nagar Partner

J. B. Pritzker Founder

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INVESTMENT PHILOSOPHY INVESTMENT SECTORS Vertical SaaS • Marketplaces • Consumer Internet INVESTMENT STRATEGY Our sweet spot is Series A, although we will strategically invest in seed rounds. Our approach allows us to help shape and fuel a company’s growth throughout its lifecycle. SEED STAGE Our seed investment strategy enables us to support founders in on our key focus areas and geographies earlier with the hope of being able to make larger investments in subsequent rounds. Our seed stage investment check size ranges from $500K to $2M per opportunity, and we generally don’t lead. SERIES A Our Series A investment strategy is the core of our business – we look for compelling founding teams with businesses that have demonstrated product-market fit where we have an opportunity to lead a financing with a $4M-$6M check.

Carter Cast Operating Partner

Craig Wortmann Venture Partner

David Schonthal Venture Partner

Renee Kowalczyk Executive Assistant/Office Manager

FOLLOW ON Our follow-on investment strategy allows us to opportunistically invest in established companies seeking expansion capital to scale revenue.

Pritzker Group info@pritzkergroup.com pritzkergroup.com Social Media

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CHAPTER 4

SOFTWARE, WEB SERVICES & APPS

“Nothing we do can change the past, but everything we do can change the future.” — ASHLEIGH BRILLIANT

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6HUWLȑ At Sertifi, our mission is to help the world finalize business faster by removing friction during the agreement process. Our solution offers a platform that accelerates the process of collaborating on agreements, signing contracts utilizing electronic signatures and providing the easiest, most convenient way to pay. We may have finally replaced the fax machine and are swiftly on our way to automating many of the redundant and repetitive tasks around the agreement process. In 2008, Sertifi was founded by two brothers who were frustrated with locating and signing agreements and were concerned about the security and compliance around the practices being used by businesses. Prior to Sertifi, agreements were created and sent electronically but could not be signed without printing, signing, and scanning the document. The brothers were quickly reminded of this arduous task while personally attempting to sign documents when away from their desk or travelling. There must be an easier way! Shortly after Sertifi rolled out our eSignature’s solution, we quickly realized that payments needed to be included to close the gap. When it came to payments, the practices were not secure leaving businesses open to possible fraudulent activity. We very much believe that a strong competitive advantage for our customers is keeping one step ahead of their competition on the technology curve. As this is value that we commit to delivering for our customers, we at Sertifi have built innovation into all aspects of our organization including customer success, product development and our core values. Deploying new and innovative technologies is not without risk and as such we partner closely with our customers to ensure 55

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successful implementations by heavily investing in our customer success teams. As an example, when we first launched our eSignature’s solution, we needed to change behavior that existed for hundreds of years, signing documents by hand. To ensure success we partnered with our customers’ legal and compliance teams to ensure that any challenges to their contracts could be defended in a court of law. Sertifi is based in Chicago, amongst a diverse set of industries including Industrial, Media, Hospitality, and so many others, which in turn produce their own set of diverse technology companies. We continue to look forward to technologies that are just on the precipice of major breakthroughs for the business community, including blockchain, Artificial Intelligence (AI) and virtual reality. At Sertifi, we are particularly excited about the role that AI will play in automating internal processes, as well as how blockchain will transform how agreements are managed and validated. 56

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ENABLING BRANDS AND RETAILERS TO DRIVE MORE REVENUE WITH RATINGS AND REVIEWS

PowerReviews Customer Success Team on an “office day” (the company is a remote-friendly environment, meaning employees can work from wherever they choose)

provided within this content - improve both those products themselves and the marketing of those products.

PowerReviews works with more than 1,000 global brands and retailers to help them collect, display and analyze user-generated content - Ratings and Reviews, Questions and Answers, and image and videos - on their websites.

The data unquestionably backs this up and really underlines the value: Consumers who interact with Ratings and Reviews on a product page on an ecommerce website go onto purchase the item at 120.3% the rate of those who don’t; respective figure for Q&A is 157.1% and imagery is 91.4%.

As more consumers flocked online as a result of Covid, this content actually became significantly more important on the shopping journey. Shoppers now rely on it to make smart buying decisions more than at any point in history - because it’s impartial, accurate and provides insights on products they can’t see, touch or ask a real-life store associate about.

The firm has actually been a mainstay of the Chicago tech scene since 2005. Most recently, PowerReviews has been synonymous with the name of Chicago stalwart Matt Moog, but he stepped aside in March 2020 to concentrate on other ventures and he remains an active board member.

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these options provides the scale, specificity or combination of qualitative and quantitative that analyzing user-generated content does. Evidence of its power came in PowerReviews winning a deal to benchmark user-generated content with one of the leading CPG brands in the world.

PowerReviews now has new leadership, with new blood in its CTO/CPO (Joe Henson - former executive of Label Insight, Triad Retail Media and Catalina Marketing) and CFO (Giuliana Summer - who most recently served in the same position scaling customer intelligence firm Signal) positions and under CEO Mark Dillon.

The company is also growing, increasing its workforce by around 20% in 2021 - which includes plans to double the engineering team.

Although the company has always been fundamentally committed to innovation and Moog’s considerable influence will always endure, this transition has brought with it a more specific and dedicated focus.

In addition to an ongoing and consistent commitment to innovation, PowerReviews’ success can be largely attributed to its culture. The company considers being customer-first, entrepreneurial and genuinely passionate about what it does as core tenants of what it’s like to work there. The fact that the PowerReviews “shoutout” Slack channel is more active than any other speaks volumes about how much value is placed on empowering colleagues

Most recently, this innovation has been focused on enabling brands and retailers to better analyze the user-generated content they collect - an area PowerReviews has quickly established itself as a genuine market leader. Powered by a dedicated analytics team, there are two critical elements to this: one is understanding the impact of this content on the shopping experience (i.e. how do customers who end up purchasing interact with user-generated content) and then optimizing accordingly. The other - a so far considerably underutilized use case - is using it as a form of consumer insight on the products themselves.

But perhaps most importantly, as it states on its website: “PowerReviews aspires to be a kind and uplifting place to work full of energetic, passionate and friendly people. We aim to create an environment where employees can learn, grow and make lifelong friends.” PowerReviews marketing@powerreviews.com PowerReviews

This second capability - in particular - offers phenomenal potential because it delivers information that has traditionally been either impossible and/or prohibitively expensive for brands and retailers to reach. Previously, these companies would have had to rely on focus groups or surveys to obtain this level of product insight - but neither of

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This Japanese-inspired creator platform inspires meaningful connections – in real life and virtually – using time as its superpower

PechaKucha was born in 2003 because people talk too much. That’s what happens when passionate people gather together to share ideas and creations.

Coinciding with the COVID-19 pandemic, PechaKucha launched a virtual storytelling platform that grew to over 100,000 beta users within nine months. Fueled by Seed funding to innovate its presentation format into a digital connectivity and social story platform, PechaKucha exists to inspire enthusiasts with a simple way to produce, record and share visual, timebased talks at both live or offline events and build communities about niche or popular topics.

PechaKucha, which means “chit-chat” in Japanese, was founded in Tokyo by architects Mark Dytham and Astrid Klein of Klein Dytham architecture. It originated as a “20x20’’ live presentation format that consisted of 20 image-based slides, each automatically advancing every 20 seconds. In 400 seconds of visual content, it’s what “show and tell” always dreamed of becoming.

Today, global innovators use PechaKucha’s platform to create powerful, visually-compelling stories that move audiences to greater awareness and action in less than 7 minutes.

PechaKucha now is the world’s fastest-growing social storytelling platform around the globe.

From world governments and NGOs (The United Nations and UNESCO) to leading universities (Stanford and Harvard) to technology leaders (Facebook and Accenture) and design leaders (Kohler and BMW), PechaKucha is the platform that creators, professionals and brands use to connect with others in uplifting ways, motivating people to do great things – for themselves and the world.

More than 50,000 people present at 1,100+ global PechaKucha Nights every year – including Chicago’s very own music bar Martyrs’ in Northcenter, which hosts quarterly PK Nights. Organically, the time-based talks grew into a global live event series attended by three million people in 140 countries and more than 150,000 presenters. 59

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At A Glance Use case: education. Hundreds of published studies at CORE – the world’s largest collection of open-access research – reference PechaKucha’s positive impact on learning, speaking and communication. In February 2020, a 10-year-old Indonesian student gave a global talk about the wonders of bamboo as part of International PechaKucha Day.

Headquarters: Tokyo (programming) and Chicago (software development and marketing) Team: 14 people with additional hires in 2022 Well-known people who have given a PechaKucha talk: Joe Gebbia (founder of Airbnb); Shantell Martin (famed British visual artist); Daniel Pink (best-selling author); Yves Behar (award-winning design entrepreneur); Carl Bass (former CEO of Autodesk); Morgan Fisher (founding member of rock band Mott the Hoople)

PechaKucha PechaKuchaGlobal

Use case: company onboarding. Table XI, a Chicago-based software developer that employs about 30 people, uses PechaKucha for company meetings and onboarding. “In 400 seconds, we learn about new co-workers’ backgrounds and interests and what brought them to Table XI,” says Mark Rickmeier, CEO. “It serves as a great bonding experience and gives everyone great insight into their exciting new co-workers.”

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Litera is changing the way organizations perfect their documents and manage transactions.

us to become a LegalTech industry leader during Chicago’s growth as a tech hub. At the time, we recognize that legal documents and workflows are the centerpieces of much of business, but they also cause tremendous inefficiencies, frustrations, and avoidable errors. Technology should offer solutions. However, it can sometimes be a hindrance rather than a help. Users find themselves juggling dozens of single-point solutions that interrupt their workflows and distract them from the thoughtful work they should be doing—legal analysis and helping clients achieve their objectives.

Is delivering the best legal technology ecosystem across the practice and business of law and transforming how global legal teams use technology to collaborate so they can focus on what matters Litera (then Microsystems) was born in 1995 to solve a specific problem: helping law firms transition their documents from Word Perfect to Microsoft Word. In the 25 years since, the issues that technology can solve have evolved, and so have we. Today, Litera partners with the world’s leading law firms to drive their digital transformation agendas. We are built on the notion that the whole can be greater than the sum of its parts and have brought different organizations together to become industry-leading end-to-end providers. Most of the world’s largest law firms and corporate legal departments partner with Litera to transform how they win matters, create, review, and perfect legal documents, execute M&A and other corporate transactions, and manage cases.

Over the past year, Litera expanded the business to enable legal teams to collaborate using Litera solutions for everything from the practice of law to the business of law. Our practice of law products allows attorneys to produce quality work quickly and with fewer errors through secure, modern cloud productivity solutions. At the same time, the business of law products unlocks the power of your law firm’s data to empower partners and strategic functions to manage clients, matters, and human capital talent. At the same time, Firm Intelligence is a data-driven intelligence platform that streamlines operations about matter management, budgeting, and pricing for law firms. Our technology automates repetitive tasks and checks legal professionals’ written work, improving job satisfaction and quality of life.

We opened our headquarters in downtown Chicago with 60 employees in 2017, and we now have more than 1,000 employees worldwide. Our fastpaced growth mindset and highly collaborative work culture have enabled

In addition, Litera acquired Kira Systems in August of 2021 to add a leading machine learning contract analysis to its product portfolio. On a typical M&A deal, lawyers are only reviewing a small set of contracts 61

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because it traditionally has not been economically feasible to do more. This selective process inherently increases risk in the deal, and important information can be overlooked. With Kira, lawyers can review more contracts efficiently and accurately to mitigate risks and provide more significant insights into transactions. In early 2022, Litera acquired another collaboration and governance software solution to allow clients to better manage their collaboration systems by making it easier to provision, classify, protect, move, and minimize data, ultimately mitigating risks related to privacy and cybersecurity. Most law firms and organizations use at least one collaboration system (Microsoft 365, DMS, etc.) to drive efficiency and productivity. While these systems provide many benefits, when unmanaged and ungoverned, they can result in data chaos and expose organizations to risks related to privacy & cybersecurity. Our products boast more than 15,000 global customers across 96% of the world’s largest law firms. And we’re incredibly proud of our customer retention rate—over 98% percent. Litera relies on our Chicago technology community for the talent, camaraderie, and connections we need to continue our extraordinary growth. We started in the Chicago suburbs in 1995 as Microsystems. While we’ve grown and branched out with employees across more than 17 countries, our commitment to Chicago has never strayed. Thanks to organizations like the Illinois Technology Association, Built-in Chicago, and 1871, the community we are a part of here is unparalleled.

Litera +1-630-598-1100 @literamicro literamicrosystems

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CXO Christine Varani with Chicago Innovation at Nasdaq

Enduvo’s no-code platform enables anyone with the power to create and share immersive content within their organizations and the Metaverse. Enduvo was born at the University of Illinois and initially funded through a Jump Applied Research for Community Health through Engineering and Simulation (ARCHES) grant. These grants support collaborative research and development between OSF Healthcare and the University of Illinois College of Medicine at Peoria. Dr. Matt Bramlet, Justin Drawz, and Steve Garrou came together to build a company that would improve pre-surgical planning of complex congenital heart disease. It quickly became the go-to source for combining the surgical expert with surgical anatomy for the clinical team and patient/family communication. While still used for that purpose, Enduvo’s use cases have expanded beyond healthcare, supporting the original vision of sharing expertise in immersive and VR experiences with anyone who wants to learn.

Today’s organizations face several trends related to training. During the height of COVID, and still today, workers and learners are less likely to be together physically. Innovators found creative ways to work and teach virtually, but many shortcomings became apparent, especially in training and learning. Further, digitally native workers and learners expect on-demand, engaging, bite-size information at their fingertips. They don’t want dated slides and boring computer-based training modules. However, creating immersive content has been time-consuming, costly, and requires specialized software development skillsets. That’s where Enduvo comes in. Enduvo puts the power to create and edit immersive content in the hands of any user, bringing user-generated 63

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CEO Steve Garrou accepting Chicago Innovation Theron Technology-Enabled Award

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content (UGC) out of the social media world and into immersive learning. Learning organizations can use their existing teams of producers, instructional designers, and artists to create, maintain and share content themselves. Users simply can import images, videos, PDFs, and 3D models, arrange their virtual classroom, then record their voice and gestures interacting with the content. Creators capture their subject matter expertise and publish it with a button click. Their content, created once, can be consumed across multiple platform types, like VR headsets, computers, or tablets. Enduvo’s growth has been accelerated both by private and public investment. MATH Venture Partners, a data-driven, founder-friendly early-stage venture capital firm based in Chicago, led Enduvo’s priced seed round in April 2020. Strategic work with United States Air Force (USAF) has been funded through the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program and with contributions by participating units. Enduvo’s SBIR journey began with a small Phase I feasibility study at the end of 2018; it has grown into subsequent Phase II and Phase III contract awards totaling over $5M to date. Currently, Enduvo is collaborating closely with visionaries at Air Education Training Command (AETC) to be a part of their paradigm shift in training. They are building a future of innovative, immersive, efficient training for all Airmen and facilitating the crosstraining of multi-capable individuals. With investment from the USAF, Enduvo is expanding the platform both to meet their requirements and benefit commercial customers. Enduvo is working among an ecosystem of other small businesses, also part of SBIR, to create the whole solution to meet USAF needs. Together, the vendors demonstrate and deliver the kind of agility not possible with large single-source solutions. “We are on track to become a Program of Record in the USAF in FY 2024 and the defacto standard for the Immersive Virtual Classroom,” Enduvo CEO, Steve Garrou shared.

Enduvo’s team of innovators

Enduvo’s mission is to bring high-quality, engaging information to those who need it, including underserved populations around the world. The future is immersive, and Enduvo wants you to build it!

So far, Enduvo has been focused on work within USAF and for select early customers like OSF Healthcare, UICOMP, and UL, analyzing their feedback and continuously improving the platform. Customers have seen outstanding results such as higher pass rates, better preparedness for procedures, and higher learner confidence in their material. As Enduvo accelerates expansion beyond the USAF, they are eager to help future customers tackle similar enterprise challenges like those addressed in the USAF: equipment and machinery operations and maintenance training, security and safety training, medical procedure training, and more. Enduvo’s 2.0 release will open for early access users this summer.

Enduvo contact@enduvo.com 877-624-7838 Enduvo

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ROOMII’S MISSION IS TO PROVIDE ACCESS TO ASPIRATIONAL FURNITURE FOR EVERY ROOM IN YOUR HOME.

Roomii is an online marketplace that lets you lease out your furniture to people that don’t want to own it. Our platform lets you earn a return on your furniture investment, while helping people furnish their space short term with quality pre-owned furniture.

Merchandise Mart, Chicago, Illinois. This was my remote office. A place to work, meet other founders and work on my company Citispoon. Yep, Citispoon. Citispoon was a dining app that showed you real-time wait-times of restaurants uploaded by restaurant patrons. I say this because during the statewide lockdown, we pivoted to a restaurant marketing platform, offering discounted deals from your local restaurant. Visit Citispoon.com or download the app from the App Store of Google Play!

Roomii’s story began in the spring of 2020. It was the morning of March 25th. I jumped on the usual metra train ride from Hickory Creek to LaSalle street station, to head to my co-working space. You see, I worked out of 1871. 1871 is a non-profit digital startup incubator located in the 65

Back to my roomii story. Illinois was under a statewide lockdown with all only essential businesses open. Back home, I needed to set up an office that would inspire me. So I searched online for an Aeron Chair, a Barcelona chair, a height adjustable table and a frameless back painted glass whiteboard. I bet you’re asking what some of these furniture pieces are, right? Well, my background is in the commercial furniture industry with over 20 years as a product development engineer, developing furniture for companies like Teknion, Allsteel and Knoll. So, I had an idea what type of furniture I was looking for to bring the “wow” factor to my home office. After a couple of clicks here and there, I quickly realized that the space of my dreams was cost prohibitive. The only option I had was to buy retail store grade furniture. Nothing wrong with this, but as a product development engineer, I was quite aware of the level of testing put into commercial furniture, and was looking for furniture for the long term and not fast furniture. This led to the idea of roomii. What if I could lease the furniture I needed, when I needed it from people that own it? What if I could change the feel and look of my space as often as I want at an affordable price? What if I could create a curated space from an endless inventory of furniture from other people’s styles? What if! Well, the idea of roomii has grown since that fateful March day. For furniture owners we now provide convenience, flexibility, and extra source of passive income on their unused assets and for renters, we give them access to a curated inventory, zero ownership without buyer’s remorse. 2021 has been a year to learn and launch. 2022 will be the year we grow. Be on the lookout for our popup stores around the city! Visit roomii.co to lease out your furniture and furnish your space. Contact Info:

Dapo Kolawole, CEO

roomii dapo@roomii.co (1) 847-868-0592 getroomii

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One intuitive platform for all your AR needs

In the face of the obstacles challenging the augmented reality community, the BUNDLAR platform makes AR simple, affordable, and accessible to the average creator. We accomplish this with our proprietary Content Management System (CMS) and integrated mobile application. Instead of hiring expensive developers to build AR experiences, businesses and institutions can easily create their own AR content within minutes, not weeks or months. BUNDLAR’s simple and intuitive system allows for anyone to produce high-quality experiences without any programming skills or prior knowledge of how the technology works. Combined with our robust analytics, organizations can measure and optimize their user experiences to best tailor them to a specific audience.

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IMPORTANCE OF INNOVATION The BUNDLAR platform is unlike any augmented reality solution in the market because AR experiences are bundled together. Instead of a single experience, one QR code or Bundle code can launch multiple experiences that are bundled together, reducing the need for the audience to start over with every new trigger. This allows users to seamlessly jump from experience to experience, regardless of the trigger type. BUNDLAR also allows users to analyze interactions and publish updates to their experiences to improve results, achieve desired outcomes, and optimize content. BUNDLAR technology also ensures all AR experiences are strong, stable, and reliable by ‘bundling’ many AR experiences in the cloud. Then, once they are downloaded on a device, users can engage with many related AR experiences without constantly needing to connect to the cloud or relying on a strong internet connection. Augmented reality is the future of how we interact with content, and our mission is to make it as accessible as possible. Our innovative nocode software is speeding up the adoption of this technology, and successfully delivering the results our clients want and need.

MILESTONES Since its inception, BUNDLAR has had a strong focus on expanding the capabilities of AR technology. Over the course of 2021, BUNDLAR was recognized in several ways for its innovations and contributions to the AR industry. The following awards and nominations are proof that BUNDLAR is starting to be recognized as a leader within the AR environment: 2021 WorldFestival Innovation Award Winner Small Business Awards - Most Innovative Augmented Reality Startup 2021 Winner 2021 TechConnect Defense Innovation Award Winner 1871 Momentum Awards 2021 - Rising Star Award Finalist In just the past year, BUNDLAR was also awarded Phase I and Phase II SBIR Contracts by the United States Air Force, which has led to piloting AR training with Space Force and other DOD agencies. After an extremely successful pilot with Microsoft Xbox resulting in a 49% ROI, BUNDLAR is currently developing additional custom solutions for Microsoft Xbox. Other notable customers successfully utilizing AR solutions powered by BUNDLAR include: Thermo Fisher, Parker Hannifin, US Air Force, P&G, ASU, Freshie, DuSable Museum of African American History, SLU Madrid, Allyis, SmartCentres, and more.

In addition, over the course of 2021 BUNDLAR experienced a 3800% increase in base application installs; added Marker-less AR; established dedicated QA/QC, Customer Success, and Sales teams; and grew the engineering team by 150%, and we’re just getting started. BUNDLAR 276-286-3527 info@bundlar.com

BundlAR bundlar TheBUNDLAR

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Songfinch is a platform to discover and collaborate with thousands of musicians to create personalized, one-of-a-kind songs.

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Since launching, Songfinch has grown into the leading creator marketplace for musicians touting some of the most influential names in music and tech as investors, including music icon Quincy Jones, current music superstars Abel ‘The Weeknd’ Tesfaye and Amala ‘Doja Cat’ Dlamini, Atlantic Records CEO Craig Kallman, School of Rock CEO Rob Price and the founders of Reverb, HomeChef and serial entrepreneur and co-founder of Corazon Capital Sam Yagan. What separates Songfinch from other creator platforms is that they’re built bottom-up rather than top-down, where the 2% of creators typically generate 75% of all platform revenue. Instead of earning income based on the number of streams, past accolades, or the size of an artist’s follower count; Songfinch artists are paired with customers based on talent, genre, and song type. To date, Songfinch has turned millions of customer stories into nearly 100,000 personalized songs to commemorate a huge variety of life events – from birthdays and holidays to anniversaries, job promotions and everything in between; resulting in more than 1,500 artists collectively earning over $10 million in just a few short years.

But Songfinch artists do not just leverage the platform to generate income, they also use it to hone their craft by staying in the studio producing hundreds of unique songs for customers, effectively taking artists from a part-time musician on day 1 to a full-time musician by day 90. The Songfinch mission has always been to create a middle class for musicians by lowering the barrier of entry into the music industry and ultimately change how artists and fans interact, create, and monetize their respective talents.

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We help businesses grow and build better customer experiences customers’ customers. Legacy marketing automation and CRM solutions don’t work for 99% of businesses because they’re too complicated to use and cost is out of reach. At ActiveCampaign, we give businesses of all sizes access to the tools that make sense for their unique business in an accessible format.

Our origin story Every superhero has an origin story, doesn’t it? Our story started in 2003, when it was founded by Jason VandeBoom as an on-premise software consultancy. In 2013, Jason and his team consolidated from eight products to one and transitioned from an on-premise software to a Software as a Service (SaaS) business. ActiveCampaign has grown from $20 million in funding with 20 employees in 2016, to over $360 million in funding with 1,000 employees today. Today, ActiveCampaign has hubs across 5 continents and helps over 180,000 customers in 170 countries. Jason’s dream was to build a company that helps businesses grow. He believes that a lot of the best innovation comes out of smaller companies, so he provided the services that allow innovative brands to grow. He has been able to accomplish this with ActiveCampaign’s personalized, automation-first approach, allowing teams to save time, connect with customers, and grow.

Customer experience is everything In our eyes, customer experience is everything. What if your products and services were always backed with a personal connection? What if you could accomplish this without sacrificing your time or resources? Customer experience automation helps you do just that, by giving you the tools to help automate a personal experience for every customer - across their entire customer journey. Our CXA platform is unique. At ActiveCampaign, we give customers the tools they need to propel their businesses to the next level, at an affordable cost. With customer experience automation, our customers have seen exponential growth, revenues, and applause. We continue to innovate our SaaS business by adding new features, templates, and services. In 2021, we strengthened our promise of providing solutions that enable companies to deliver unique experiences by implementing automations leveraging Custom Objects. This has enabled us to democratize data visibility, flexibility, and actionable insights for use across a business’s entire tech stack.

ActiveCampaign is the leader in Customer Experience Automation (CXA), helping businesses across the world meaningfully engage with their customers. Our platform gives businesses of all sizes access to 820+ pre-built automations that combine email marketing, marketing automation and CRM for powerful segmentation and personalization across social, email, messaging, chat and text.

Along with our continuous growth, the ActiveCampaign team is very proud of the satisfaction of our customers. We are so committed to our customers’ success, we guarantee it. With our Customer Success Commitment, we’re the only Customer Experience Automation platform provider promising excellence in value, service, trust, and access.

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ActiveCampaign team culture From the start, one of Jason’s goals was to keep the supportive culture of his business alive. He believes it is one of the most critical requirements to our businesses success. Our core values are baked into everything the company does: ‘pursue growth with gratitude’, ‘cultivate inclusion & diversity’, ‘create wow’, ‘start with trust’, ‘Iterate everything, always’, and ‘Make the customer a hero”. These values don’t just apply to work with customers but are also integral to the workplace and are why we have such a committed and dedicated workforce. ActiveCampaign brings these values to life with a company wide Variety Show, employee recognition programs, our Swag Shop, and more!

Jason VandeBoom, Founder

ActiveCampaign +1-800-357-0402 ActiveCampaign activecampaign activecampaign-incactivecampaign

ActiveCampaign has had significant success within its own sphere and its 180,000 global customers are seeing incredible growth, longevity and innovation. Looking towards the future, we are excited to grow ActiveCampaign by activating more SaaS features and reaching even more businesses globally.

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Devbridge is a digital product and technology consultancy focused on enterprise transformation and custom software development.

WHO WE ARE Our cross-functional teams bring industry expertise and take ownership of end-to-end product development. Ramping up at a moment’s notice, we ship working products to market in three to six months.

Devbridge is a technology partner for forward-thinking Global 2000 companies looking to shift to a product-centric operating model. We build extraordinary custom software that delivers measurable results for our clients and their customers.

In 2008, Aurimas Adomavicius, Martin Stasaitis, and Tomas Kirda founded the company headquartered in Chicago with the collective goal to reject mediocrity, pursue mastery, and be transparent with both clients and the team. The organization has since grown from three to over 600 teammates worldwide with offices in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Lithuania, Poland, and Romania.

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THE TEAM MATTERS Devbridge has a long history of delivering digital products for global companies in aviation, agribusiness, distribution, logistics, financial services, healthcare, and manufacturing. We’ve successfully launched over 50 custom enterprise applications, the result of which helped hospitals maximize staff utilization, logistics companies increase lane throughput, and enabled banks with automated loan decisioning tools. Our people are what makes Devbridge an award-winning organization, recognized as one of Inc. 5000’s fastest-growing privately-held companies annually since 2013, by Crain’s Business Chicago Fast 50 list since 2017, and as a Best and Brightest Companies to Work For since 2012. As part of our social capital mission, we operate The Sourcery Academy, an educational program, where our team partners with companies, industry professionals, and local communities to educate kids, students, and seasoned professionals on subjects of product management, design, and coding. We have invested over 29,000 hours in the program, giving 750 lectures across 10 cities for over 900+ graduates. We have a stellar 94 percent graduation rate, and 80 percent of graduates are employed after completing the program.

Industry expertise: We have deep experience in product management, product design, and engineering that can take a product to market in as little as three months. Transparency: We track our time down to fifteen-minute increments through our custom Devbridge Apollo app, which provides complete visibility to clients. No one else in the industry is doing this.

WHAT WE DO The Devbridge team helps transform large organizations by creating elegant, intuitive digital products. We facilitate a creative, iterative process powered by some of the most passionate individuals in the industry to help our clients create results through custom software.

Scalability: We can successfully handle the validation of a small prototype as well as deliver massive platform implementations coordinated across multiple teams.

Product design and development: Dedicated cross-functional teams bring the expertise, process, and tooling to support the full product lifecycle.

THE SECRET SOURCE BOOK

Software engineering maturity: Drive organizational change for a nimble response to market with mature DevOps best practices.

President and co-founder of Devbridge, Aurimas Adomavicius, wrote The Secret Source, which captures the full product lifecycle from sales, capabilities, requirements workshop, discovery, and kicking off a project to managing a relationship with a client. It offers a transparent look at our methodology, tools, and best practices that enable us to ship product fast.

Data strategy and intelligence: From big data to data lakes and microservices, leverage data and set a single source of truth to grow and guide decisions for the business. Service design: Identify engaging opportunities across the service landscape to design experiences that blend efficient and effective, drive adoption, and match business outcomes.

Read for free at sourceryacademy.com.

Legacy modernization: Turn risk into revenue by refactoring aging systems and processes to meet business-specific needs today.

The process and tooling necessary to become a truly product-centric organization will only work if the system in which professionals work will embody supporting values such as trust, transparency, and ownership.

Workflow automation: Streamline business processes to reduce time, costs, and improve productivity. HOW WE DO IT

— Aurimas Adomavicius, President and co-founder of Devbridge With representation from core product disciplines throughout the entire product lifecycle, we assemble cross-functional teams that remain aligned and build tailor-made software with clearly defined outcomes. Speed: Lean Requirements workshops, story mapping, service blueprinting, data-informed research, roadmap planning, prototyping, and an Agile framework allow us to take products to market faster, shipping working code every two weeks.

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Life-changing software for assisted living facilities ALIS is the primary offering of Medtelligent, a health tech company serving the senior housing industry. Built from the ground up to match the needs of assisted living operators and providers, ALIS is the preferred software choice for fast-growing portfolios in the sector. Medtelligent was founded in 2005 with an original focus on developing billing software for nephrology clinics. Since then, Medtelligent shifted its focus to assisted living—realizing the tremendous opportunity available in the industry. Medtelligent’s flagship product ALIS (pronounced “Alice”) was launched in 2009 and is now one of the most cutting-edge assistedliving software products on the market. The product differentiates itself from others in the industry through its ease of use. Direct care staff can be trained in minutes. KPI reports can be generated straight “out of the box” or easily customized with no need for technical support. Perhaps, best of all, ALIS supports more effective collaboration between stakeholders with diverse needs. Sara Childs, corporate solutions specialist at Traditions Management, describes her experience transitioning from a manual billing process to using ALIS’ integrated billing features: “There’s less human error, recurring charges are easier to handle, and we can spend time getting the monthly changes right (instead of generating bills manually for every resident each month).”

Huzaifa Tapal and John Shafaee, Co-founders

WHAT OUR EMPLOYEES LOVE We’re Not Stuck in the Past “Our CEO John Shafaee likes to say, ‘we pay our technical debt as we go’,” says William Metcalf, senior software engineer. “[This means] as developers we always have the opportunity to try out the latest technologies, instead of being forced to support old legacy code.”

Childs says the biggest benefit, though, has been better team communication. “Using ALIS for billing has saved us time in our monthly processes, but the other thing I’d say it’s done is given our business office managers a better handle on cash flow, and more ownership over the process. We don’t have to keep an eye on it or remind them, they can see a report at any time. The gap between the home office and the field has been bridged. I’d say that’s the biggest benefit we’ve seen.”

CTO Huzaifa Tapal explains that it’s a relentless focus on the users and user experience that drives this philosophy. “We are not the type of company that sticks with a technology or a way of doing something just because it’s there or what we’re “used to”. We’re always looking for ways to improve the experience and if that means changing to a new technology, we do it. And we don’t just apply that approach to new problems, we take the time to improve our existing features, too.”

Alvaro Mengual, financial controller at AmeriCare Health & Retirement, describes a similar “democratization of the process.” Their teams have better teamwork, he says, “in part because the system requires it. Everyone is more conscious of how what they do affects others. And they pay more attention as a result.”

We’re Encouraged to Grow Many of our engineering team members have “grown up” here, and developed their skills through mentoring and on-the-job training, says Tapal. Grant Overby, backend developer, says “As a junior dev coming into Medtelligent, this place is a gold mine. They really believe

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in putting the time and effort to grow a developer’s skills. You read about other places that just throw you at a workstation and you work on the same task over and over again with little proctoring from your senior devs, but here it couldn’t be more opposite.” We Solve Problems As Equals “While we have separate teams for different areas of the product, and each person has a defined role, we solve problems together,” says Tapal. “We don’t have these senior engineer / junior engineer dynamics. We brainstorm together as equals; we want everyone to have a contribution and be a part of the solution.” We Have Autonomy...AND Support It turns out that when you hire for potential, train for skills, and engage everyone as equals you end up with an exceptionally closeknit team. Metcalf says the people on the team are the number one thing that makes working at Medtelligent different. “We have a team where everyone supports each other and cares greatly about their work. While we have the autonomy to solve problems on our own, we have the support of an extremely tight-knit group, too. We really collaborate well together.”

Medtelligent 303 W. Institute Place, 4th Floor Chicago, IL 60610 +1-888-404-ALIS (2547) 76

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The trusted global omnifulfillment platform to scale your ecommerce business and meet customer expectations everywhere they shop

As a trusted partner in growth to meet today’s shopper expectations around delivery speed, convenience, cost, and personalization, ShipBob helps with everything from providing 2-day shipping in the US, to enabling personalized, delightful, and memorable unboxing experiences.

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By distributing inventory across locations, ShipBob intelligently routes each order to the closest fulfillment center to reduce transit times and shipping costs. ShipBob also offers advanced multichannel inventory management capabilities, powerful analytics, and operational expertise to know when, where, and how to grow your business globally.

Origins of growth Founded in Chicago in 2014 by Dhruv Saxena and Divey Gulati, ShipBob has become one of the fastest-growing tech companies Divey Gulati in America. The idea for ShipBob started after Dhruv and Divey launched a direct-to-consumer company that allowed users to quickly send physical pictures to loved ones. As the business expanded, they quickly realized they spent more time shipping orders than growing their business.

Dhruv Saxena

powerful technology and ecosystem. ShipBob allows merchants to scale internationally with a unified merchant application, fulfillment engine, warehouse management system, and data to make real-time supply chain decisions.

In talking to other entrepreneurs, the co-founders realized a bigger problem to solve: a better way to fulfill orders. By allowing ecommerce brands to focus on what’s important — growing their business and delivering a remarkable customer experience — ShipBob helps provide best-in-class fulfillment.

How ShipBob enables innovation By performing time-consuming tasks and providing analytics to merchants of all sizes, ShipBob can help them scale faster and smarter, giving them back precious time and new insights into business performance to bring new products to market, reach new customers, and expand globally.

ShipBob was accepted into startup accelerator Y Combinator in 2014, but instead of completing the program from San Francisco like other companies, Dhruv and Divey wanted to remain close to their customers in Chicago, so they went through the program remotely and commuted to the Bay Area every week. They graduated from Y Combinator, raised a seed round from a Chicago VC, and then started scaling ShipBob in Chicago.

Looking ahead, the ShipBob team is most excited about expanding more across new channels and around the globe, while retaining its Chicago roots. ShipBob 120 N Racine Ave. Suite 100 Chicago, IL 60607 LoveShipBob shipbob shipbob-inc-

ShipBob, the innovator To help ecommerce businesses be more successful online, ShipBob has launched dozens of fulfillment centers across the world, dozens of integrations and partnerships with the world’s leading tech companies, and APIs for developers to build more connections into ShipBob’s

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3D PRODUCT VISUALS AND AUGMENTED REALITY FOR COMMERCE

Threekit is the visual commerce platform that accelerates enterprise growth with beautiful product visuals and world-class configuration experiences.

It is up to brands and B2B companies to innovate to deliver these experiences and set themselves apart. But selling configurable products makes these goals difficult to achieve. Showing every potential product combination using traditional photography is time consuming and cost prohibitive. Then there is the question of how to avoid massive SKU proliferation and connect the configurator to an existing tech stack.

Today’s shoppers are savvier than ever, especially when it comes to eCommerce. They want the same kind of immersive experience they get from gaming or motion pictures. They want to understand the details and nuances of the products they’re shopping for and have a say in how those products are configured.

That’s where Threekit comes in.

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Threekit has been essential in helping some of the world’s most recognizable brands – including Crate&Barrel, TaylorMade and Herman Miller – create exceptional product experiences and realize incredible ROI. As their hub for high-quality visuals, it has helped unlock massive scale and product innovation, eliminated backend clutter and the complications that stem from customizable products. As visual commerce software becomes the standard for providing amazing customer experiences, Threekit continues to set the pace with its simple motto for brands and BtoB companies across industries: “Show more, sell more.”

Threekit solves these dilemmas by providing a full end-to-end experience from real-time design through purchase and manufacture. With Threekit, brands have the ability to generate quality 3D product configurations or lifelike photorealistic renders and display their products in augmented reality. And as a comprehensive platform, Threekit enables brands to own their assets, have insight into their digital product pipeline, and break down communications silos between internal teams.

Threekit 100 S Wacker Dr Suite 450, Chicago, IL 60606 (312) 549-8882 threekit

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THE SECRET WEAPON IN WINNING THE CYBERCRIME WAR

OUR EVER-EVOLVING SOLUTION Forecheck is a SaaS platform that is committed to ensuring that the root causes of cyber security alerts are identified and remediated, making its customers increasingly resilient over time. Most cyber-attacks are not unique, yet organizations fail to learn from past attacks or organizational mistakes that caused a breach or loss event. We are steadfastly working to accomplish our vision to see all organizations become 100% resilient to repeated cyber-attacks by learning from previous cyber-attacks and using this knowledge to prevent or quickly respond to future threats. We do this by developing thoughtful, honed resiliency practices that can then be automated.

Cyber security is an arms race that is positioned to continue indefinitely. New technologies are constantly emerging to combat cyber criminals, but regardless, criminals discover how to exploit them. Managed Detection and Response (MDR) and other security-focused vendors detect many of these attacks and alert their customers and the community, as well as do initial remediation. Security patches and recommendations are developed and published, often making their way into resources of industry standards so that IT professionals can review them and implement these recommendations. The cycle is: we create ever-increasingly resilient environments through new technologies and knowledge sharing, they are exploited, and then new technologies emerge again. Rinse and repeat. Forecheck is designed to put a stop to this endless cycle.

WHY FORECHECK NEEDS TO SUCCEED You may ask, “Why should I be concerned with combating cybercrime?” The reality is the profitability of cybercrime is rapidly rising. In 2021, cybercrime cost businesses $6 trillion in damages (CyberSecurity Ventures). Bad actors do not discriminate based on industry or company size – all businesses are at risk of a cybercrime. Forecheck was started by a group of determined people at Entara, a leading eXtended Service Provider (XSP), who spent thousands upon thousands of hours working with top incident response organizations 81

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to restore breached systems. These people realized that most of the breaches they witnessed could have been prevented if the underlying resiliency actions associated with prior security alerts had been taken. Plain and simple, this ticked them off, and so they decided to do something about it. Forecheck was created to close the blatant resiliency gap that our founders saw in the incident life cycle. Forecheck analyzes attacks caused by gaps in cyber controls, reviews industry loss events, actions first time events, and executes clear response plans to close out events quickly and put those learnings into action to avoid repeated events. By doing these things, our tool automatically creates a world that is safer and more secure every day than it was yesterday.

Linda Maclachlan, Co-Founder and CEO of Forecheck

FROM CYBER VULNERABLE TO CYBER RESILIENT Our philosophy at Forecheck is that we do not give up when confronted with a tough challenge; we learn from it. Forecheck delivers long term cyber resiliency information because it is time for us to stand up to threat actors and put a stop to the endless cycle of cybercrime.

THE CREATION OF A COMMUNITY As with any widespread issue, it is important to remember that you and your organization are not alone in their fear and confusion surrounding cyber-attacks. Because of this, we are determined to bring both community as well as technology to our Forecheck users. We are creating a supportive community of well-equipped and highly knowledgeable thought leaders who can support IT professionals who do not have the knowledge or bandwidth to fully read, synthesize, and implement security best practices. Our platform will feed data into the community as we gather more and more data on cyber threats from our customers.

Claire Sullivan Marketing Director marketing@forecheck.io

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Built on the idea that “knowledge is power,” this women-owned and operated SaaS platform uses community resource networks and evidencebased referral technology to connect people to the right health and social resources through all of life’s ages and stages.

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GROUNDED IN SCIENCE NowPow is the brainchild of a team led by University of Chicago physician-scientist Stacy Lindau, MD, MAPP, who began investigating how the assets of our communities could be leveraged for health long before “social determinants of health” became an industry buzzword. Her research was predicated on the idea that health is largely determined by factors like access to nutritious food, secure housing, employment resources, and other services, like smoking cessation programs and caregiver support. To support whole person health, Lindau pioneered the concept of e-prescribing community resources through a program of research called CommunityRx. In 2012, Lindau’s University of Chicago research lab won a $5.9 million award from the U.S. Center for Medicare & Medicaid Innovation (CMMI) to pilot CommunityRx in Chicago. Over 113,000 patients received personalized e-prescriptions for community resources through the program. With increased access to resources came a decrease in Medicare inpatient stays, unplanned Medicare readmissions and Medicaid emergency department visits, according to a third party review.

WHOLE PERSON CARE ACROSS WHOLE COMMUNITIES

Healthcare innovation is often defined by radical discoveries like new vaccines or groundbreaking surgical techniques. But just as important are the innovations that reimagine how we use existing resources. These advancements make it possible for everyone to live their healthiest lives — through more equitable access to services that promote whole person care. That’s exactly the ethos behind NowPow, a personalized community referral platform born on Chicago’s South Side. NowPow builds community referral networks and leverages condition-based algorithms to provide high-quality referrals to hyperlocal resources, well-matched to a person’s demographics and needs.

To meet expectations of that grant and further promote health equity and whole person care, Lindau founded NowPow in 2014. She joined forces with social entrepreneur Rachel Kohler to launch the company out of Chicago’s Hyde Park neighborhood. In seven years, Kohler (serving as CEO) and Lindau (serving as chief innovation officer), along with a diverse team of over 140 NowPowers, built a suite of referral tools and brought them to communities in 23 states — powering over 1.5 million screenings for health-related social needs and connecting people to millions of highly matched services. 83

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GROWING TO NATIONWIDE IMPACT

While most referrals have supported basic needs like food, shelter and financial assistance, NowPow’s whole person care approach and custom, condition-based algorithms have made it possible to support many other interventions, including ones to address prenatal maternal and infant health, mental health, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, dementia, caregiving and social isolation. Alongside this growth, NowPow has remained dedicated to supporting rigorous research through CMS programs like Accountable Health Communities and Integrated Care for Kids.

NowPow partnered with UniteUs in September 2021 to accelerate the integration of health and social care. Together, the teams are bringing its market leading social care solution to communities nationwide.

NowPow is a personalized community referral platform that connects people to the resources they need to support wellbeing, meet basic needs, manage illness and care for others. NowPow builds community referral networks that promote meaningful partnerships, drive greater health equity, and deliver data to bridge gaps in community care.

BETTER ACCESS FOR ALL From the start, the NowPow team built a robust analytics architecture underneath the referral platform to capture data and generate insights on resource gaps and service inequities. That means the platform not only improves consumer knowledge of community resources, but it also improves broader knowledge of the supply and demand of community resources. This enables core clients like healthcare systems and school districts to identify macro-level trends and intervene, informing future strategy and policy decisions.

YEAR FOUNDED: 2014 FOUNDER: Stacy Lindau, MD, MAPP CEO: Rachel Kohler

NowPow 5307 S Hyde Park Blvd Chicago, IL 60615 +1-312-4702 more@nowpow.com nowpow _nowpow_

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Rheaply’s platform is helping scale the circular economy — an economic model that emphasizes keeping resources in constant circulation rather than discarding them and adding to landfills. Through its resource exchange platform, Rheaply empowers organizations to better manage, exchange, and track their material resources, helping them save money and eliminate waste while allowing employees and users to understand the sustainable impact of their procurement decisions. Rheaply’s climateforward solution is already being leveraged by Fortune 100 companies, state, local, and federal governments, small businesses, and nonprofits ready to adopt the model and practices of reuse circularity economy. Thus far, Rheaply has enabled organizations to divert over 14.5 metric tons of material waste and save $1.5 million by recapturing valuable resources internally.

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at Feinberg, he discovered silos within the university when it came to sharing physical resources. Some departments had a surplus of materials and would discard excess resources that were perfectly appropriate for reuse. Other departments were using outdated spreadsheets and incomplete listservs to source needed materials from peers, but due to a lack of resource location visibility and quantity knowledge, they purchased new ones instead. This observation sparked the idea for Rheaply, the name of which is a combination of the words “research” and “cheaply.” The platform began as a solution for higher education/research institutions. Dr. Cooper soon realized that this same problem exists in many other industries, and the company has since been continuously expanding into other verticals. The innovative nature of Rheaply’s platform has been recognized by companies, cities, publications, and awards committees. Recent honors include the Social Innovator Award from the Chicago Innovation Awards and the top prize, a $1MM investment, from Revolution’s Rise of the Rest Equity Tour Pitch Competition.

Rheaply’s beginnings trace back to when Rheaply’s co-founder and CEO, Dr. Garry Cooper, was working towards his PhD in neuroscience at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine and contributing to the ongoing Parkinson’s disease drug discovery efforts. During his time

Rheaply is working to make the world’s resources visible, easily transferable, and more valuable in our global marketplace.

The Rheaply team continues to push its platform forward, enabling new, practical applications that help people save money and reduce landfill waste. Some of the most exciting recent examples are related to government partnerships that address waste issues in the built environment. In particular, Rheaply is partnering with governments and government agencies (including the City of San Francisco and the Environmental Protection Agency) to develop infrastructure to feed data-driven deconstruction and material reuse policies. By keeping physical resources and building materials in circulation, Rheaply can shape a more competitive, resilient, and climate-positive future. As a Chicago-based company, Rheaply believes in the City of Big Shoulders. The team is committed to driving a culture of sustainability and innovation in Chicago, helping make the city a model for circularity. Adopting circularity drives economic opportunity and recovery for communities; through its platform and new partnerships, Rheaply is working to transform Chicago into a circular city and improve the lives of all Chicagoans, especially its underserved communities.

Rheaply info@rheaply.com rheaplyinc rheaply

Going forward, Rheaply’s team looks forward to continuing to find new ways to spread the benefits of the circular economy to businesses, governments, and individuals. Rheaply aims to continue developing its platform to make possible a world without waste.

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CHAPTER 5

DATA & ANALYTICS

“The best way to predict the future is to create it.” — ABRAHAM LINCOLN

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WAVICLE DATA SOLUTIONS MAKES SMART PEOPLE EVEN SMARTER THROUGH THE POWER OF DATA AND ANALYTICS. Wavicle Data Solutions is a nimble consulting firm that focuses 100% on providing end-to-end data and analytics strategy, services, and support. Thanks to its deep technical expertise,business acumen, and proprietary accelerators Wavicle is able to help its clients drastically reduce the time, cost, and risk of collecting, analyzing, and acting on large volumes of data. Our rapidly growing roster of clients trusts Wavicle to help them solve their most complex business issues while keeping their data clean and secure.

A new approach to data and analytics consulting ensures companies get value from their data faster and more costeffectively. Companies, excited by the promise of the cloud and the plethora of data and analytics technologies available, often discover too late that implementing these solutions and utilizing them to their full potential is much more difficult than they expected.

Clients were able to quickly realize results and build business cases for further data and analytics investments. As Wavicle clients’ success grew, so did Wavicle.

Naveen Venkatapathi and Niyaz Kamookagath founded Wavicle Data Solutions in 2013 to help companies address these challenges.

Wavicle has been recognized by Inc. 500 as one of the fastest-growing private companies inAmerica in 2021, 2020, and 2019. The company has been named one of Chicago’s fastest-growing companies in 2021 and 2020 by Crain’s Chicago Business and a Chicago Tribune TopWorkplace.

After working as data and analytics consultants at global organizations for over a decade, they saw an opportunity to improve the traditional professional services model and help companies get more value from their cloud data and analytics investments.

Every day, Wavicle helps clients utilize cloud-based data and analytics to drive innovation-from identifying opportunities that deliver a better customer experience to streamlining processes and improving product quality.

They hired expert consultants, architects, engineers, engagement managers, and data scientists with deep technical expertise and strong business knowledge to build innovative,repeatable accelerators and frameworks.

Wavicle also takes pride in being innovators that take a different approach to traditional consultants. Many professional services firms build solutions from scratch for each client. This is analogous to putting together furniture with a standard screwdriver. Wavicle knows power tools get the job done

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faster and more efficiently. That’s why they invest in building repeatable accelerators and frameworks that drastically cut the time and costs of migrating to the cloud, managing data quality, and securing privacy data.

Wavicle is proud to call Chicago home and even prouder to be one of its top workplaces Chicago has an amazing, diverse talent pool. Wavicle has been tremendously lucky to hire exceptional people in this city. The Chicago area is also home to several Fortune 1000 companies and a thriving technology sector, which is great for building relationships and forging partnerships. Wavicle works with many Chicago-based companies across industries like manufacturing to restaurants to the public sector.

Data-driven companies will deliver a better customer experience and outpace the competition

Naveen Venkatapathi, Founder and President Wavicle Data Solutions Anthony Lempelius info@wavicledata.com wavicle-data-solutions WavicleDataLLC Wavicle Data Solutions

Virtually every company looking to grow its market share is investing in personalization and analytics to improve the customer experience. While it may feel like the cloud and AI are old stories, the reality is that only a small percentage of companies are really using these tools effectively.Wavicle is excited to help companies adopt the right strategies, technologies, and analytical models needed to drive innovative approaches and grow their business.

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Organize data. Discover the truth. Act on it.

data continues to grow, we’re finding more ways in more industries to get people the information they need. Because at Relativity, we are connectors. We connect people to information—and people to each other— to make sure the truth is never out of reach. We believe when powerful technology and engaged users mesh, we can all grow together.

Relativity’s platform is used by thousands of organizations around the world to manage large volumes of data and quickly identify key issues during litigation, internal investigations, and compliance projects. Relativity has more than 300,000 users in 40+ countries serving thousands of organizations globally primarily in legal, financial services and government sectors, including the U.S. Department of Justice and 198 of the Am Law 200. Relativity has been named one of Chicago’s Top Workplaces by the Chicago Tribune for 10 consecutive years.

Today, we’re a team of more than 1,100 people living and working around the world, united by one mission: to help our customers organize data, discover the truth, and act on it. And we’re just getting started.

Our Story Our People

We built Relativity in 2001 to improve the manual process of legal discovery. But the more problems we solved, the more opportunity we saw. With so much information being produced, we realized that the truth—the facts that matter—is hard to find. And as unstructured

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a culture of belonging, where everyone brings their authentic selves to work and feels celebrated, included, and positioned for success.

Though we’re based in Chicago, we’ve grown into a global company, with offices in London, Krakow, Melbourne, and employees working remotely in additional locations. But we’ll never leave our hometown, where we’ve helped create the foundation for tech growth in what’s become known as the Silicon Prairie. We can’t wait to see what the future holds.

Our Work The work we do isn’t always easy, but that’s what makes it fun. Security. Machine learning. Artificial intelligence. It all comes together in Relativity, and we work hard to get it right. We refuse to be stagnant. That means constant learning, from our customers and our teammates, and continuous growth.

Our Home We believe giving back isn’t a choice—it’s a responsibility. We got our start in Chicago, and it’s an important part of who we are. Our community outreach efforts were borne from seeing how we could use our unique skills to help our city, particularly with access to technology. Now, our community outreach program works to ensure that youth in all our communities have access to the technology, equipment, and training they need to be successful in today’s work environment.

Relativity sales@relativity.com +1-312-263-1177

relativityhq RelativityHQ relativity.hq

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Uptake is the premier industrial intelligence company that increases productivity, safety, and reliability of heavy machinery and critical assets.

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OUR CUSTOMERS Uptake’s works with industrial businesses across the globe that own and operate heavy equipment, with a specific focus on transportation and fleet, energy, manufacturing, mining, and dealer industries.

OUR COMPANY and PLATFORM Uptake’s vision is to create a world that always works: One where people and machines work together to power the world. These are the machines that light our homes, take us to new places, and create more prosperity than ever imagined.

For an average heavy duty commercial trucking or vocational vehicle, we can deliver as much as $1,250 per vehicle per year in savings through easily quantifiable reduced maintenance costs, which is about a 3 times return on investment on its own. We can deliver another $750 per vehicle per year through improved vehicle availability and health, for a combined 5 times return on investment. And by including the value of increased fleet productivity and growth enabled by Uptake, up to a 7 times return on investment can be achieved.

Today’s world is data-rich—we know data is vast and valuable, yet most remains untapped. Industrial machines and equipment create billions of data points, and a shocking 1% of those data are actually used. Uptake sees this as an opportunity to harness unused and unorganized data, make sense of it, and provide insights to heavy industry operators. The Uptake platform ingests data from machines—from sensors, fault codes, and work orders—and applies machine learning (ML) and artificial intelligence (AI) to make operational recommendations. We help our customers: • increase the availability of their assets • increase the productivity of their assets and people • analyze the total cost of ownership and financial value of assets and existing business.

In the rail industry, Uptake has created $160k in value per locomotive per year for our Class 1 North American customer. Here’s how that breaks down: Through predictive maintenance we’ve reduced delay time by 0.5 failures per locomotive per year, resulting in $20k of value per locomotive per year. In the service facility, we’ve reduced shop time by 10+ days annually, resulting in $80k of value per locomotive per year. In the yard, we reduce train building time by 1+ hour per train, resulting in $60k of value per locomotive per year. 93

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Berkshire Hathaway Energy uses Uptake to reduce unplanned downtime and boost AEP (annual energy production) of their wind farms. Uptake has delivered 1% annual AEP improvement at each wind farm site, which is enough additional energy to power homes in Chicago for one year. This improvement is equivalent to 214.2 million pounds of burned coal or 194,430 metric tons of CO2. THE FUTURE We’re just at the beginning of the Fourth Industrial Revolution and there’s a not-sodistant future where AI will permeate all parts of our lives, impacting the way we interact with the world around us. Industrial assets will all be connected, eventually leading to autonomous machinery and vehicles. This evolution requires operational leaders and frontline workers to not only rethink the systems and tools they use, but the processes they’re putting in place for a prosperous future. Uptake is tailor-made for this future.

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OUR FOUNDER Uptake’s Founder and CEO is entrepreneur, Brad Keywell, who has taken on and disrupted massive industries from logistics to e-commerce and beyond. Keywell is a founding investor of Tempus and cofounder of Groupon, Echo Global Logistics, MediaOcean, Drivin, and the Chicago-based venture capital firm, Lightbank. Keywell was recently named the 2019 EY World Entrepreneur of the Year™. MILESTONES & ACCOMPLISHMENTS: Uptake has been recognized for leadership in AI and industrial IoT (IIoT), including: • World Economic Forum, Technology Pioneer • CNBC Disruptor 50 (2019, 2018, 2017) • Forbes Cloud 100 (2019, 2018, 2017) • Forbes America’s Most Promising Artificial Intelligence Companies • BloombergNEF New Energy PioneerMorgan Scott, Director of Communications

+1-312-242-2200 info@uptake.com uptake

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CHAPTER 6

TECHNOLOGY & MANUFACTURING

“They always say time changes things, but you actually have to change them yourself.” — ANDY WARHOL

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Manufacturer of LCD 2.0TM, a breakthrough display technology revolutionizing a $130B industry.

The talented team behind Azumo is passionate about the work they do and finds ways to have fun while doing it.

glare on the screen was so bad or you maxed out the display brightness only to find your battery dead hours earlier than planned. Many people don’t realize that the #1 power drain in most mobile electronics is the display. The reason is because the lighting of the display is fighting with your surroundings. Bright surroundings = bright display = more energy consumed. Not only is constant recharging an annoyance but it is becoming increasingly more important to energy-conscious consumers.

LCD 2.0TM uses Azumo’s embedded front lighting technology to save up to 90% energy consumption in mobile devices.

Displays have become ubiquitous in our society. We find them in smartphones, tablets, laptops, TVs, drive through restaurants, ATM machines, thermostats, gas station pumps… the list is endless. Even still, there are notable negative impacts of displays which we have become accustomed to – excessive power consumption, subpar viewability in bright sunlight, and poor health effects.

To solve this problem, Azumo developed a technology that is enabling the future of LCD. Their advanced materials work alongside existing LCD manufacturing processes and makes these displays more energy efficient, more effective at viewing in the sun, and provides both adults and children with a more natural way to look at our screens. As a growthstaged Chicago startup, Azumo has built a global supply chain anchored in the Midwest and has amassed a strong patent portfolio with over 60+ patents globally.

Azumo’s mission is to deliver on the promise of LCD 2.0 to make displays more energy-efficient, effective, and eye-safe for all.

Azumo displays, named LCD 2.0TM, have now been installed in over 300,000 units and have been improving user experience and extending battery life on devices ranging from consumer electronics, medical devices, industrial applications, and beyond.

LCD 2.0TM combines the benefits of a Kindle display (easy to see in the sun, multi-week battery life, easy on the eyes for extended viewing) with all the benefits of an iPad display (full color, video, high resolution).

How it Works & Why LCD2.0TM is so important

Have you ever tried working on your laptop on your deck during a bright, sunny day? Or tried reading a text message on your phone while walking on the sidewalk? If you’re like many of us, you either gave up because the

In the display world, there are three types of display technologies Emissive, Transmissive, and Reflective. Emissive displays (OLED and

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Similar to how a Kindle e-book works, Azumo displays are easily seen in bright outdoor environments (right). Traditional displays used in many mobile devices (left) are hard to read in bright sunlight.

MicroLED) emit light when electricity is applied to their material. As ambient light gets brighter, the display must get brighter to be visible. Azumo by the numbers in 2022

Transmissive displays are dominated by LCDs. Pixels within traditional LCDs operate like shutters, opening and closing to either allow light through or block it altogether. A backlight, which is a glowing LED panel, is behind the LCD to push the light through the pixels. This approach has been used for decades but only allows 7% of the light through, meaning 90%+ is trapped behind the pixels - a complete waste of energy! This gets even worse when the LCD must go outside and be seen in direct sunlight.

Winners of 2020 Chicago Innovation Award 2021 FastCompany’s “Next Big Things in Tech”

Company Values To overcome this power drain, LCD manufacturers created the third category of displays - Reflective. They removed the backlight and replaced it with reflective material allowing the display to work by using reflected light from the ambient environment. This reduces power consumption by over 90% compared to Emissive or Transmissive displays! The Kindle e-reader is an example of a reflective display, which looks great in the sun and has a 3+ week battery life.

We are Pioneers We relentlessly pursue innovation and bold ideas, adapting to changing technologies and markets. We explore, experiment, and solve tough problems with distinctive creativity. We are Passionate We are focused and upbeat, driving to results quickly. Our team is excited about the work we do, finds ways to have fun while doing it, and strives for ways to be and do better.

The challenge with Reflective LCDs is that the industry hasn’t been able to produce a way to light the display in the dark. Reflective LCDs require extremely precise front lighting in order to work and a solution has never been found. Until Azumo...

We are Customer-Centric We view the world through our customers’ perspective to become their trusted partner. We listen, understand, and advance their goals to provide simple solutions for complex problems.

Azumo’s technology can deliver light from a single LED through their patented optical material. This enables the full promise of LCD 2.0TM -- combining all the benefits of a Kindle display (easy to see in the sun, multi-week battery life, easy on the eyes for extended viewing) with all the benefits of an iPad display (full color, video, high resolution).

info@azumotech.com 773-295-0305 azumotech FLExLighting

This is a game changer for the display industry and is coming at a crucial time for society as we find ourselves working/reading/learning from anywhere and everywhere.

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Invention and Entrepreneurship run in the family

Dan Brown Jr. (left) and Dan Brown Sr. (right) share a mission of championing small business, entrepreneurship, American manufacturing, and inventors’ rights

INSTASHIELD FILLS PPE SHORTAGE, DONATES 1 MILLION SHIELDS TO PEOPLE IN NEED 1 million face shields through 24 non-profits in nine states. “It was rewarding to work with the United Way and UPS to help so many communities in this time of crisis,” said Dan Jr. InstaShield won a 2020 Chicago Innovation Award for its response to COVID-19.

InstaShield™ is a new kind of face shield that ships flat and is folded to fit over a cap or visor. The company was founded in March 2020 by Dan Brown Jr. to help fill the nation’s PPE shortage during the COVID-19 pandemic. Dan Jr. collaborated with his father, inventor Dan Brown Sr., to develop a high-quality, American-made face shield that could be quickly mass-produced and efficiently distributed to essential workers and consumers.

In addition to running InstaShield and LoggerHead Tools, a handtool company founded by Dan Sr., Dan Jr. is an advocate for patent reform. He regularly meets with legislators and other influencers to propose changes to patent law. He also recently created a petition to encourage Amazon to provide a “Made in USA” search filter so consumers can easily find American-made products on its site (wewantmadeinusa.com).

Within seven months, InstaShield sold over 1 million shields directly to customers through website sales and then donated 1 million shields to people in need through its Million-Shield Challenge. The company partnered with UPS, United Way, and other organizations to distribute

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Launched InstaShield in April 2020

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MILESTONES Launched InstaShield in April 2020 Through its social media campaign, sold 1 million face shields directly to consumers in less than seven months Donated 1 million face shields worth $3.9 million through non-profits across the U.S. Won a 2020 Chicago Innovation Award for its response to COVID-19 Featured on ABC World News, Fox News Chicago, CBS News Detroit, CBS News St. Louis, Chicago Tribune, Inc., and Forbes

Instashield InstaShield instashieldusa

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LOGGERHEAD TOOLS: Award-Winning American Innovation LoggerHead Tools’ mission is to create innovative hand tools manufactured in America. The company’s flagship product is the Bionic Wrench™, a tool that combines the convenience of pliers with the performance of a wrench. The company launched the Bionic Wrench at the National Hardware Show in 2005 and has since sold 3 million wrenches worldwide. The Bionic Wrench has won 10 international design awards and is the basis for several LoggerHead Tools product designs.

Dan Brown Jr. and Dan Brown Sr. of LoggerHead Tools.

LoggerHead Tools was founded by Dan Brown Sr., a serial inventor with the goal of manufacturing products in the United States using 100 percent American components and labor. He hopes the commercial success of the Bionic Wrench will encourage other companies to do the same. Today Dan Sr. is a professor of product design at Northwestern University, where he inspires students to create their own inventions. He holds over 40 patents and was inducted into the Inventor Hall of Fame in 2020. The U.S. Secretary of Commerce recently appointed him to the Patent Public Advisory Committee, part of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. In this role, he advocates for the rights of independent inventors and supports efforts to fight patent piracy. LoggerHead Tools is led by his son, Dan Brown Jr. As president of LoggerHead Tools, Dan Jr. has sold over $50 million in retail sales with major retailers and appears on QVC as a guest host to sell LoggerHead Tools products. He has also developed successful national television infomercials for LoggerHead Tools.

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MILESTONES Launched the Bionic Wrench in 2005 at the National Hardware Show and won the prestigious Popular Mechanics Editor’s Choice Award at the event Won the Chicago Innovation Award and over 10 international design awards Launched several other tools based on the Bionic Wrench patent Sold over 3 million wrenches worldwide Featured in The Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Businessweek, Time, and television programs such as ABC World News Tonight and FOX & Friends

Loggerhead Tools LoggerHeadTools BionicWrench

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SOUND IS OUR BUSINESS

Good sound is fine for some people. But at Shure, we’re only interested in delivering sound experiences that immerse and inspire you. The company tagline “Sound Extraordinary” tells you everything you need to know about Shure, in our products and in our enduring legacy across the world’s stage. But, the real story of Shure is the countless number of lives that have been touched by our technology. From World War II soldiers who relied on Shure microphones to save lives and win battles, to the droves of concert-goers and music fans who draw inspiration from the power of music, Shure’s impact has been widereaching since the company’s inception in 1925 in downtown Chicago. Shure products deliver brilliant performances for legendary artists and musicians as well as audio professionals worldwide.

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HISTORY OF INNOVATION In every market segment and product category, Shure has consistently produced innovative products that have become industry benchmarks.

We serve customers involved in every aspect of audio, whether as a business or as a hobby, with hundreds of products for a variety of applications, including: • • • • • • •

Live sound and recording Broadcast and media production Videography and filmmaking Audio Visual and Information Technology Podcasting and digital content creation Installed sound Personal listening

WHERE WE RESONATE Our customers include the people in the spotlight, as well as the technicians and engineers behind the scenes. Here is a sampling of places where you are likely to hear our products in action: On Stage – Shure microphones are used on virtually all major concert tours. Our wireless mics and personal monitor systems are standard equipment for performers. In Command – The White House Communications Agency has used Shure SM57 microphones for the presidential lectern since 1965. On the Air – Shure products are used by every major broadcast network to produce special events like the Super Bowl, the Olympics, the GRAMMY’s, and the Academy Awards, as well as news and entertainment shows. On the Job – Shure audio equipment for meeting rooms and conferencing are present in corporate boardrooms, large and small. On the Go – Shure products enable people to consume and create content from anywhere with premium listening offerings and portable digital microphones.

HONORS, AWARDS, AND ENDORSEMENTS Shure has received numerous honors and awards and has a large artist endorser family. • Shure artist endorsers include Jennifer Lopez, Maroon 5, The Who, Luke Bryan, TobyMac, and Shinedown, among other reputable musicians. • The Shure Unidyne received the IEEE Milestone Award from the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers in 2014. • In 2003, Shure received a special GRAMMY® award for our technical contributions to the music industry. • The Unidyne II microphone was featured on the 1992 ‘Elvis’ U.S. postage stamp. • Shure received the Frost & Sullivan 2016 North America Company of the Year Award for Professional and Commercial Microphones. IT’S TIME TO BE EXTRAORDINARY From our humble beginnings as a small operation in Chicago in 1925 to a global leader with various products sold in 120 countries, Shure has made a significant impact on the world. Whether our customer is a musician, audio engineer, lecturer, broadcaster, videographer, AV integrator, content creator, or simply a music lover, Shure has an innovative audio product to exceed their expectations. With whatever stage users step onto—be it conference room or concert hall—Shure empowers them with the proven audio innovation and engineering they need to make extraordinary happen. Shure Incorporated 5800 West Touhy Avenue Niles, Illinois 60714-4608, USA +1-847-600-2000 brunner_mark@shure.com

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Here are just a few of the many Shure innovations: • The Model 55 Unidyne was the first unidirectional microphone with a single dynamic element. The unique styling of the 55 Series has been featured in countless videos, movies, and ads. • The Vagabond 88 was the first wireless microphone system for performers. • The M3D brought stereophonic into the home, at a time when millions of people were discovering high-fidelity sound. • Offering the right combination of rugged reliability and excellent sound quality, the SM58® microphone was adopted by rock and roll musicians and became the industry standard for live vocal performance. The SM58 celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2016 and remains the most popular vocal microphone in the world. • The Vocal Master combined a mixer and power amplifier in one portable unit, greatly simplifying P.A. system setup and operation. • PSM® Personal Monitor Systems dominate the market for “in-ear” monitoring systems. • SE Earphones defined the market for premium, “in-ear” earphones with Sound Isolating™ technology, a variety of cable configurations, and unique sound signatures. • The Axient Digital Wireless Management Network is the world’s leading wireless system with intelligent hardware and software to detect and avoid interference. • The KSM8 Dualdyne™ is a dual-diaphragm dynamic handheld microphone featuring a patented cartridge design with ultra-thin diaphragms and groundbreaking reverse airflow technology. • MOTIV™ Digital microphones and recording solutions deliver great sound quality anywhere. • KSE1500 Electrostatic Earphone System features the world’s first electrostatic Sound Isolating™ earphones. • Microflex® Advance™ is a revolutionary ceiling and table array microphone system for AV conferencing. • AONIC Wireless Noise-Cancelling headphones and True Wireless Sound Isolating™ earphones offer music lovers, audiophiles, and musicians a premium listening experience.

ASCENT LEVERAGING CHICAGO’S THRIVING TECH COMMUNITY TO REVOLUTIONIZE REGULATORY COMPLIANCE From a regulatory standpoint, the world has historically viewed the tasks of spurring business and protecting consumers as diametrically opposed. Under-regulation is required to give businesses the freedom necessary to generate real value and profit. But this all too often comes at the expense of the consumer, who often relies on the shield of regulation to be protected — thus leading to an environment of over-regulation. As a capital markets regulator, Ascent Founder Brian Clark witnessed this problematic dichotomy firsthand. He saw how underregulation spurred risk-taking and lax compliance practices that helped inflate the

bubble, leading to the 2008 global financial meltdown. And then, in the ensuing fallout, he watched the pendulum swing too far the other way, drowning businesses in complex regulation that it couldn’t afford to follow. What if there was a way to make it easier for businesses to comply with the law, unlocking both opportunity and wealth without compromising consumer protection? What if it were possible to create a world that’s not constricted, but instead empowered by the rule of law? This is the mission of Ascent. Part of the growing Regulatory Technology–or RegTech– 105

industry, Ascent merges AI-driven technology with human expertise to help highly regulated industries effectively manage regulatory change and risk. Half a decade ago, Brian Clark brought his idea — to use the power of artificial intelligence to revolutionize regulatory compliance — to University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business. Through the New Venture Challenge accelerator program, he started building the framework of what would become the business. When he asked if there was office space he could use to start bringing his concept to life, he was given a windowless “study room” in the basement of Booth’s Gleacher Center.

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This less-than-illustrious location soon became the central hub for a small team of data scientists, engineers, and attorneys as they took on an imposing but deeply important challenge: building an AI-powered platform that streamlines the most tedious and error-prone parts of compliance, bogging down Risk and Compliance teams and exposing their businesses to risk. The team began to seed the market with their concept and draw interest both from customers and investors. Nourished by the blossoming tech and entrepreneurial communities in Chicago, the technology began to develop and the team lead by CEO Jon Leitner, started to grow.

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Now, tens of millions in funding later, Ascent is has caught fire. We’ve graduated from a windowless basement to a high-rise in Chicago’s Loop and have grown to a team of over fifty employees — led by experts across tech, compliance, and regulation. With customers including global banks and other Tier 1 and Tier 2 financial firms across the globe and with relationships with regulators worldwide, Ascent is now able to provide real, meaningful change for its customers. Now positioned as a market leader and armed with powerful, innovative solutions, Ascent is realizing its mission of revolutionizing the world of regulatory compliance and helping create a world that’s not restricted, but empowered by the rule of law.

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CSC CORPTAX — MORE THAN 45 YEARS OF TAX TECHNOLOGY INNOVATION

Our customers and team members working together at the Feed My Starving Children volunteer event. We’ve packed more than 700,000 meals together so far! “Everyone at CSC Corptax is passionate about making our customers successful and strengthening the CSC Corptax community,” says CEO Rod Ward.

CSC Corptax® provides technology-based tax solutions to corporate tax departments worldwide. We transform tax reporting for clients through software, business process expertise, and award-winning support, helping them achieve breakthrough performance using the first and only single system on the market for end-to-end tax. Our unmatched automation aligns tax processes, enhances speed and transparency, improves analytics, and lowers risk across the tax life cycle. CSC Corptax solutions support companies across 100 countries, including 50% of the Fortune 500® and 60% of the Fortune 100®.

“We’re more than the technology our customers rely on—we’re an extension of what they do. The foundation for that is continually working to improve the work environment for our people.”

Culture and careers We’re proud to be a forward-thinking software company that uses the latest tools to shape our industry. We strive to create products that reflect the current tax environment—giving us relevance and long-term stability. Our employees are driven, creative, and tenacious. Instead of creating barriers, we encourage new ideas and collaboration. We invest in employee development through mentorship, ongoing education, and on-the-job learning. Colleagues and leaders are encouraged to share their

Our story In a market dominated by startups, we’re truly unique—a technology company that has thrived on innovation, agility, and outstanding customer service for more than 45 years. We’re headquartered in the Chicago area with locations throughout the U.S., and we challenge ourselves to take the work out of workflow for our clients. 107

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The CSC Corptax team at our CONNECT users’ conference

Our experts train customers on the latest CSC Corptax software updates

Our headquarters in Buffalo Grove, Illinois

expertise, learn from mistakes, and work together to come up with new ways to solve challenges.

At CSC Corptax, we live our values of service, teamwork, tenacity, agility, and being genuine

Our workplaces are casual, and we support work-life balance with flexible schedules and remote work options so all associates bring their best selves to work every day. We’ve consistently been named a top workplace in the Illinois and Chicago areas as a result of positive employee feedback. We encourage giving back to local communities. Our employees participate in charitable activities, such as packing meals for the Feed My Starving Children initiative to support malnourished children around the world; helping low-income Chicagoans prepare their taxes; and participating in food and clothing drives. CSC Corptax corptax corptaxsoftware

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TERA

ENABLING INNOVATION THROUGH A DISRUPTIVE NANOFABRICATION TECHNOLOGY. Meet The TERA-Fab® E Series 2.0

TERA-print is a nanotechnology company that is unlocking the power of ultrahigh precision prototyping with their innovative desktop nanoprinters. This technology is disrupting the way next-generation come to life, such as miniaturized sensors 1/100 th the size of your fingernail, highly accurate diagnostic tests for diseases from cancer to Alzheimer’s, and model organs-on-a-chip that behave just like the ones in your body. Existing ultra-highly precise nanofabrication technologies were originally developed for the semiconductor industry and are largely incompatible with biological materials, and, as a result are not applicable to the broader community of scientists and engineers. Furthermore, these technologies impose tradeoffs between fabrication precision and speed, which can stifle innovation in many respects. TERA-print’s technology enables researchers to utilize a wide spectrum of desirable materials faster and cheaper than ever before, while also promising to revolutionize ultrahighprecision prototyping in a similar way 3D printing has transformed manufacturing. TERA-print’s technology democratizes access to the nanoscale breaking a longstanding barrier for a wide range of researchers where this type 109

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Prism Awards, Caption Caption

of technology was previously inaccessible. In doing so, allowing the development of a new generation of functional devices for a wide variety of applications, significantly cutting time from concept to product. For example, the next at-home virus test, health monitoring feature on your Apple watch, or a revolutionary anti-aging drug may all start with TERA-print’s innovative technology. These tools are already being used by academic, government, and industry researchers in 7 countries on 3 continents. TERA-print’s tools have been recognized by the world’s biggest optics and photonics organization, the International Society for Optics and Photonics (SPIE), by winning the 2020 Prism award in the Life Sciences category. More recently, TERA-print’s tools won the 2021 Chicago Innovation award for best new technology. In both competitions TERA-print was competing against multi-billion-dollar companies. The company’s technology has spawned new business opportunities with VC-backed companies, drawing interest from some of the world’s largest corporations in the agriculture, biotechnology, energy, and chemical Industries.

TERA-print sales@teraprint.us TERAprintnano TERA_print TERA-print-llc

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MAKING NEW THINGS POSSIBLE BY TRANSFORMING MANUFACTURING AND SUPPLY CHAINS FOR THE DIGITAL AGE.

Fast Radius has microfactories in Chicago — on Goose Island and in the West Loop — where we make end-use parts for customers using CNC machining and additive processes like Carbon Digital Light Synthesis™.

OUR STORY With industry-leading advanced manufacturing expertise and a Cloud Manufacturing Platform that makes it easy to manage every stage of the product lifecycle, we’re proud to help our customers turn ideas into reality. Between our domestic microfactories and global network of vetted production partners, we manufacture parts with Carbon Digital Light Synthesis™, HP Multi Jet Fusion, Formlabs Stereolithography, Stratasys Fused Deposition Modeling, CNC machining, injection molding, and urethane casting.

Fast Radius is a leading cloud manufacturing company. Our Cloud Manufacturing Platform™ is a first-of-its-kind solution that provides end-to-end solutions for manufacturers to design, make, and move parts in an easier, more accessible, and more sustainable way. Founded in 2017, Fast Radius is headquartered in Chicago with offices in Atlanta, Louisville, and Singapore.

WHAT WE DO We offer a range of manufacturing services to make parts — at small or large scale — with numerous advanced and traditional manufacturing methods. Our customers access our manufacturing services and global network of factories via our Fast Radius portal, where they gain insights and recommendations around manufacturability, cost, and materials, along with visibility into the production process.

OUR MINDSET At Fast Radius, we make new things possible. Manufacturing is important, not just for the things it makes, but for the things it makes possible for the world. What engineers design and produce keeps us safe, healthy, and connected around the world. Fast Radius is on a mission to change manufacturing and logistics for the better. Our Cloud Manufacturing 111

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Our team of manufacturing engineers works with customers like Rawlings Sporting Goods to optimize designs and ensure parts meet specifications.

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Local Chicago team members gather for a summer celebration.

Design and development engineers help customers like Aptiv develop new products with innovative engineering and manufacturing technologies. Platform and expert team make the entire process smarter and easier, so our customers can develop and deliver better parts with more flexible and sustainable methods.

Expert engineers and technicians help businesses take advantage of the new opportunities for part consolidation, lightweighting, and more with 3D printing.

Our shared values guide our work and bind us together as a team. At Fast Radius, we Drive impact in everything we do. We are bold, focus on customer solutions, and take action to create change. Make excellence possible. We act as one team, make each other better, and work together for an inclusive workspace. Pioneer new paths. We embrace change, experiment fearlessly, and challenge what’s possible. Embrace the high bar. We expect excellence, hold ourselves accountable, act ethically, and put safety first.

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IMAGINE IF EVERY ONLINE CUSTOMER ENGAGED WITH YOUR BEST AMBASSADOR... THE LEADING-EDGE MACHINE LEARNING PLATFORM FOR DIALOGUE.

Our History XSELL Technologies was founded in 2014 by CEO Matt Coughlin, who previously ran world- class sales teams for Disney, Apple, and other large brands. Upon founding XSELL, he posed the question: “What if every customer engaged with your best ambassador? What would your brand look like?” He teamed up with CTO Mark Stoehr, a PhD candidate of Computer Science at the University of Chicago, to uncover the answer and build software that would change the way we engage with brands today. In August 2017, XSELL began its relationship with strategic partner, SYKES Enterprises, Inc., a publicly- traded global BPO firm based out of Tampa, Florida. The partnership creates next-generation capability for data labeling and machine learning that will allow clients to quickly capture actionable data insights and results.

An Innovative Technology Leader XSELL Technologies is the Machine Learning platform for Dialogue. XSELL focuses on driving exceptional customer engagement and long-term digital transformations for our clients, all while delivering improved sales, service outcomes and enterprise data insights. Their AI is powered by leadingedge Machine Learning Algorithms focused on understanding human conversation using natural language processing. XSELL Technologies has a unique AI philosophy, that distinguishes us in the marketplace. We believe in augmentation, not automation; humans and AI are better together than either is on their own.

“Looking into the near future, XSELL Technologies has reaffirmed its commitment to Chicago, announcing the company’s plan to hire more than 500 team members over the next three years.”

XSELL Technologies has maintained a direct focus on expansion and growth within recent years, opening a second corporate office within the Chicago area. With these efforts, the corporate team tripled in size. During the recent expansion members of the Xsell board, such as Cathal McCarthy who previously ran world-wide sales and customer care for Apple, joined the company bringing even more focus and life to Xsell’s customer-first mindset. 113

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The HiPer Platform The XSELL platform is a leading-edge Augmented Intelligence and digital engagement platform that supercharges sales and service agents through chat, messaging and phone. Carefully built within four innovative products-Voice Cobot, Chat Cobot , Smartbot, and QABot-it helps companies effectively answer consumer inquiries and carefully make personalized recommendations-therby removing painful interactions,enriching the digital experince, and propagating expertise. We are proud to have a 100% success rate, producing robust results for clients across the eCommerce, healthcare, financial, and telecom industries. With each AI-enhanced interaction, XSELL’s clients benefit from increased conversion rates, larger AOV, greater brand loyalty, and an elevated consumer experience. Making an Impact with Local and Global Talent Headquartered in Chicago, the team includes skilled technology experts including data scientists, engineers, and ontologists, as well as respected business professionals with skills in sales, operations, and business development. The majority of our talent pool comes from some of the most renowned programs worldwide including the University of Chicago, DePaul University, University of Illinois at Chicago and Northwestern University. As a proud member of Chicago’s local technology hub, XSELL Technologies has used local talent to its advantage in order to grow quickly and efficiently, contribute to the company’s networking across verticals, as well as maintaining a motivated and inclusive company culture. In early 2019 the rapidly growing technology leader was recognized by Chicago Mayor Rahm Emmanual and Andres Zapp, CEO of World Business Chicago, for its tremendous growth and job creation. Looking into the near future, XSELL Technologies has reaffirmed its commitment to Chicago, announcing the company’s plan to hire more than 500 team members in their headquarters office over the next three years. XSELL Technologies contactus@xselltechnologies.com XSELL Technologies xsell_tech

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“Ultimately, progress and innovation win.” — TRAVIS KALANICK

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At MATTER, we help people and organizations transform ideas into solutions that improve the healthcare experience.

In 2013, under the auspices of Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, a group of entrepreneurs came together to build a stronger healthcare entrepreneurial ecosystem. At the time, Chicago had a $50 billion healthcare and life sciences industry, which included 91 hospitals, six medical schools, more than 500,000 healthcare jobs and nearly 60,000 students studying in a related field at local universities — not to mention a vibrant startup community.

At MATTER — a global innovation hub headquartered in Chicago — entrepreneurs come together with industry leaders, scientists and clinicians from across the globe to collaborate on developing nextgeneration healthcare technologies. We believe that collaboration between entrepreneurs and industry leaders is the fastest, most effective way to accelerate innovation, advance care and improve lives.

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Chicago did not, however, have a home for the healthcare community: the large companies were scattered across a wide urban and suburban area; the startups were spread across the city; and there was no community infrastructure to bring them all together to foster collaboration and innovation. Chicago was lacking the key ingredient for a successful healthcare innovation ecosystem: the ability for entrepreneurs to easily find mentors, advisors, investors and partners, and to access educational resources to build their skills. In 2014, the State of Illinois provided $4 million to build a hub for the healthcare community. Civic leaders and area businesses came together to provide early operational support that allowed the project to get off the ground. MATTER opened in February 2015 with 30 startup companies, a handful of corporate partners and a few programs. Today, MATTER has grown to a global innovation hub that includes hundreds of startup and growth stage companies 118

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from around the world, dozens of corporate partners and a diverse array of programs supporting healthcare entrepreneurship and innovation. Our startups range from those that are barely more than ideas, to companies with millions of dollars in revenue and dozens of employees. Our partners represent every sector of healthcare.

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for very specific reasons. They have familial connections to the healthcare industry or have been touched in deeply personal ways by situations that have drawn them to think deeply about health and healthcare. They didn’t stumble into healthcare but rather were drawn to it. They are incredibly passionate not just about building businesses, but about building businesses that will make the world healthier. Most will not be satisfied building companies in other industries. They are passionate about health and healthcare, and about doing something that matters.

Do something that matters MATTER’s name was inspired by interviews with dozens of entrepreneurs. We found that, like all entrepreneurs, those in healthcare want to change the world, be their own bosses and participate in the economic upside that can come with entrepreneurship.

Our model Complex challenges like those in healthcare cannot be solved in silos, so everything we do is designed to create opportunities for authentic

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Startups get feedback early and often so they understand what problems to solve and how to design and scale the right solutions; established institutions learn to think and operate more like entrepreneurs so they’re better able to rapidly adopt new ideas and technologies; and the broader healthcare community has the opportunity to elevate important ideas, insights and perspectives to inspire more expansive thinking and creative problem-solving. With this model as the foundation, our community is a neutral platform where entrepreneurs can come together with industry leaders, scientists and clinicians from across the globe to collaborate on developing nextgeneration healthcare and life sciences technologies. All told, our member startup companies have raised $1.3 billion to fuel their growth. Their products — which span health IT, medical device, diagnostics and therapeutics — have been used by nearly one million clinicians and have benefitted more than 117 million people. And we’ve developed more than 130 strategic programs with our corporate partners to help solve healthcare’s most pressing challenges. For organizations like the ones featured in this chapter, being part of a community like MATTER can make or break a company’s success. In this complex industry, the ability to not only access, but also build relationships with other entrepreneurs, innovators from established organizations, patient advocates and clinicians, is one of MATTER’s most important strengths.

collaboration between people and organizations who share our commitment to improving life and lives. Our non-profit, no-equity model includes three core components that work together to foster community and accelerate healthcare innovation. We are a startup incubator, community nexus and corporate innovation accelerator. Together, these core functions create a virtuous cycle to fuel health innovation and build a strong community that spans industry sectors.

MATTER 222 W Merchandise Mart Plaza Suite 1230, Chicago IL 60654

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Technology Pioneered to Predict Failure of Mission-Critical Industrial Equipment Delivers Powerful Platform to Protect the Most Complex “Machine” of All – the Human Body than its fair share of game-changing technologies from the first cell phone to the first wireless TV remote. Company founders and the leadership team at physIQ have set their sights on earning a place on that list.

A leader in digital medicine, dedicated to generating real-time health insight via physiological data and patented artificial intelligence (AI) analytics, physIQ is on a mission to transform healthcare. The physIQ enterprise-ready cloud platform is designed to continuously collect and process data from any wearable biosensor using an expanding portfolio of FDA-cleared biomarker analytics. The company recently published one of the most rigorous clinical studies to date in digital medicine, and is widely regarded as a pioneer in developing, validating and achieving regulatory approval for AI-driven digital technology for healthcare and life sciences.

The physIQ origin story began over two decades ago when the Argonne National Laboratory and the University of Chicago were brought together by the Department of Energy to build a solution to predict (and prevent) future nuclear power plant meltdowns. The result was a specialized machine learning approach using sensor data from various reactor components to learn how the nuclear reactor operates based on its unique signature—and to detect subtle anomalies or changes in the sensor streams. The approach was so unique and successful that SmartSignal was founded by Gary Conkright to commercialize applications in nuclear power generation and other uses, including revolutionizing the air travel industry by enabling airlines to monitor all jet engines across their fleets. Although the company was acquired by GE Intelligent Platforms, Conkright, who retained licensing rights for healthcare uses, was already forging ahead on the next leg of the journey.

Determined Innovator Seeks Transformational Change Chicago’s claims to fame run the gamut from celebrated music and literary festivals to world-class museums and architecture. A tremendous synergy fuels innovation in our region, which boasts exceptional medical, science and engineering talent backed by some of the nation’s most prestigious healthcare, research and business organizations. This dynamic atmosphere fuels innovation. Not surprisingly, Chicago is home to more 121

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physIQ co-founders Conkright, Stephan Wegerich, the original inventor and scientist from Argonne, and Matt Pipke never wavered in their motivation to bring about transformational change by applying machine learning to the most complex machine of all—the human body. They embarked on developing and commercializing an advanced biosensor analytics platform to accommodate the unknowns of a rapidly-evolving regulated digital medicine landscape—compatible with any sensor, any data type and any algorithm. The medical-grade solution for collecting and analyzing continuous, near-real-time streaming data is one of a kind in the industry.

An Accelerator of Clinical Trials

Today, physIQ delivers uniquely personalized patient health data using wearables and artificial intelligence to help clinicians deliver more proactive care to patients and enable life sciences companies to get their life-saving drugs to market faster. The highly scalable physIQ platform can support nearly any real-time post-acute care use cases, clinical trials and retrospective data analyses.

Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (a Johnson & Johnson company) is deploying physIQ’s accelerateIQ to analyze data from wearable biosensors and digital biomarkers utilized for clinical studies and commercial applications across multiple therapeutic areas. Its strategic relationship with physIQ will help expedite the ability to bring new treatments to market and enable innovative commercial strategies that incorporate digital medicine into patient care.

In clinical trials, the physIQ accelerateIQ™ solution integrates AI and meaningful analytics to turn raw data into real-world insights allowing researchers to more quickly bring new and more effective treatments to market. For example, it can help detect physiological anomalies in patients during and after cancer fighting treatments to proactively identify and manage adverse events that may result from chemotherapy and immunotherapy, and to potentially establish safety-related digital biomarkers.

Game-Changer in Healthcare Delivery

physIQ is committed to helping providers and life sciences companies advance patient care by capitalizing on the value of actionable, continuous near real-time patient data. physIQ shares the industry’s vision to put patients at the center of the care paradigm, using digital medicine as a critical enabler to help save lives through earlier intervention and new therapies.

The physIQ pinpointIQ™ solution leverages the patient biosensor insights to ensure that clinicians are engaging with their most critically ill patients. When doctors and nurses are able to detect subtle changes in biosensor data early – often before a patient even notices symptoms – they can intervene proactively and act sooner to help prevent adverse events. For example, the solution has been deployed to detect the risk of impending heart failure exacerbation in patients with congestive heart failure up to ten days in advance. Most recently, the COVID-19 pandemic demonstrated the impact of physIQ in helping healthcare professionals expand their reach, capacity and care of high-risk patients convalescing at home and establish a first-of-its-kind COVID-19 Decompensation Index (CDI). Funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and in collaboration with the University of Illinois Hospital and Health Systems, physIQ solutions are monitoring thousands of COVID-19 patients served by Northshore Hospital, Rush University Medical Center, Duke University Hospital, UT Health, and more.

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We founded SIWA, drawing upon an understanding of aging and the AGEs, to combat cancer. SIWA Therapeutics, Inc. has developed 318H, a monoclonal antibody that we believe can become a broadly effective cancer immunotherapeutic. Most recently, we showed that 318H enabled complete remission of pancreatic cancer in vivo in humanized mice – we hope to file an IND application for pancreatic cancer next year. Our founder/CEO, Lewis Gruber, focused on senescent cells (“SCs”) and cancer cells. Both kinds of cells exhibited: (a) an abnormally high level of glycolysis (Warburg effect) and (b) oxidative stress. He identified an advanced glycation end product (“AGE”) biomarker common to both kinds of cell and developed 318H to selectively target that biomarker. We now know that, microbiallyinfected cells and other dysfunctional oxidatively damaged cells also have our marker. We have shown in vitro binding to all three kinds of cells, including SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) and Influenza A infected cells. Aging is associated with the accumulation of oxidatively damaged cells, which are dysfunctional not only to the point of failure to perform normal functions, but even to the extent that they can become cancerous or secrete factors which interfere with functioning of other cells. Such damaged cells can be senescent and nondividing due to cell cycle arrest, to the degree that they do not participate in regenerating the oxidatively damaged tissue and inhibit other cells from doing so. Removing oxidatively damaged cells is a way to remove effects of aging and related diseases. We first used 318M, a mouse homolog of 318H that was specific to oxidatively damaged cells. We then injected 318M into very old mice, which were known to have accumulated SCs. The antibody caused a reduction in SCs and resulted in muscle regeneration back to the level of young mouse controls. Knowing a biological relationship between cell cycle arrest and invasiveness, 318M, a 318H mouse homolog, was injected into a fully metastasizing mouse triple negative breast cancer model, resulting in tumor reduction and a statistically significant reduction of lung metastases. Satisfied that the monoclonal performed as expected, Lewis then had the antibody

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Immunofluorescence slide showing SIWA’s 318H binding to MCF7 breast cancer cells

humanized by a group in Belfast to prepare for human applications by modification to avoid rejection responses in patients. The product of this process is designated SIWA318H.

WHY CHICAGO? We built our prior company around technology licensed from the University of Chicago. We found a more reasonable cost of living in Chicago compared to other potential cities, as well as a high caliber of universities and research institutes from which to both attract talent and to perform contract research for us, we decided to stay in Chicago. Also, there are new sites being developed around the universities that can provide the type of expansion space we will need. For the near future, we will continue to rely on CROs and sponsored research at universities like the University of Illinois as well as institutes such as IITRI in Chicago.

Gabriela R. Rossi, Chief Research Officer

In our third in vivo study, we identified half-life and other pharmacological/toxicological parameters of 318H in non-human primates. In that study, done by CRL, we saw no adverse effects even at high doses. Dr. Gabriela Rossi, joined us in late 2020 to lead our move toward our first upcoming clinical. She brings both clinical trial and cGMP production expertise to our team.

MILESTONES/INNOVATIONS Lewis Gruber exploited the commonality between aging/SCs and cancer cells into developing SIWA318H through application of that commonality into identifying the crucial link targetable by 318H to trigger immune removal of SCs and cancer cells thereby treating the diseases they cause. In our first in vivo study (mice), 318M, statistically significantly reduced P16INK4a expressing cells (a known marker for SCs) in old mice (20+mos.) back to the level of young mouse controls. P16INK4a expressing cells promote epithelial to mesenchymal transition, an important element in motility and invasiveness - key features of metastasis, which accounts for about 90% of cancer deaths metastasis is a major cause of mortality in patients with pancreatic cancer.

SIWA Therapeutics 400 E Randolph Street Suite 705 Chicago, IL 60601 312-948-9045 siwathera siwa-therapeutics info@siwatherapeutics.com

In our second in vivo study (mice): 318M reduced cancer metastasis in a syngeneic mouse breast cancer model used for studying metastasis. Charles River Laboratories International, Inc. (“CRL”). performed both 318M in vivo studies for us.

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NOW THERE’S TIME FOR EVERYONE

TimeDoc allows more time for everyone by delivering solutions that: #1 Keep it simple – with an intuitive platform that can give providers remote monitoring and chronic care management in one place, and that’s easy for anyone on their staff to learn and use

Providers have too much to do and not enough time to do it. And the people this really impacts are their most vulnerable patients. TimeDoc Health makes it easier for overstretched providers to support chronically ill patients between visits – while also maximizing reimbursements. They do this by combining the right technology platform with the right care coordinators.

#2 Keep it connected – with a system that integrates with their EHR, plus dedicated care coordinators who connect with them patients #3 Keep it going – with a flexible, scalable model that gives providers the option to use outsourced care coordinators, theirs, or a mix of the two

On a mission to create patient success stories by improving the quality of life for people with chronic conditions, TimeDoc was founded in 2015 by a tech-minded medical student from the University of Chicago’s Pritzker School of Medicine. What started as a software platform for chronic care has grown into a virtual care management ecosystem fixated on improving the continuum of care for all patients.

Only TimeDoc Health delivers this “keep it simple, keep it connected, keep it going” approach and currently manages over 70,000 lives for more than 120 provider organizations including FQHCs, rural health centers, ACOs, and independent medical groups.

Recognizing the challenges providers and patients face while trying to manage their practice and health, TimeDoc has taken on the role of innovators in virtual care management by combining an enterprise level platform for chronic care management with high-touch care coordination services that enable provider organizations to connect with patients remotely and create a continuous, longitudinal care experience.

BEHIND THE SOFTWARE Digital tools enable the implementation of practical solutions to better engage and assist in the care of patients. With a mission to create patient success stories, TimeDoc Health merges technology-enabled healthcare products with the physical and mental well-being of the chronically ill by coordinating immediate interventions through a dedicated care 125

TimeDoc Health focuses on three pillars of patient care: Chronic Care Management, Remote Patient Monitoring, and Behavioral Health Monitoring. Chronic Care Management supports holistic care from medication reviews and appointment scheduling to care plan adherence and gap closure. Remote Patient Monitoring offers integrated solutions to provide care management services to minimize medication errors, inaccurate readings, missed appointments, and other common concerns. Behavioral Health Monitoring is a connected service that proactively helps manage chronically ill patients’ mental well-being by offering mental health tracking and care coordination. The company provides clients with a choice of three delivery models to deploy TimeDoc solutions to support their virtual care management programs. Tech-Only Deployment is the backbone of TimeDoc’s offering: the SaaS platform helps provider employed care management staff meet Medicare reimbursement requirements and helps providers gain critical insight for better care delivery. The Co-Sourced Hybrid model combines the enterprise SaaS platform with support from TimeDoc’s care coordination staff and services to ensure no patient is left behind. The Fully Outsourced Virtual Care Management solution is a complete turnkey program inclusive of TimeDoc’s platform and services. Constantly engaging with patients and simultaneously screening for possible concerns reduces unnecessary doctor visits and hospitalizations. This enables doctors to see more patients per week with quality patient time and see patients in need of absolutely necessary care. Essentially, the technology at TimeDoc Health creates better and deeper human-to-human connections to help someone get through hard times. It is someone calling a patient to take care of them, and the patients aren’t even aware that it is a company that has become part of their lives.

ONE PATIENT AT A TIME Patient enrollment into virtual care management programs can be challenging. TimeDoc Health has devised systems to help identify the best patients for programs and streamline enrollment by using enrollment specialists in combinations with practice marketing support to drive patient enrollment in programs.

coordination team. Patients are assigned a care coordinator that becomes the patient’s regular monthly contact.

TimeDoc’s highly experienced care teams devise care plans using evidence-based protocols with clients’ clinical staff to create templates and schedules by automating the care planning process.

Healthcare innovation is incredibly rapid regarding diagnosis, treatments, and surgeries, but pre-care and after-care rely on human interaction. Innovation at TimeDoc Health produces unrivaled technology and exceptional services through its virtual care management platform. This platform plus people solution improves the connections between the patient, healthcare provider, and the care team, prioritizing the humanto-human connection.

The service establishes a continuity of care through a designated care manager who regularly engages with patients. At the same time, TimeDoc Health implements a time-tracking and billing tool into the electronic health records automatically. This process allows for quicker account reviews and billings submissions while tracking reimbursement and compliance requirements.

EVOLVING CARE The innovation curve in health care is undoubtedly astonishing: yet, you most often have your blood pressure taken with a pump and a watch when you see a doctor and all your care treatments are based on one, 20 minute interaction with very limited visibility into your overall health and well-being. Technology has been trying to bridge those challenges with things such as the industry-wide adoption of the Electronic Health Records (EHR) and more recently the accelerated adoption of telehealth tools due to the COVID-19 pandemic. But that is simply not enough to drive patient engagement and gain a holistic view of patient health across the continuum of care.

Unique challenges require unique solutions. For both practitioners and patients, quality time and care are essential. TimeDoc strives to deliver both. TimeDoc Health timedochealth timedoc

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Playing is Training: Chicago’s gaming and healthcare legacies meet at Level Ex A century after the first pinball machine was made in Chicago, a new generation of entrepreneurs are growing the city’s gaming history, from dozens of arcade bars to the founding of popular party games – and one of them, Level Ex, is also reinventing how medicine is learned and practiced.

story of how it changed the way medicine is learned and practiced is as much an ode to Chicago as it is a start-up success story.

A Chicago native, Level Ex founder Sam Glassenberg broke with a long-standing family tradition of becoming a doctor when he left for California to make Playstation 2 and Xbox games for the Star Wars franchise. But a family history rooted in medicine and Chicago can be hard to escape, and it wasn’t long before both came calling – in 2012, Sam’s dad called from his anesthesiology department at Northwestern Memorial Hospital with a favor: make a game for his colleagues to practice fiberoptic intubations. Sam spent three weeks developing the game, never expecting anything to come of it. Two years later, it had amassed an audience of over 100,000 medical professionals. Efficacy studies performed at institutions worldwide showed that it improved physician performance. That’s when he knew he had to do more.

Most people aren’t familiar with Chicago’s long legacy in video games, even though it’s the birthplace of countless game genres and the early video games industry. Beyond pinball manufactures like WMS, the studios that created Mortal Kombat (arguably the flagship of the fighting-game genre) were founded in the city. And all of those party-games that are now world famous – from You Don’t Know Jack to Cards Against Humanity – they have Chicago roots too.

THE DEEP-DISH HOT DOG OF CHICAGO HIGH-TECH

Chicago also has an extensive healthcare ecosystem, serving as home to hundreds of world-class medical institutions, medical societies, and Fortune 500 pharmaceutical and medical technology companies. It’s here, at the intersection of games and healthcare, that Chicago became the headquarters where Level Ex set up shop, attracting a team of more than 120 elite video game developers and medical experts. It was the first-

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Level Ex’s Gastro Ex game lets gastroenterologists and colorectal surgeons practice procedures like removing polyps - all from their mobile device. Level Ex fits the best consumer game mechanic - like this particle physics simulation - with each game it creates for doctors and healthcare professionals. Here, a player can play with the mechanism of action of the coagulation cascade to learn and build a mental model of how it works. Doctors can play Level Ex games anywhere, anytime from their mobile device. Pulm Ex (Right) Gastro Ex (Left)

of-its-kind, using state-of-the-art video game technology and neuroscience to capture the challenges of practicing medicine. It earned the moniker “The DeepDish Hot Dog of Chicago high-tech” for the way it captured a unique combination of the city’s heritage.

A NEW GENRE OF GAMES ACCELERATES THE ADOPTION OF NEW SKILLS IN MEDICINE

From 2016 to 2021, Level Ex released a new mobile game each year – from complex surgeries to difficult diagnoses. Its games spanned a range of medical specialties, from gastroenterology to cardiology – all available for download on any mobile device. When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, it quickly created new game levels to help frontline medical professionals prepare for the onslaught of unforeseen patient cases. In 2020, it released the first and only cloud gaming platform for healthcare, enabling medical professionals to train together over Zoom on ultra-realistic virtual patients simulated in the cloud.

When those players are doctors, this learning is especially useful in helping them develop an intuitive understanding of complex systems. Level Ex games imbue a mental model that medical professionals would likely only otherwise develop through practice on hundreds of live patients: rarely-needed surgical maneuvers, difficult disease diagnoses, and strategies for managing complex patients. Level Ex uses the combination of game design – choosing the right combination of puzzle, strategy mechanics – and technology – the ability to render ultra-realistic patients that bleed and respond realistically – to help them create these mental models and learn more effectively.

Studies consistently show that games, especially video games, are supremely effective at improving skill and decision-making. By hitting the right balance between skill and challenge, reward and frustration, well-designed games can help maximize player engagement and learning.

Level Ex expects that using video games to learn and practice medicine will in the very near future become the expectation, not the exception – across all areas of healthcare. Then, not only will games have taken their place alongside traditional modalities of medical training (such as lectures, grand rounds, and videos), an entirely new genre of medical games will have emerged in the games industry – continuing a long-standing tradition of game-genre-creation in Chicago.

Soon the medical industry in Chicago and the world took notice. Level Ex now partners with leading healthcare brands, including with top pharmaceutical companies, global medical device companies, and medical societies to accelerate the adoption of new skills and treatments in medicine. Level Ex is also working with TRISH – NASA’s translational research institute for space health, to use this technology to train astronauts to handle medical emergencies on deep space missions.

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Set small goals, build life-lasting healthy habits, and transform your life. HabitNu is built on proven scientific research!

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Dr. Sindhu Rajan, CEO

HabitNu is a digital therapeutic technology company that focuses on preventing and managing chronic diseases by helping individuals build new, healthy habits. HabitNu leverages proven scientific goal-setting research to drive new habit formation for the prevention and management of chronic diseases such as type 2 diabetes and hypertension. HabitNu’s approach is built on SMART goals and data-driven personalized nudges to drive individuals’ thoughts and actions towards healthy behaviors, thus promoting healthy habits that last. Using proprietary algorithms and data captured through each user’s activity, HabitNu personalizes care to prevent chronic diseases. HabitNu delivers behavioral weight loss, diabetes prevention and management, and hypertension management programs through its habit-building platform. Participants go through a structured CDC-developed curriculum with high-touch support from a personal health coach to help them achieve their goals. HabitNu’s diabetes prevention program (DPP) is recognized by the Centers of Disease Control based on its outcome and HabitNu is a CDC-approved umbrella organization that mentors other organizations delivering DPP. HabitNu programs are covered by Medicare, Medicaid, and numerous commercial health plans.

CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, USA)

Preventing chronic diseases such as type 2 diabetes comes down to developing healthy habits that lead to lifestyle change. The HabitNu program is specifically designed to guide participants through the lifestyle change process; we bend their trajectory away from chronic conditions, and towards healthier habits. HabitNu program follows the science and principles of behavioral economics to nudge people towards healthier lifestyles. HabitNu’s proprietary algorithms deliver personalized care to meet participants where they are, and our technology is extremely scalable to accommodate the millions of individuals that need help.

HabitNu’s founder and CEO Dr. Sindhu Rajan is a subject matter expert in obesity and type 2 diabetes. Dr. Rajan spent a major part of her career at Yale and the University of Chicago. During her research career, she has closely observed the personal struggles of individuals to manage their diabetes despite the fact that type 2 diabetes is frequently a preventable or manageable condition by making with small lifestyle changes. In addition, diabetes is personal to Dr. Rajan since it runs in her family. With the right guidance, making the necessary lifestyle changes is surprisingly easier than people think.

HabitNu is an innovator in its ideas and services. TECHNOLOGY: Smartphones are rapidly becoming the central computing, monitoring, and communication platform for deploying personalized wellness mobile apps and services. A major challenge is to develop innovative personalized technologies that can help individuals not just start, but maintain healthy lifestyles by keeping track of and eventually shaping their everyday activities. These become habits over time. A “one-size fits all” approach to healthcare does NOT work in the long run and personalization is essential for high-impact outcomes from digital wellness interventions. This is where Habitnu is innovating every day.

One out of 10 Americans suffers from type-2 diabetes and one out of three is at risk of developing the disease. Also, every one out of three adults in the USA lives with hypertension. Clinical preventive strategies are available for many chronic diseases, but are often not integrated into healthcare systems. 129

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A “HIGH-TECH HIGH-TOUCH” APPROACH: At HabitNu we innovate around a human-centric approach to healthcare. HabitNu programs follow a structured education-based program, and provide personal health coaches and a peer support community to help individuals achieve their goals. Proprietary algorithms and machine learning help scale a hightouch program while enhancing impact and outcomes. HabitNu delivers its solutions through its own coaches, but we also license the platform to partners. HabitNu works with chain pharmacies like Walmart Health, healthcare systems, payers, and numerous state departments of health. The organizations that work with HabitNu are able to provide high-impact programs to their populations to close a critical gap in their care delivery processes. HabitNu has delivered its programs to tens of thousands of participants since 2018. The majority of these participants show significant improvement in clinical outcomes such as reduction in body weight, glycated hemoglobin levels, and blood pressure levels. Non-clinical outcomes include building new, healthy habits in the core areas that HabitNu focuses on such as healthy eating, increasing physical activity, and healthy coping. HabitNu is looking forward to enhancing the reach and impact of its behavior-shaping mission as our knowledge and technology continues to grow.

Based on the science of habit formation, HabitNu’s proprietary algorithm and intelligent user profiling gently ‘nudge’ participants from poor habits to positive habits. The data collected form a foundation for machine learning and smart nudges to guide that individual’s unique personal journey; we identify and help them overcome their personal barriers to smarter lifestyle choices. HabitNu’s habitforming-technology is targeted towards healthy behaviors and ultimately, prevention of chronic disease conditions.

With respect to HabitNu’s future features, Remote Patient Monitoring (RPM) is an area that healthcare providers struggle to address. HabitNu’s platform is especially well-suited to address this need, and we will soon formally announce its addition to our platform.

A WHOLE-HEALTH APPROACH: Many technology-based solutions are simply point solutions that address only one disease condition, but many people have multiple, comorbid conditions. HabitNu takes a “whole health” approach to disease management; all HabitNu solutions are available on one comprehensive platform and our partners can address multiple conditions at the same time. HabitNu’s whole health approach to healthcare empowers people to take charge of their health and well-being and to live their life to the fullest. HabitNu, therefore, provides a significantly ‘bigger bang for the buck’ as providers need only the one solution.

HabitNu sindhu@habitnu.com 773 952 9926

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AGILEMD SOFTWARE SAVES LIVES THROUGH BETTER CARE DECISIONS Healthcare providers are overwhelmed and medical protocols change fast. AgileMD ensures that nurses and doctors can rapidly understand a patient’s status and follow the most current clinical best practices to provide optimal care. The company’s software offers real-time predictive analytics and adaptive clinical guidance that are deeply integrated into the electronic health record (EHR) workflow, exactly where healthcare providers are assessing and treating their patients. To date, AgileMD tools have touched more than 1 million patients and have been used by more than 40,000 providers in over 100 hospitals, including some of the nation’s leading academic medical centers. AgileMD is backed by premier accelerators MATTER, YCombinator, and Rock Health, and their cutting-edge machine learning analytics are built on a decade of ongoing research at the University of Chicago. In 2021, AgileMD earned nearly $3 million dollars in combined federal research and development funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and Health and Human Services (HHS) to further advance their clinical decision support platform.

TWO CHICAGO ENTREPRENEURS UNITE Dr. Dana Edelson, AgileMD’s President & Co-Founder, was barely into her second year of residency when an eighteen-year-old patient declined from cracking jokes to dying from septic shock in just an hour. That experience, like many to follow, had a profound impact on how she approached safety and medicine. An NIH-funded researcher, Dr. Edelson dedicated her hours away from the bedside to developing predictive tools from EHR data and deploying them in the clinical setting. She would later become the Executive Medical Director of Quality and Safety at the University of Chicago Medicine. Meanwhile, Borna Safabakhsh, AgileMD’s CEO & Co-Founder, was tackling a related challenge: how to make clinical pathways – the essential step-by-step guidance for nurses and doctors – more accessible and adaptable to support healthcare teams. AgileMD’s initial offering had earned top prize in the University of Chicago Booth School of Business New Venture Challenge and the Chicago Biotech Consortium Competition in 2011, also becoming a grantee of the University of Chicago Innovation Fund. Edelson and Safabakhsh connected on their complementary capabilities: predictive analytics that give care teams the chance to quickly see 131

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which patients are most at risk and clinical pathways that provide the most current guidance on how to care for these patients. From there, Chicagoland’s abundance of diverse medical centers and its strong entrepreneurial support landscape offered the ideal environment to build partnerships and scale the offering.

clinical pathways as the home base from which care teams manage their patients. By designing and wiring best practices directly into the tools nurses and doctors are already using, AgileMD’s platform offers guidance in the moment of care, reducing confusion and often eliminating the need for extra, time-consuming training. Clinical leaders also receive regular usage dashboards to easily measure uptake and promote adoption.

AGILEMD’S COVID-19 PANDEMIC ROLE Many health systems rely on static clinical pathways – printed decision trees that outline how to triage, diagnose, and treat myriad patient conditions. Often tacked to a nursing station bulletin board, these protocols are prone to becoming outdated and ignored as medical best practices and resource availability change. When hospitals became inundated by COVID-19 patients in 2020, they scrambled to assign medical staff from across specialties and experience, just as protocols for how to manage and treat COVID-19 patients needed daily adjustments. The science and guidelines around how to isolate patients, what protective gear to wear, and which medications to prescribe – among many other critical processes – were evolving rapidly.

AgileMD’s health system customers continue to leverage clinical pathways to address COVID-19 care and beyond, including decreasing unnecessary diagnostic testing and increasing the appropriateness and timeliness of medication administration. As a platform, which includes AgileMD’s eCART risk prediction tool, the software addresses some of the toughest challenges in healthcare, including reducing the mental burden of harried medical staff, lowering variability in care decisions, and improving outcomes such as hospital mortality and length of stay. AgileMD hello@agilemd.com agilemd

Throughout the pandemic, AgileMD customers have easily updated and disseminated protocols directly within the EHR workflow to keep pace with the latest research and CDC guidance, using adaptable AgileMD

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ADA BUSINESS INNOVATION GROUP SUPPORTS THE FUTURE OF DENTISTRY

ADA Business Innovation Group (ADABIG) is a subsidiary of the American Dental Association (ADA), formed in 2018 to help dentists solve the industry’s most pressing challenges. In 2019, ADABIG launched its first service: ADA Practice TransitionsTM (ADAPT), a state-of-the-art online platform designed to help dentists navigate career transitions. Today ADAPT is helping more than 7,100 dentists across all 50 states buy or sell a practice, hire an associate, or find an associateship.

Dr. Suzanne Ebert educates dentists at the South Florida Dental Association’s meeting

Research confirms that dentists desire a better way to buy and sell dental practices.

Meanwhile, young dentists struggle to find practices that best align with their goals and approach to dentistry. Since most brokers operate geographically, this increasingly mobile generation may not find the perfect practice if it lies beyond their broker’s territory. These young dentists also struggle to get the mentorship they need to manage the business side of a practice.

The historical process simply does not work for many retiring dentists trying to sell their practices because it is too regionally focused and cost prohibitive for dentists with smaller practices. Owners must sign exclusivity clauses that require them to pay broker commissions (around 10% of the value of a practice sale) — even if they find a buyer on their own.

The result? Many practices fail to find a buyer and ultimately shutter once the dentist retires, while others shut down within a few years of a sale. This is especially devastating in small towns served by a single dentist. Suddenly, patients must travel long distances for dental care. Faced with this choice, they often skip essential preventive care — causing bigger health problems down the road.

THE GROWING NEED FOR TECHNOLOGY

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The ADAPT team accepts the 2021 Chicago Innovation Award

A MODEL FOR HOW AI CAN SUPPORT DENTISTRY ADAPT leverages artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning to support dental practice transitions. The technology works similar to a dating website. Dentists enter their personal information, practice details (size, typical procedures performed, etc), their philosophy of dental care, and their goals (buying, selling, hiring, or finding a job). Once the profile is complete, the algorithm delivers recommended matches for potential buyers, sellers, or new hires. ADAPT’s team of advisors add an essential human touch, acting as matchmakers and coaches as they pair dentists with complementary profiles and approaches to dental care.

Dr. Cesar Sabates, ADA President, Dr. Suzanne Ebert, Vice President Dental Practice and Dr. George Shepley, ADA President Elect

coaching, transition planning and integration workflows dentists – and practices – can thrive long after the transition, ensuring long-term continuity of care for patients and communities.

While developing the platform, ADAPT explored what makes practice transitions successful, speaking with dentists who had bought and sold practices in recent years. These dentists overwhelmingly said that when two dentists share a common approach to dentistry, the transition is much more likely to succeed.

MAKING CONNECTIONS TO CREATE SUCCESS ADAPT makes connections that drive growth and success across dentistry. The vision is to build the largest and most comprehensive network in the industry. The more people who participate, the more effective and efficient the machine learning process becomes. The more matches ADAPT creates, the better the algorithm becomes at identifying factors that lead to good matches.

ADAPT calls this “philosophy of care,” and built its solution to match dentists on these tenets. When a dentist joins the ADAPT platform, they complete an in-depth questionnaire that explores their philosophy of care. Dentists are given several scenarios about patient and staff relationships, their treatment approach, and their preferences. They’re asked if they want to make all the decisions or be more collaborative, whether they prefer a fast-paced office or a more methodical, slower pace. Do they prefer to invest in all the latest bells and whistles, or stick to tried-and-true technologies?

Innovation is at the core of what ADA Business Innovation Group does, and it comes from close collaboration with people throughout the dental industry, at every career stage. After all, we all share a common goal: ensuring that patients everywhere have access to quality dental care. With ADAPT’s technology and processes, we’re making it easier for retiring dentists to transition their practice to the next generation.

These types of questions help ensure that ADAPT matches are rooted in shared values and approaches.

ADA Practice Transitions adapt@ada.org Social Media

But ADAPT goes further, helping dentists prepare for every phase of the process, including options for critical professional resources such as practice valuation, legal, financing, real estate, marketing and other business categories. By combining better matches with end-to-end

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Shaping the Future of Dentistry

The dental mirror is the single-most important tool for dentists and hygienists alike, but it hasn’t changed in form or function for more than 100 years.

positioned at the intersection of two global hubs for innovation, linking Chicago, the startup capital of the midwest, to Israel, the startup nation in the Middle East.

SmartMirror looks, feels and acts like a traditional dental mirror, but features pioneering technology that meets the needs of today’s dentists and patients alike.

SmartMirror was founded in 2016 by Dan Harkabi and Gidi Elazar, business partners for over 20 years with several successful projects under their belts, including the invention of the USB flash drive and the creation of MDRM, which was sold to SanDisk in 2005.

Connect. Explore. Capture. Share. With its true-color LEDs and a built-in-camera, SmartMirror wirelessly projects what the dentist sees in real time. It allows the dentist to see better and treat more easily while allowing patients to view up-close what’s happening in their mouths.

The company boasts a strong R&D team and innovative spirit, and their substantial IP portfolio includes over 20 granted US patents and an international patent strategy.

With SmartMirror, patients are becoming active partners in their own oral health and are able to understand their practitioner’s advice and treatment plans like never before. Images and video captured during the treatment can be saved and shared in a click.

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“This breakthrough technology is a game changer.” “SmartMirror allows for unparalled visualization of the entire mouth. This breakthrough technology is a game-changer in anyone’s practice and a must use for any new patient exam!”

— Dr. Ron Kaminer, DDS, Smiles By Design, Hewlett, NY

“This is truly the mirror of the future!” “There isn’t anything out there like it! It’s a mirror that contains LEDs: the oral cavity is illuminated very well and the mirror can record real-time videos. This provides a modern, innovative approach to patient education. This is truly the mirror of the future!” — Dr. Pamela Maragliano-Muniz, Chief Editor of Dentistry IQ - Best of Class, Awards Panelist

Why Dentists Love SmartMirror “SmartMirror has been my best ROI acquisition in a long time.” “SmartMirror is one of those brilliant inventions that is worth its weight in gold. Once you master handling it, you will wonder how you ever practiced dentistry without it. SmartMirror has been my best ROI acquisition in a long time.”

SmartMirror info@smartmirror.dental DentalSmartMirror

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SIMPLIFYING TRANSPORTATION AND LOGISTICS TO ENABLE BETTER HEALTH OUTCOMES

Each year in the United States, nearly 4 million people miss a combined 24 million appointments due to lack of transportation. These missed appointments result in nearly $150 billion in avoidable downstream costs. Poor access to transportation leads to increases in length of stay; higher readmission rates; increases in total medical cost; reduced continuity of care; ineffective care management and disease management efforts; and lower patient satisfaction. Healthcare outcomes are also influenced by social and environmental factors—collectively the “social determinants of health”—every bit as much as clinical interventions, and yet our healthcare system has traditionally overlooked opportunities to improve health outcomes through these non-clinical mechanisms.

Payers and other risk-bearing entities are recognizing that smart investments in SDOH pay for themselves many times over in quality gains and cost avoidance. Since 2016, Kaizen Health has been helping top healthcare organizations improve the experience of accessing nonemergency medical transportation on behalf of their members and patients. We are a technology and healthcare logistics firm committed to fostering health and wellness by connecting people, products, and services. We pair our highly secure and flexible platform with a nationwide network of transportation and logistics partners to assist clients with addressing challenges across the SDOH spectrum. While our technology and our approach to service are very much our own, we strive to make 137

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our services appear to the end-user as an extension of the experience of care management or clinical care. This means full white-labeling, custom messaging, and a user-facing experience informed by the objectives and expectations of our clients.

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33 N LaSalle St, 1200 Chicago, IL 60602 +1-312-586-1113 info@kaizenhealth.org

The result? A better member experience, superior care management and continuity of care, reduced administrative burden, and better health outcomes.

info@kaizenhealth.org kaizenhealth KaizenHealth1 kaizenhealthinc

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“It is during our darkest moments that we must focus to see the light.” — ARISTOTLE

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CHICAGO HOPES FOR KIDS IS CHANGING ACADEMIC TRAJECTORIES FOR STUDENTS EXPERIENCING HOMELESSNESS. Chicago HOPES for Kids is the only organization in Chicago that provides educational after school and remote learning programs for students experiencing homelessness in grades Kindergarten through 9th, directly to the shelters and communities where they live. It is our mission to provide students with the resources and encouragement they need to succeed academically, despite the challenges of homelessness.

Our children fall, on average, 1-2 grades behind their housed peers. Many students have fallen even further behind due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and lack of access to digital resources. As many as 3 million marginalized students, including students experiencing homelessness, may not have experienced any formalized schooling in 2020 after initial shutdowns in March, translating to a year of lost learning.

Family homelessness is a widespread, but largely invisible, problem in the US. In 2019, over 17,000 families with children were found to be experiencing homelessness in Chicago, and almost 17,000 individual children were identified as homeless by Chicago Public Schools. Our students are majority Black and Latinx, and all are living below the poverty line. These families usually aren’t living on the street, but rather in shelters or doubled up with family and friends. While perhaps less dramatic than street homelessness, our students experience significant trauma that impacts their academics and their future.

Most homeless shelters do not have WiFi, and the only device that many students can access is a cellphone or shared computer. When COVID-19 led to widespread closures, we quickly pivoted from our regular after-school program to a virtual format, and provided tablets and computers directly to students to ensure their access. Even as in-person programs and school have resumed, we have continued to provide virtual options to stay connected with alumni students and promote digital literacy. It is important for our students to engage with digital learning since competency in the digital space 141

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is critical for high school graduation and post-secondary pursuits. Without these skills, students may experience a lifelong lack of opportunity.

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young adult. By promoting students’ academic success in grades K-9, with a specific emphasis on emerging readers in grades K-3, we help to break the generational cycle of homelessness.

Research has found that providing after-school programming can be a transformative experience for children living in shelters, resulting in improved attendance, grades, homework completion, and attitudes toward school. HOPES supports students experiencing homelessness with outof-school time intervention to bring them up to grade level in reading and instill a love of learning. We provide our program through a traumainformed lens because we recognize that students have, at minimum, experienced the trauma of homelessness which impacts their social and emotional skills and educational outcomes.

Our work is made possible by our dedicated donors, enrichment partners, shelter partners, staff, board, AmeriCorps members, and, of course, volunteers. Our volunteers are the heart of our program, joining us at shelters across the city each week to work one on one with students and provide the mentorship and academic support they need to succeed in school. We are always looking for more passionate individuals who are ready to connect with our students and inspire them to reach their full potential. Thank you to all our supporters, past and present, who have carried us through over 12 years of innovative interventions for Chicago’s most vulnerable children.

The curriculum includes a specific focus on literacy to support overall school success and improve graduation rates, because research from the University of Chicago has shown that if students are reading above grade level by the 3rd grade they have a 80% chance of graduating high school. Research further shows that failing to graduate high school results in students being 4.5 times more likely to experience homelessness as a

Chicago Hopes For Kids chihopesforkids

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WELCOME TO THE WORLD’S OLDEST INCUBATOR. THE YMCA OF METRO CHICAGO IS INNOVATING FROM THE INSIDE. In 2022, the YMCA of Metropolitan Chicago celebrated its 164th birthday. There are only a handful of organizations in the country with that kind of history. But all those candles on the cake are not merely a reminder of accomplishments passed. It’s also a light leading the way forward, illuminating the future of the organization and the communities it serves with a fresh spirit of innovation and imagination at its core.

Being part of the establishment is the YMCA’s superpower. It gives them the credibility and permission to make an impact. While they don’t have to prove themselves, they are still constantly reinventing themselves, transforming from a centuries-old service organization into a modern social enterprise connected to the community and creating value along the way. They are the epitome of a successful “bricks and mortar” organization evolving to thrive in the digital age.

These days, innovation might be a word more closely associated with start-ups and tech moguls. But the ability to make changes in the establishment has long been the key to the YMCA’s legacy and longevity. The YMCA has always been on the leading edge of change in society. As a result, several lasting institutions came out of the YMCA’s commitment to innovation—from the celebration of Black History Month and the establishment of Chicago’s Roosevelt University.

While the design and delivery of tomorrow’s YMCA programs may look very different, the themes will remain the same—community, equity, well-being, and connection. Current as those words feel, they are the timeless values that will continue to endure in everything the YMCA does.

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“In the future, the YMCA will be able to quickly assess the opportunities to improve the human experience,” explains Dorri McWhorter, President and CEO of the YMCA of Metropolitan Chicago. “As the needs of humans evolve, we want to have the most agile and relevant services to stay on the leading edge of culture!” McWhorter is striving towards a future at the YMCA where the sense of belonging is bigger than membership. The goal is to build a vibrant “second space” where the community can come together, learn, and grow together. Innovation will play a pivotal role in creating shared experiences in both the physical and digital forms while the entire organization will remain focused on helping human beings find their value and sharing it with the world. Tomorrow’s methods may be different, but the vision remains and success feels more essential than ever.

“I want everyone to be a part of the Y,” McWhorter explains. “I want EVERYONE to have a Y story.” YMCA of Metropolitan Chicago YMCAChicago YMCA of Metro Chicago ymcachicago YMCA of Metropolitan Chicago

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What started in 2003 as a mother’s vision to change the world’s perception of individuals with Down Syndrome and create opportunities for her daughter, GiGi, evolved into a global movement of acceptance for all. GiGi’s Playhouse started in Hoffman Estates, Illinois, and has catapulted to an entrepreneurial network of 60 Playhouses and startups across the US and Mexico, engaging thousands of volunteers, serving individuals and families in 82 countries with free in-person and virtual programming.

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The true definition of innovation can be found at GiGi’s Playhouse, where changing the world is in the palm of your hand.

Nancy Gianni’s passion was contagious, and GiGi’s Playhouse grew exponentially. By early 2020, the can-do and WILL-do attitude inspired 4,400 weekly hours of purposeful, progressive, and FREE therapeutic, educational, and career programming across 60 U.S. and Mexico Playhouse locations. There was so much positive momentum, enriching the lives of so many people that nothing seemed like it could stop it… until it did. On March 13, 2020, GiGi’s was forced to shut down all GiGi’s Playhouse locations. This closure left tens of thousands of participants and volunteers devastated with the cancellation of all in-person programs. The closures also required the cancellation of more than 50 fundraising events that provided mission-critical support for our free programs. In the words of Nancy Gianni: “When Covid hit, I felt the same fear I had when I was that scared mom of four and opened the doors to our first playhouse. Though this time, I had 60 Playhouse locations and startups that all had to be shut down. We were a brick-and-mortar organization that was 99% volunteer-run and did not charge for their services! Our buildings were closed, and our volunteers were home with their kids, their jobs, and the horrible fear of the unknown. Not only did our families lose 4,400 hours of free therapeutic and educational programming, they were also at home with their kids, jobs, school, and a 24/7 diagnosis.

13 days after the shutdown we launched our Virtual Education Platform, “GiGi’s At Home” with live and on demand programming and began serving hundreds of families immediately. Conceived as a temporary solution, GiGi’s At Home kicked open the door for GiGi’s to serve families in 82 countries and counting.

That is when innovation and inspiration kicked in! We developed our action plan, and we executed!“ 8 days after shutting all locations, the first virtual GiGi’s Playhouse event came to life, celebrating World Down Syndrome Day in 60 locations.

29 days in, we addressed our $2.4 million Q2 2020 revenue loss by launching a 60-Playhouse, virtual peer-to-peer fundraiser, “Step to Accept”, that garnered $1.3 million in just six weeks. 145

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Nancy Gianni, Founder and Chief Belief Officer and daughter, Gigi

You can learn more and join the hundreds of thousands who have already taken the #GenerationG pledge at iacceptyou.org. Once you do, let the world know by drawing the letter G on the palm of your hand, with a heart around it.

60 days in, we created the GiGi’s Learning Management System to train our network of 10,000 volunteers and staff. Nancy and our powerful network of GiGi’s volunteers and partners came together, successfully leveraging technological advances to crash through the limitations of in-person programming and bring GiGi’s Playhouse into the virtual space, expanding and deepening our reach and effectiveness. Together, we enabled programming to reach into areas where service had, at one time, just been a dream, reaching underserved populations in rural areas and inner cities, as well as international locations!

Cheering and congratulating you for taking the pledge will be Nancy Gianni as she and her daughter, Gigi, hold their hands high, displaying their signature heart with a G on their palms, and reciting together, “I promise to be #GenerationG. I will make a conscious decision to be better every day. I will be Accepting. I will be Generous. I will be Kind.” After all, when it comes to innovation, changing the world is in the palm of your hand!

The GiGi’s At Home Education Platform now serves families in 82 countries paving the way for our Global Virtual Interactive Playhouse that serves not only those with Down Syndrome but also parents, siblings, educators, and doctors worldwide.

GiGi’s Playhouse info@giGisplayhouse.org giGisplayhouse giGi’s-playhouse GiGis_Playhouse

To be innovative, you have to be accepting. As we build a network of people who recognize what individuals with Down Syndrome can achieve, GiGi’s Playhouse is setting our sights on spreading that message of acceptance to all with the #GenerationG pledge: Be accepting, be generous, be kind.

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From surviving to thriving, the lives of chronically ill children, and their families, are transformed.

Care packages battle the isolation, boredom, and anxiety of being locked-in at home

Family adventures filled with joy and love, not stress, build resilience

A HIDDEN EPIDEMIC:

Built with direct input from families and the healthcare community, our work complements theirs and their input refines ours. Finally, families have experiences & education, fun & friendship, connections & resources, hope & encouragement. Proven, practical support, available 24x7x365, from diagnosis through treatment, for as long as it takes.

Ten-year-old Tyler feels more like a “patient” than a “person.” Despite fourteen surgeries, he remains bright, inquisitive, fun, funny. But, Tyler can’t talk due to a tracheotomy. He travels with a portable suction to keep his lungs open, and never knows when he’ll be back in Intensive Care fighting for his life.

UNIQUE PROGRAMS PROTECT AND PREVENT: Focused on social-emotional support, programs are uniquely designed to build the resilience needed to cope with the ongoing, unexpected, setbacks that define life with chronic illness:

Tyler is just one of the nearly 1 in 5 U.S. kids whose childhoods are stolen by chronic illness. This hidden epidemic ruins childhoods, impairs employee productivity, upends careers, depletes bank accounts, destroys families, and creates long-term mental health crises for both patients and their loved ones.

Bounce Bash® from every-day to once-in-a-lifetime family adventures: Specially designed to include children who need a break from shots, surgeries, hospitalizations, and limitations. Parents connect to support one another, and siblings discover they are not alone either. Everyone feels safe, accepted and ‘normal’ at activities typically off-limits.

When a child is diagnosed, the family is diagnosed. Sick kids suffer pain and fear. Healthy siblings are overlooked, witnessing endless emergencies that create anger, guilt, anxiety, even PTSD. Parents become caregivers, insurance experts, and disease specialists, managing crises for which there is no training – unable to make it “all better” for any of their children.

Bounce Back Kit® family care packages that distract and ease stress: Forced to spend endless weeks, months, even years, locked-in, families miss out. Delivered directly to home, these ‘boredom busters’ include games; movies; music; crafts; STEM projects; activity books; and more. Quality family time is critical to battling cabin fever.

While pediatric hospitals offer a vast array of resources, at-home and in– the-community, these families don’t fit in and don’t have a place to belong. Invisible and isolated, everyone’s health and well-being is at-risk.

Bounce Academy® strength training for vital coping skills: Education for parents to enhance their ability to hold themselves, and their families together, focused on the emotional, intellectual, psychological, and financial tools that really make a difference.

INNOVATION BORN FROM LISTENING: Launched in 2015, Bounce Children’s Foundation is the first, and only, organization to fill this critical gap in the continuum of care. Bounce transforms the lives of chronically ill children, and their loved ones, shifting all from surviving to thriving.

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Doing the “impossible” builds confidence and generates hope

Families get a break from healthcare, a chance to be normal, and quality time together

When unpredictable medical crises are the norm, surprise outings create unforgettable memories

A safe and understanding environment brings kids and families together, helping them heal

Escaping pain, fear, and isolation, by showing up, having fun, and making friends

Childhood fun should never be off-limits – regardless of a child’s limitations

tickets with families who, never knowing when the next medical crisis will arise, cannot plan ahead. Attending high demand sports/theatre/ musical events restores spirit and optimism.

Thriving requires the continued intervention that Bounce provides. When a child is diagnosed, the entire family joins and stays until that child turns 21. Kids literally “grow up” with Bounce and members refer to Bounce as their “second family.”

Bounce Net® 24×7 private, online community and safety net: Always on, always there, connecting parents when – and where – they need it most. Knowing you can always reach out to someone walking a similar path to ask a question, get advice, find a resource, or confide a worry, combats isolation.

AWARD WINNING AND JUST GETTING STARTED: Awarded the 2019 Chicago Innovation Social Innovator Award and already serving more than 2,000 members across Chicagoland, Bounce envisions the day when it can serve every child battling chronic illness, and his/her family, across the United States.

Through Bounce, community, strength, hope, and resilience replace isolation, fear, anxiety, and despair. Families feel “normal”, “seen but not stared at”, and “not alone anymore.”

More than the solution to isolation and invisibility that ruins lives, Bounce is also the convener of experts, originator of data, and voice of advocacy for these families. Bounce will continue to shine a light on this problem, but it will take ALL of us to create lasting change. Please Join, Refer, Volunteer, Donate so Bounce can help families heal.

HOLISTIC AND ONGOING: Because disease does not discriminate, neither does Bounce. Bounce supports families from all racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic groups. Bounce embraces kids with AIDS, Burns, Cancer, Cerebral Palsy, Crohn’s, Diabetes, Epilepsy, Gun Shots, Organ Transplants, Rare/Genetic Diseases, Sickle Cell, Traumatic Brain Injury, and more - including medically complex kids.

Bounce Children’s Foundation BounceChildrensFoundation BounceForKids

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OUR MISSION: ASPIRE. TRANSFORM. SUSTAIN.®

Neli Vazquez Rowland,

A Safe Haven Foundation is a 501(c)3 not-for-profit, social enterprise that helps people ASPIRE. TRANSFORM. and SUSTAIN¬® their lives as they transition from homelessness to self-sufficiency with pride and purpose. A Safe Haven provides the tools for each individual to overcome the root causes of homelessness through a holistic and scalable model. A Safe Haven’s visible social and economic impact unites families, stabilizes neighborhoods, and creates vibrant, viable communities.

President and Co-founde

model backed by solid research and affirmed by client testimonials. To the credit of all involved, A Safe Haven is a proven concept representing a game-changing response to the broken systems now in place. By contrast, we propose to weave a new pattern of social business enterprise into the fabric of society. Thus, A Safe Haven is a vision come to life, a place where people in crisis can find the food, shelter, treatment, medical care, education, job training and job placement they need under one roof. We call this place A Safe Haven. It is a model of continuous care that fulfills our mission to help people aspire, transform, and sustain their lives as they transition from homelessness to self-sufficiency with pride and purpose. If you walk down the halls and ask the people themselves how they best describe A Safe Haven, you will repeatedly hear the same three words. “It saves lives.”

A Safe Haven is both a tale of organizational success and the arc of a personal story from life in an immigrant family to a position of significant wealth. But with that journey came a call to give back to the world. This organization is a product of how both my husband Brian and I overcame significant challenges, including his own experience with chemical dependency, to turn compassion into action. We decided that once we had achieved some success in our personal lives, it was our goal to demonstrate to our children how to give back to the world. What evolved is a unique, vertically integrated, innovative treatment

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Neli Vazquez Rowland and Brian Rowland, Co-Founders, A Safe Haven Foundation

concept is in our numbers. Every year, we provide food, shelter, and services to more than 3,000 individuals through A Safe Haven, including men and women of all ages, youth, children, and veterans. We make approximately 1,000 job placements a year through our social business enterprises and enable many clients to find affordable housing through our resources. It all adds up to life renewed with purpose and hope. In turn these social and economic impacts restore lives, unite families, stabilize neighborhoods, and create vibrant, viable communities.

economic, social, housing and spiritual needs, in a holistic way. We provide a critical, practical, frontline defense for people in the depths of despair from emotional, mental, and financial crisis. We have witnessed the human potential that emerges from this approach, enabling people formerly lost to drugs or living on the street to transform themselves and reclaim their lives, even to the point of fulfilling their own version of the American dream. The people we meet and assist in this process do not need handouts; they need empowerment. We do this by offering respect, encouragement, resources, and assistance to help people get their lives back on track. To learn more and be inspired, read HEALING Real Stories Told By People Who Overcame the Opioid and Homeless Epidemics by Neli Vazquez Rowland.

We know that our model works, and that it can save millions of lives from the dangers associated with homelessness, drug addiction and disease. We can do these things while putting money (including taxpayer dollars) to its best use while delivering a positive “return on investment” to improve society as a whole. This is our historical opportunity to solve problems created over decades of missteps instead of leaving it to the next generation. It is not acceptable to push these problems aside or dump people into expensive and often fruitless “fixes” such as prisons, detox facilities, emergency room visits, or directionless handouts that create burdens on society rather than solutions in this world.

A Safe Haven Foundation Neli Rowland Neli@ASafeHaven.org (773) 435-8300

While there are multiple paths to recovery, A Safe Haven’s approach is one of the few solutions that addresses all an individual’s physical,

a_safe_haven_foundation A Safe Haven Foundation Neli Vazquez Rowland A_Safe_Haven Neli_rowland A Safe Haven

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As the first and largest digital platform for finding in-home care, Sittercity, a Bright Horizons company, has come a long way since 2001. We were the first to make online child care an employee benefit and we continue to connect millions of parents with babysitters and nannies every year. We’re radically simplifying the way families search for, screen, and hire 151

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trusted care. The company has been featured in thousands of media stories, including Good Morning America, The View, The Today Show and more, and has won over 18 major awards including the Chicago Momentum Award and the Chicago Innovation Awards. See more at www.sittercity.com. Sittercity, a Bright Horizons company info@sittercity.com 888-748-2489 sittercity

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A simple, duplicable model of how local organizations can help those in need and the community that surrounds them. The Chicago Help Initiative was founded in 1999 by Jacqueline C. Hayes to be a compassionate response to the homeless displaced by efforts of the City of Chicago. It has evolved into a hyperlocal model of how individuals can link together to address a difficult problem using a mix of existing resources, and simple and accessible technology. Headed by Doug Fraser as Executive Director for the last decade, it intentionally remains caring, focused and nimble, providing hot meals and access to resources to homeless and those in need.

To address the social isolation and depression that often accompanies homelessness, CHI has enlisted numerous community volunteers to teach what they know in peer groups. Groups have included yoga, art, computers, theater, choir, reading, storytelling and more. This provides a productive and meaningful opportunity for neighbors to give back, while creating a positive setting that links supper guests to each other and to CHI, and can lay the foundation for trust and patience as they seek change.

Rather than creating a kitchen and meal service for the meals served, CHI has tapped the generosity of local restaurants and companies that provide the hot meals, while CHI provides an active and direct volunteer experience for employees of those companies. This not only reduces the cost and improves the quality of the meal, but it increases understanding of the work done and the challenges of the people served.

For more intensive services needed by the population served, CHI chooses not to duplicate what others already do well, such as addiction or mental health services. Instead, the meal and specifically trained volunteers become a hub, performing some simpler tasks on-site, like establishing a mailing address, locating other meals or signing up for emergency housing, while connecting those with more complicated issues 153

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Jacqueline Hayes, Founder

to organizations better equipped to address them. Over the years, that work came together in a pamphlet called the Resource Guide, published periodically and directed for distribution to the homeless, that locates food, shelter and foundational assistance. That guide is now distributed by dozens of local businesses, government bodies, churches and individuals. That same network that was built to better serve guests, of individuals, businesses and service organizations, became essential during the Covid pandemic. Because CHI was already set up as a hub, when Covid protocols shut down other community meals across Chicago, CHI was able to tap that network to fill in the gaps. CHI crowdsourced donated bag meals and enlisted shuttered kitchens and idled food trucks to cook hot meals. In short order, CHI was able to shift from serving 200 meals a week to delivering, coordinating and serving almost 5,000.

The core of the model is to be small enough to shift with the need, caring enough to stay connected to both the community served and the community that supports it, and simple enough that an observer can see what is done and then do it themselves.

Moving forward, CHI is again innovating how to best serve those in need. CHI is actively training volunteers at partner sites, established during the pandemic, to perform the same simple tasks and referrals done at CHI. In a second pivot, meals are no longer sourced entirely from downtown Chicago – but in addition, the organization is intentionally purchasing meals from entrepreneurs in low-income communities, with a focus on supporting jobs in the locations where many of the supper guests either sleep or come from.

The Chicago Help Initiative 312-914-2138 info@chicagohelpinitiative.org

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DRIVING INCLUSIVE GROWTH FOR CHICAGO’S TECH SECTOR BY 2033 P33 Team

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At P33, we started with one question: How does Chicago, and our region, stack up as a technology and innovation center? Through conversations with hundreds of technology and business leaders, founders, and tech workers, we learned Chicago’s reputation as a tech center lags behind its perception.

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We launched P33, a civic nonprofit focused on driving inclusive growth for Chicago’s tech sector, in 2019 with an intentional and collaborative mission to cement Chicago’s recognition as a tier-one tech hub. P33 is driving inclusive growth and recognition for Chicago’s tech sector by building more diverse talent pipelines, bolstering a strong founder ecosystem, and building-up our corporate sector strength. Our goal is to change the world’s perception of Chicago as a leading technology and innovation hub by 2033.

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P33 was founded by P33 Board Chair Penny Pritzker, former Secretary of Commerce and Founder and Chairman of PSP Partners; P33 Board ViceChair, Chris Gladwin, CEO and Founder of Ocient and Cleversafe; and P33 Board Vice-Chair, Kelly Welsh, President of the Civic Committee of The Commercial Club of Chicago. At P33, we are very bullish about the future of Chicago’s tech leadership and firmly believe we have an authentic right to win: 155

Our companies thrive because of our pragmatic approach to innovation. Our tech companies solve problems that matter and that will continue to shape modern life in the next century. We don’t build tech for tech’s sake, and are advancing the future of essential industries and tech innovation not only in our region but globally. Our economy is as strong as it is diverse. Our business and technology strength not only lies within enterprise companies in our city, such as Walgreens, Allstate, United Airlines, Caterpillar, but also companies in emerging industries like quantum computing, artificial intelligence, and electric vehicles. We are also working to build a tech community that reflects all of our residents by increasing access to opportunities for all Chicagoans in partnership with organizations like GET Cities, Discovery Partners Institute, Chicago:Blend, and 1871. Our research and educational institutions are second to none. We’re home to Argonne National Lab, Fermilab, University of Chicago, Northwestern, University of Illinois Chicago, Illinois Institute of Technology, and of course University of Illinois at UrbanaChampaign.

Tech founder’s panel in front of members of the Commercial Club of Chicago

TechRise Finale

Tech leaders featured in TechChicago photo shoot

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2. Founders – Attracting and supporting startup founders in Chicago, specifically diverse founders, with community, connections, and access to capital. We help underfunded Black and Latin tech founders get more access to venture funding and resources through TechRise, a pitch competition for early-stage founders of color, launched in partnership with local and national organizations including Verizon, GETCities, and 1871.

Our technology sector has seen such growth because of where we are located. Since our very beginning, our city’s centrality has assured our dominance as a global hub for manufacturing, transportation, and distribution for national and global markets.

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We recognize that to compete in this ultra-competitive market for tech talent, to win the attention of startup founders and founders of color looking to plant roots for their businesses, and to retain enterprise companies and the tech workers they employ, we must focus on three key areas:

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1. Talent – Strengthening our talent base and workforce through talent development, attraction, and retention. We target top tech talent with an innovation-focused city brand called TechChicago. In partnership with World Business Chicago, we aim to attract, retain, and plug tech workers across the country, and in our own backyard, into our tech community.

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We foster a community of peers and mentors, which provide direct access to venture capitalists and startup resources necessary for scaling and growing their businesses.

3. Regional Priorities – Promoting and growing the core industry sectors where Chicago and Illinois lead today and will continue to lead in the future. We work with local leaders to advance our leadership position in key areas where we can leverage our region’s strengths including manufacturing, transportation, distribution and logistics, food and agriculture, and life sciences industries.

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We create pathways for all students to enter high-potential tech careers through an initiative called Strong Start. The program builds partnerships between top-tier universities and technology companies and startups to provide in-classroom project-based learning opportunities for students early in their college career.

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We aim to build a tech workforce that’s as culturally diverse and demographically diverse as our city and collaborate with the P33 Tech Talent Alliance, a group of over 40, established and emerging tech companies, to support our strategic problem-solving.

We are uniquely positioned to win in emerging technologies and industries like quantum computing, artificial intelligence, cleantech and electric vehicles – which will be the foundational technologies for the economy of the future. P33 info@p33chicago.com P33 Chicago

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According to the National Network to End Domestic Violence’s 2021 DV Counts Report, agencies were unable to provide emergency shelter to 1,982 adults and 1,184 children nationwide in just one day. Annualized, that’s 723,430 adults and 432,160 children who are left without access to emergency domestic violence shelters each

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year. Innumerous survivors are turned away because of shortages in available shelter space, a problem that was only exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. But with Safe Stays, agencies are able to find hotel accommodations within minutes, closing a gap that so many shelters face across the country.

SAFE STAYS BY RELOSHARE: Changing the Game for Emergency Housing by Providing Anonymous Hotel Bookings for Social Service Agencies

Top (Left to Right): Will Wager, Paige Allmendinger, Matt Singley, Joelle Rubeli, and John Moats at the Chicago Innovation Awards Ceremony. Bottom Left: Francesa Zárate and client at End Violence Against Women International Conference. Bottom Right: Matt and “Scoot” heading to the stage during the ceremony.

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The first of its kind, Safe Stays by ReloShare is a website that enables social services, nonprofits, and governmental agencies to book safe lodging at local hotels under complete anonymity with no added fees. Accommodations can be obtained for crime victims using alias names, without ever having to provide an I.D.

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or credit card to the hotel, no questions asked. This ensures private, confidential, safe accommodations for those who are often fleeing dangerous situations. Since Safe Stays’ launch, they have expanded from victim service agencies to anyone in the social service sector. This includes those working with homeless populations, healthcare, law enforcement, refugee resettlement programs, and many others.

“Thank you ever so much – all of you are so important to a survivor’s journey toward safety and healing. Seriously, what would we do without you!” — Stacy Goodman, Human Services / Domestic Violence Program Manager, Howard Area Community Center, 2021 Reloshare’s custom hotel-booking platform has grown rapidly since its development in 2020, its launch in 2021, and its rapid growth today. Here are some of the most recent milestones: Alliances with multiple national hotel brands, aggregating local rooms for emergency bookings through the ReloShare platform. Expansion to the entire continental United States, featuring thousands of hotel locations across the country. Onboarding more than 200 social service and governmental agencies so far, which are using the custom hotel-booking platform to secure lodging for survivors daily. Bookings exceeding 1,400 room nights per month, saving endless administrative hours and costs for social workers and advocates.

“Working on the Safe Stays application provides the rare opportunity to build great software for an even greater cause. It’s incredibly rewarding to see how our software is used and who it has positively affected and continues to help.” — John Moats, Co-Founder/CTO

Safe Stays is a unique product that’s been built on the expertise of two sectors that don’t often collaborate – tech and social services. It’s been an amazing opportunity to develop a tool that solves a problem faced by thousands of agencies across the country.” — Paige Allmendinger, Head of Safe Stays

The website has grown 30% month-over-month in May alone, and with several awards under their belts in less than a year’s existence, the company’s projections are very encouraging. Some of the 2022 honors include being named one of Fast Company’s Most Innovative Companies – as well as making their World Changing Ideas list; CHPA’s Innovation of the Year; and Chicago Innovation’s Social Innovator of the Year.

“Safe Stays is the product of creativity and innovation. Our platform successfully addresses the immense social service challenge of finding emergency hotel housing for survivors of domestic violence, human trafficking, sexual assault, and other crimes. We are motivated to continue this lifesaving and life-changing work by innovating on behalf of social service agencies and their clients.” — Matt Singley, Co-Founder/CEO To keep up with the latest news, follow @ReloShare across all major social media channels and visit reloshare.com/safestays to see what’s next!

ReloShare, Inc. 1327 W Washington Blvd, STE 106 Chicago, IL 60607

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BUILDING BRIDGES ACROSS THE WORLD ONE HANDSHAKE AT A TIME WorldChicago delegation visits Gostivar, North Macedonia to discuss community resilience and youth empowerment

Human Rights Lawyer Shahla Humbatova of Azerbaijan, 2020 recipient of the prestigious International Women of Courage Award of the U.S. Secretary of State, meets with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Illinois

Angolan delegation discussing government transparency and accountability at the Citizen Advocacy Center, 2019

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Delegation of 25 women from 25 countries visiting a Chicago-area lab to learn about support for women in STEM fields

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Core to innovation is collaboration. A 501(c)3 organization, WorldChicago connects global and Chicago innovators to share expertise, develop partnerships and build cross-cultural connections through Diplomacy in Action.

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While most of our work happens in Chicago, we also bring the Midwest perspective to the world. Through international conferences, fellowships and delegations, WorldChicago brings prominent Chicagoan thought leaders abroad to share their expertise and create international linkages and partnerships. Chicagoans return home with the experience of a lifetime, potential partners and new markets in which to expand operations.

Innovators work best when connected. And Chicago has long embraced this mantra. From the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition to the “Century of Progress” World’s Fair in 1933, Chicago has long been a welcoming haven of diversity and invention. Since its founding in 1952, WorldChicago has taken up the mantle as Chicago’s preeminent conduit of global exchange.

True to Chicago form, our focus is intersectional. As a city with rich histories of scientific discovery, civil advocacy, commercial development and legislative advancement, WorldChicago sees innovation as holistic. Our programs explore the entire Chicago case study and illuminate how developments downtown affect communities on the North, South and West sides.

Our mission is to promote global change and innovation with Chicago as our hub. But our approach is straightforward – we create spaces for international and Chicago peers to converge and learn from each other. In 2019, WorldChicago welcomed 700 international leaders from 118 countries to Chicago. Through meetings and professional development opportunities with their counterparts in our city’s public, private and nonprofit sectors, including the incubators and accelerators across the city, our international visitors discover our models of community change and innovation. True to form, our visitors share their business and social enterprise strategies and the possibility for mutual benefit comes to life.

As Chicago says goodbye to the “Century of Progress,” help WorldChicago usher in the “Century of Innovation.” Join our exciting programming on innovation and diplomacy... and connect with WorldChicago and its international community at www.WorldChicago.org.

2019 visitors’ countries by regions

18% 12% 8%

25%

 Africa  Western Hemisphere  Europe & Eurasia  South & Central Asia  North Africa & Near East  East Asia & the Pacific

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TURNING HOUSES INTO HOMES SINCE 2018 We believe everyone should be able to sleep in a bed, share a meal at a kitchen table, and enjoy the comfort of a furnished home.” — Andrew Witherspoon and Griffin Amdur, CFB Co-Founders The mission of the Chicago Furniture Bank (CFB) is to provide dignity, stability, and comfort to Chicagoans facing poverty by allowing our clients to handpick an entire home’s worth of furnishings for free. As the country’s largest furniture bank, we furnish 15 client homes per day through partnerships with our 400+ social service agencies. Since beginning operations in 2018, CFB has served more than 17,300 individuals and furnished 7,500 homes - with more than 97% of those clients living below the poverty line and 45% being children. While Chicago’s homeless population remains at an alarmingly high rate, research has shown that home retention rates can increase by up to 50% for those who live in a furnished home. When households leave temporary shelters and move into permanent housing, they do not have many, if any, belongings. The agencies that find this housing do not have the logistical infrastructure, movers or warehouse space to provide furnishings, and as such, households live in empty spaces for extended periods of time or even indefinitely. Our streamlined furniture program helps stabilize households that are beginning a new chapter in their lives, as four walls and roof alone don’t make a home.

Now I don’t have to worry about my children feeling like their house is empty. I can save that money and put it towards food and rent.” — Juanita S., Metropolitan Family Services CFB serves both families and individuals. Our clients range from those who’re formerly homeless, to veterans, victims of domestic abuse, the mentally and physically disabled, recovering addicts, and other populations facing socio-economic hardships. We furnish homes across all of Cook Country and the surrounding Chicagoland area, however, the vast majority of our clients reside on the South and West side of Chicago. In addition to tackling furniture poverty, CFB has found other innovative ways to help service our community at large. In February of 2020, CFB launched its sister nonprofit, Honest Junk Company (HJ). Honest Junk is the country’s second nonprofit junk removal service. What distinguishes HJ from other for-profit haulers is that 100% of usable items collected at pickup are diverted from landfills, donated, and repurposed by one of our partner charities. We give well-treated items such as furniture, books, 161

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clothes, toys, and more another chance to make someone happy in a new home. In 2021, CFB was recognized by the Chicago Innovation Awards and won the Wintrust Chicago neighborhood prize for the creation of Honest Junk Company. Furniture is the number-one least recycled household item, resulting in a whopping 12 million tons of it ending up in landfills annually. Through collecting furniture donations, CFB and HJ aim to reduce rapid landfill expansion by diverting over 5,000 tons of furniture annually. Through diverting these materials from landfills, both organizations leave a positive impact on the environment. Furthermore, CFB hires from the same communities that its set out to help. Approximately 50% of our staff are outsourced and hired from our partner workforce development agencies. Considering our 15 daily appointments and having to operate 12 trucks a day, our team has grown to 52 full-time employees - with 44 of those employees being drivers, movers, and warehouse workers. In 2021, we increased our staff by 45% and the number of homes we’ve furnished by 79% (3,300 homes). At the very least, furniture poverty affects one’s quality of life; at worst, it becomes a contributing factor to social exclusion, physical and mental distress, and a return to homelessness. The CFB’s main goal is to continue growing its capacity in order to furnish even more homes on a day-to-day basis. By investing in additional trucks, staff, and training, we will be one step closer towards being able to furnish 5,000 homes annually by 2024 and achieve our mission of ending furniture poverty. 312-752-0211 Donate@chicagofurniturebank.org chicago_furniture_bank chicagofurniturebank chicago-furniture-bank

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CHAPTER 9

EDUCATION

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“A mind that is stretched by a new experience can never go back to its old dimensions.” — OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES

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General Assembly is a pioneer in education and career transformation, specializing in today’s most in-demand skills.

GA Chicago Team The leading source for training, staffing, and career transitions, General Assembly fosters a flourishing community of professionals pursuing careers they love. What began as a co-working space in Manhattan in 2011 has since evolved into a global education and career development company, with more than 70,000 graduates and 32 campuses worldwide. General Assembly’s Chicago campus is situated in the heart of the Loop with breathtaking views overlooking the river. As individuals and companies struggle to compete in an increasingly technological economy, General Assembly provides award-winning, dynamic training to close the global skills gap. “There is a growing need for digital skills in today’s workforce, but the supply and demand we see in the labor market is simply not matching up,” says Jake Schwartz, co-founder and CEO of General Assembly. General Assembly’s Chicago campus runs three immersive courses spanning across User Experience Design, Data Science, and Software Engineering. “Learning to build software is one of the more satisfying creative goals you can pursue. It’s especially exciting in this current climate

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Student Meet & Hire Event at iCrossing

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Side Hustle Panel at Catalyst Ranch moderated by Caroline Schiff, Local Marketing Producer Beyond Immersive courses, General Assembly also hosts several PartTime evening and accelerated courses designed for those looking to upskill or learn a new skill. Their short-form workshops and free communitybuilding events hosted across the city are an excellent alternative for those looking for one-off career-building experiences. “Whether it’s organizing free events or workshops for professionals and students, General Assembly is excited to continue to support Chicago’s growing innovation ecosystem and looks forward to accelerated growth in 2020 and beyond,” says Caroline Schiff, Local Marketing Producer.

User Experience Design Immersive students with Lead Instructor, Kyle Carbone of rapidly evolving technology. There’s a chance to apply these skills in any context, organization, or industry imaginable,” says Reuben Ayres, a Software Engineering Immersive graduate, and current Lead Instructor. Immersive students are supported by an Outcomes team throughout the duration of the twelve-week course. They receive in-class lessons and one-on-one instruction from a Career Coach, who equips them with the skills necessary to land a job upon graduation. A quarterly Meet & Hire event is curated for students to showcase their portfolios and capstone projects to prospective employers. “Regardless of who you are or what your background is, you can find more clarity, increase your confidence, and sharpen your skillset throughout the immersive program,” shares Chelsie Noble, Career Coach.

150 N. Wacker Drive Suite 2600 Chicago, IL 60606 +1-646-678-2370 chicago@generalassemb.ly generalassemblychi ga_chicago

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Satisfying, well-paying tech jobs abound

The acute shortage of technology workers in the United States has driven up wages significantly. The median annual salary of an entry-level employee working on a help desk is $53,470, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. The median salary for all tech workers is $81,000.

At Creating IT Futures, we believe tech careers should be accessible to everyone with the passion to pursue them — which is why we help displaced and underemployed service-sector workers transition into technology.

The expected growth rate of tech industry jobs — 15 percent — also far exceeds all other industries, making the potential for wage growth and career advancement unprecedented.

We also believe the tech industry should mirror society — which is why we work diligently to open career doors to people underrepresented traditionally, such as women, veterans and people of color.

Many employers today aren’t concerned if tech workers attended college. Rather, they care about whether tech workers have certifications, and how effectively they communicate and collaborate. With many entrylevel positions, it’s possible for high-school graduates to move directly into the tech workforce.

Creating IT Futures offers a journey of tech career preparedness — ranging from the tween years and well into adulthood, igniting interest and providing pathways into successful careers. Within the Chicagoland area, Creating IT Futures provides these programs:

Despite the abundance of jobs available, many people looking to launch a tech career don’t know where to start.

Encouraging young women to broaden their tech knowledge and confidence

That’s where Creating IT Futures comes in. Our highly acclaimed TechGirlz program inspires middle- and highschool girls to explore future careers by putting technology into their hands through free, project-based workshops that can be conducted in-person or online. To date, TechGirlz has served more than 15,000 girls around the country. Moreover, more than 82 percent of TechGirlz workshop participants said the experiences changed their minds positively about a future tech career.

Creating IT Futures is a tech workforce nonprofit founded by CompTIA, a respected voice for the $5-trillion global IT ecosystem and the leading provider of vendor-neutral training and certifications.

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Recently, TechGirlz has continued to expand programs for girls interested in tech by centralizing their efforts in Chicago with community workshops, camps, and school clubs. Programs are led by leaders in the industry, educators, and individuals, including teen volunteers.

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Creating IT Futures is helping motivated people reveal their IT career potential — Charles Eaton

TechGirlz’s programming is key to addressing gender inequalities earlier in the talent development pipeline. By introducing more young women to tech through fun and interactive workshops, TechGirlz broadens their awareness of potential career opportunities and increases their confidence. See https://www.techgirlz.org for more.

CEO of Creating IT Futures, and Executive Vice President of Social Innovation at CompTIA

Encouraging teenagers to consider a future in a tech career with high-touch career counseling, plus training and/or career placement. Visit https://www.creatingitfutures.org/itready- 8-weeksof-intense-it-training-free-to-vets.

Creating IT Futures, in partnership with Best Buy, developed a test pilot with the arts-centric Little Black Pearl Art & Design Academy on the east side of Chicago. There, we are seeking to expand interest among high-school students in tech careers, and connect them to training, certification and future internships.

As we move forward with strength in numbers and support, Creating IT Futures stands poised to help address our country’s continuing tech worker shortage — because career opportunities should be available to anyone with a drive to succeed.

IT-Ready Technical Support through CompTIA Tech Career Academy IT-Ready Technical Support is our signature tech workplace-training program. In just eight weeks, IT-Ready prepares adults for entrylevel tech career roles. No previous tech experience is necessary and participants need only possess a diploma or GED. Some 88 percent of IT-Ready graduates have secured full-time employment in the tech industry. Learn more at https://comptiatech.org

The work of Creating IT Futures changes lives — for better, forever. Visit our website to learn more about Creating IT Futures, our work in your community, and how you might partner with us to bring new opportunities to people who want them.

Helping veterans transition into tech careers Veterans are under-represented within the tech industry, despite having a host of skills that make them excellent civilian workers — problem solving, integrity, flexibility, communication and experience collaborating within diverse teams. Working with the Cognizant U.S. Foundation, in partnership with Wounded Warrior Project and CompTIA, Creating IT Futures helps veterans gain digital skills necessary for in-demand tech careers. The campaign is reaching thousands of wounded warriors and their family members nationally

Creating IT Futures Foundation Inc. jlareau@comptia.org +1-630-678-8480 creatingITfutures comptia-creating-it-futures-foundation creatingitfutures

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ON A MISSION TO MAKE STUDENT LOAN DEBT REPAYMENT EFFECTIVE AND PAIN-FREE THROUGH THE EMPOWERMENT OF EVERYDAY DECISIONS

WHAT WE DO ChangEd is an all-in-one debt management platform helping people build a better relationship with debt so they can reach their financial dreams sooner. ChangEd allows people with debt to link all their loans and spending accounts on one platform. We then analyze their debt load and develop a repayment journey that aligns with their budget and accelerates borrowers out of debt sooner, while helping people save in potential interest costs. ChangEd does this by giving people the ability to save in small increments, with features such as spare change roundups from everyday purchases, scheduled intelligent transfers, and provides repayment recommendations to automate those savings toward their debt in an optimized way.

OUR STORY Dan and Nick are brothers who both graduated with business degrees accumulating over $120K in student debt. They were raised by a single mom who immigrated from Poland and worked two jobs to support them. One of those jobs was running her own cleaning business. Nick said “We saw our mom work day-and-night to put food on the table and lived paycheck to paycheck. She taught us that we needed to “embrace the broom,” which means we needed to understand that sometimes you have to do the hard work no one else wants to do to get to where you want to be.”

WHY WE DO IT With over $14.96 trillion of consumer debt outstanding in the US and growing double-digits each year, founders Nick Sky, Dan Stelmach and Mike Land feel the pain of debt personally. Americans are utilizing debt as a need instead of a tool and have a poor relationship with it. 169

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The brothers realized that furthering your education provided more opportunities but also came with more financial strain. Dan Said, “No one in our family graduated from college and no one had the financial resources to do so. So, we borrowed money, just like millions of other Americans that carry student debt.” After graduating, Dan realized the effort it was going to take to overcome his debt and the delays he was going to experience in his goals because of it. Dan realized this when he tried to buy his first home a few years after graduating and walked away from the opportunity because he knew he would be stuck with a continuous cycle of bills and debt, even though he was approved to buy a home. Shortly after, Dan came to Nick with a sticky note that had an idea to help people better manage debt, Nick was in! They realized most of their friends who went to school had student loan debt and never discussed it. They realized the relationship between people and debt was broken. “People rarely discuss it, they don’t want to think about it, and they hate paying for it”, Dan said. They saw an opportunity to build something that made people feel better about it and helped them feel progress everyday instead of just viewing a balance that’s due. Launched in 2018, ChangEd set off to help student loan borrowers. They’ve helped thousands of borrowers repay tens of millions of dollars in debt. They’ve also helped people reframe the way debt feels and have helped people accelerate their financial goals. “One thing I thought I’d never say is that we get people excited about paying back their loans and that’s what matters most,” said Dan. ChangEd now supports multiple debt repayment options such as credit card, mortgages, and auto loans to help people develop better repayment habits and eventually know what debt truly costs someone. They’ve also had the opportunity to Pitch on ABC’s Shark Tank and landed funding from investors such as Mark Cuban to continue their journey to help more Americans overcome debt.

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Sage Corps is an international internship program that sends students to work with startups. We’re building the nextgen global workforce.

globally-trained workforce. But each year, less than 2% of college students go abroad, and of those, only 0.1% have global work experience.

In 2003, Matt Meltzer graduated summa cum laude from the University of Pennsylvania. He thought employers would line up to hire him. He was wrong. With zero job offers, Matt flew down to South America with a backpack.

Sage Corps sends college students to intern abroad at startups while developing valuable skills for trending jobs. All students first spend 50+ hours completing hard skill training modules as part of our Online Skills Academy. Next, they intern at global startups where they gain real world experience, either in-person with a cohort or remotely from home. Assigned Sage Corps program managers work with each student individually during the program. They support students through the initial application, travel preparations, resume review and matching with a host startup, and in-country arrival where they meet our local team to complete a 2-day orientation before their internship begins.

After living and working in Buenos Aires for one year, Matt returned to Chicago for law school. After graduating, he went on to develop a litigation practice representing Latin American companies at Kirkland & Ellis LLP, one of the most prestigious law firms in the world. Matt’s “investment” abroad had paid off. Ten years later Matt made the life-changing decision to leave his career in law and founded Sage Corps. He knew that in a global economy, we need a 171

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During our programs, students work at host startups and attend professional events to immerse them into the local startup community, led by local Sage Corps staff. After completing our program, students join a talented alumni community who accept full-time positions at some of the world’s top companies and startups. 93% of our alumni land full-time jobs within three months of graduation from college.

“When I got back from Argentina and was applying for full time jobs in consulting, I stood out... I am not kidding when I say that I talked about Sage Corps in EVERY SINGLE INTERVIEW, and I will ultimately be working at PricewaterhouseCoopers Strategy in Chicago next year.”

Sage Corps interns apply for our programs from universities all over the U.S. Our Chicago-area partners DePaul University, University of Illinois, and Illinois Institute of Technology connect us with local students who want to work abroad. And through our membership at 1871 Sage Corps brings emerging young talent from across the U.S. to work with Chicago startups each summer.

— Maggie Edmunds, Rice University, Buenos Aires alum Amidst international travel lockdowns in 2020, Sage Corps launched end-to-end online programming. Even as travel has resumed, the remote internship program attracts students who want to gain global experience from home, whether due to financial or other logistical constraints. In our new “normal” hybrid work culture, remote experience becomes increasingly important for students to gain before graduation.

“I learned how to learn... I did not have many technical skills coming in, which is pretty intimidating in the start-up world. But, I had so many other things to offer — analytical, writing, and adaptability skills to name a few things. Now, all that was left was to mold my two worlds together: the 1871 project-driven go-getters with the Middlebury, Vermonter intellects.”

Alongside our new program models, we know funding is still a barrier to student participation. In addition to the partial scholarships and stipends from employers, Sage Corps has introduced a new Income Share Agreement initiative for college seniors and recent graduates. Students can participate in our program for a fraction of the price up front, and then make further program repayments only if they land employment with a minimum income after graduation. We get our name from the word sage, which means “having profound wisdom”, and corps [kohr], which means “a powerful community of people unified by common beliefs, goals, or actions,”. Since starting with 5 students in 2013, Sage Corps now counts over 1,000 alumni who have participated in programs across five continents as we continue on our mission to train the next generation global workforce.

— Zorica Radanovic, Middlebury College, Chicago alum

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“I believe you have to be willing to be misunderstood if you’re going to innovate.” — JEFF BEZOS

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TAKE REPAIRS OFF YOUR PLATE 86 Repairs is the repair and maintenance management platform built for the restaurant industry. Our tech-enabled solution includes on-demand repair management and preventative maintenance. With 86 Repairs, restaurants have access to data-driven insights and 24/7 support to control their facilities, reduce their R&M costs, and spend less of their team’s time on equipment repairs.

No one gets into the restaurant industry to manage repairs and maintenance. Yet R&M alone costs operators over 26 million dollars a year—up to three percent of annual revenue (if not more). Mismanagement and inefficiencies lead to lost revenue from equipment downtime and decreased customer satisfaction from unexpected shutdowns. Considering the labor shortage and supply chain strains the industry faces today, every dollar and second of their team’s time counts.

86 Repairs manages the repair and maintenance process for more than one thousand restaurant operators nationwide, from full service and fine dining to fast casual and quick service franchises.

Unfortunately, operators have been left in the dark when it comes to repairs. Without accurate, actionable data, consistency across locations or transparency on prices and providers is impossible. The expensive and time-consuming reality of managing repairs detracts and distracts from an operator’s ability to effectively run their front-of-house operations and achieve any plans to scale or grow.

When both quick service chains and large-scale restaurant groups feel stuck managing the painful maintenance process, Daniel Estrada, CEO and Co-Founder, and his team at 86 Repairs save the day with their techenabled solution made for restaurant equipment repairs.

We are innovators. Our innovation is our approach to solving the repair and maintenance problem in a way that has never been done before—the data has never been aggregated and interpreted to provide real-time insights and recommendations to save customers time, money, and headaches.

A first-generation American, Daniel is a natural-born entrepreneur who committed to tackling one of the largest and most costly pain points in the restaurant industry: repairs and maintenance. Daniel and co-founder, Joe Gallagher, heard the same complaints about R&M from operators nationwide—wasted time and money without any data, efficiency, or transparency. 175

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Repairs and maintenance has a reputation of pain and complexity, but with 86 Repairs, managing R&M is as simple as sending a text. Our ondemand repair management solution offers 24/7 support from seasoned team members, most of whom have industry experience. However, it’s our access to industry-wide data and insights that truly sets us apart from other software and tools in the space. We created an innovative solution to this confusing, costly, time-consuming problem - not just another software teams don’t want or need.

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While it should be obvious that foodservice equipment needs to be maintained, many operators ignore necessary repairs and preventive maintenance until it’s too late. Unfortunately, duct tape and a prayer are rarely a suitable solution—and a broken fryer can be the difference between KFC and FCK. Think of our solution as Facilities as a Service instead of Software as a Service. Our team is responsible for owning the data and the process from end to end, including scheduling, communication, follow-up, and data tracking.

Likewise, we provide our customers with visibility, consistency, and control over their operations so that they are able to innovate within their own businesses. Strategic growth is nearly impossible without getting repairs under control.

For operators to stay ahead, they need to invest in solutions like 86 Repairs that bring aggregated data, streamlined processes, and transformative technology to the table.

It’s clear that restaurant operators are leaning into this new way of managing R&M and embracing back-of-house tech as a crucial next step in innovation. Operators are seeking hands-off, consistent, and transparent management and 86 Repairs provides the simple solution for on-demand repairs and preventative maintenance.

86 Repairs was named one of Chicago Inno’s 21 Startups to Watch in 2021, The Spoon’s Restaurant Tech 10, winner of the Rising Star Award for 1871’s Momentum Awards, and included in the Top 40 finalists for the 2021 Chicago Innovation Awards.

Armed with formerly untapped data and insights, we’re looking forward to growing our capabilities and expanding our portfolio of customer restaurants to provide end to end management for operators of every size and segment. 86 Repairs hello@86repairs.com 312-584-1115 @86Repairs 86repairs

86 Repairs is more committed than ever to making equipment run longer and work smarter, not harder, with ever-expanding preventative care recommendations and on-demand R&M support. As we move into 2022, we’re hoping to use this year to grow as a platform and become the true one-stop-shop for back-of-house for our operators.

86repairs.com

If our customers are passionate about making the food customers crave, we promise to keep the equipment running and working just as hard as they are.

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WHEN THE PERFECT PRODUCT SHOULD EXIST BUT DOESN’T, CREATE IT. LOCKER LIFESTYLE IS ON A MISSION TO MAKE “WEARABLE LOCKERS” TO SAFELY STASH AND STORE BASIC NECESSITIES FOR ALL AGES AND ACTIVITIES.

Upon winning their National Grant Competition in 2018, Locker Lifestyle was named one of the top 10 small businesses in the country by FedEx. In 2019, our founder graduated from college and garnered the ability to scale the company full-time. Since then, Locker Lifestyle has secured an official Women-Owned Business Certification (WBE), launched in over 35 retailers nationally, and our products were named the top gear to have for 2020 by Runner’s World Magazine. We are more determined than ever to keep the accolades and momentum going!

Our story begins when our fearless founder, Kat Samardzija, had her valuables stolen while exercising. As a Division ll college athlete, she spent a lot of time on the go and at the gym. When she learned how common the theft issue is, she wanted to create a simple solution. Out of necessity, her first product was dreamed, sketched and sewn at her mother’s bridal salon. Out of popular demand, the products she made and wore on campus, unexpectedly and suddenly bloomed into a booming business. Welcome to Locker Lifestyle. Milestones Just when the new business was in a fantastic upward trajectory — patterns were complete, fabrics were stocked, production was in full swing and Etsy selling was launched — the bridal salon suffered an utterly devastating fire. Two female entrepreneurs, my mother and I, watched as our businesses burned to the ground. Everything was lost, not even a zipper or prototype survived. Fighting the desire to give up, our founder used her competitive spirit and entered a local collegiate entrepreneurial pitch contest. She won first place and $7,500 to bring Locker Lifestyle® back to life. Within two years, the company placed first in more than a dozen national pitch competitions, providing the validation and capital needed to move onward and upward.

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FOOD & LIFESTYLE

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“Be an innovator, not an imitator.“ — AUDREY CARBALLO

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FARMER’S FRIDGE IS ON A MISSION TO MAKE IT SIMPLE FOR EVERYONE TO EAT WELL. A former traveling salesman driving more than 3,000 miles each week, Farmer’s Fridge Founder and CEO Luke Saunders was frustrated with the lack of healthy, 24/7 options available on the road. Determined to solve this challenge, he built a hightech smart Fridge that dispenses fresh meals within seconds. Despite facing initial doubts about customers ordering salad from a vending machine, Farmer’s Fridge has sold more than 5 million meals – changing the way Americans eat by providing convenient, affordable and healthy food. Fast forward to today – you can now find hundreds of Fridges across the country in high-traffic locations, including airports, hospitals, office buildings, and college campuses. Each Fridge is stocked with chef-curated meals, running the gamut from layered salads, to hearty grain bowls, to breakfast dishes. Customers can enjoy healthful options including a Smoked Cheddar Cobb Salad, Burrito Bowl with fresh guacamole, or Almond Butter Oats Bowl – with nearly every item under $10. Farmer’s Fridge provides restaurant-quality food without the real estate, and can be placed virtually anywhere with an electrical outlet and 14 sq-ft of space. The story begins well before the Fridge. Farmer’s Fridge sources the best possible ingredients for each menu item, and works with like-minded partners who share our values. Each meal is made from scratch and packed with care by our team. Over the last few years, Farmer’s Fridge has donated more than 400,000 meals to community members in need and to frontline workers throughout the pandemic. Working towards a zero foodwaste model, food scraps and meals that can’t be donated are composted. Another key aspect of Farmer’s Fridge comes from the integration of proprietary technology. All Fridges are connected to a cloud network running algorithms on what food to produce, closely managing inventory and minimizing potential waste. Based on these advanced data models, the company prepares and delivers the right quantity and assortment of meals to each location. The smart Fridges also offer touchless pick-up through our mobile app and monitor the temperature of all items in the Fridge, ensuring food safety by locking access to any meals past their optimal date. 181

In 2020, we reached a pivotal moment as a company and quickly adapted our business model to address the changing environment. Within two weeks of the shelter-in-place order in Chicago, Farmer’s Fridge built and launched a direct-to-consumer website allowing our customers to have meals delivered to their homes. This service is now available in 42 states and counting, significantly expanding the Farmer’s Fridge footprint nationwide.

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Despite a tumultuous pandemic year, the growth didn’t stop there. Farmer’s Fridge launched in retail, partnering with Target, Jewel-Osco, a Chicago-based grocery chain, and instant-delivery service, GoPuff. Through an omnichannel approach spanning Fridge sites, direct-toconsumer home delivery and wholesale, we are making fresh, healthy food accessible, and fulfilling our mission of making it simple to eat well. The bottom line: good health starts with what we eat, and eating healthy shouldn’t be hard. Farmer’s Fridge wants everyone to enjoy delicious, wholesome food that enriches their lives. Farmer’s Fridge 2000 W. Fulton St. Suite F310 Chicago IL 60612 farmersfridge

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TRANSFORMING HOW THE WORLD EATS WITH FY™, A NEW-TO-THE-WORLD, NUTRITIONAL FUNGI PROTEIN

The story of Nature’s Fynd™ begins millions of years ago, in an acidic hot spring located in what is today Yellowstone National Park when a remarkable microbe was born. In 2009, NASA-backed research on extremophiles led our co-founder to the park’s hot springs. He then isolated and discovered a remarkable microbe which he later named Fusarium strain flavolapis. Not only can Fusarium strain flavolapis withstand extreme acidic conditions, but one sample of it acts much like a sourdough starter meaning we can grow more without ever having to go back to the park. The founding Nature’s Fynd team of explorers, scientists, and optimists came together to develop a fermentation technology that leverages the potential of this microbe to grow Fy Protein™, which will ultimately help feed our world’s rapidly growing, and resource-hungry, population.

Inspired by nature’s own efficiency, we invented a breakthrough fermentation technology called liquid-air interface fermentation that grows Fy™, a new-to-the-world, nutritional fungi protein, 24/7, 365 days a year without the need for rain, sun, or soil. At scale, growing Fy will use 99% less land, 99% less water, and emits 94% fewer greenhouse gases than beef. In addition to our novel fermentation method, the versatility of Fy Protein sets Nature’s Fynd apart. With Fy, we make Meatless Breakfast Patties and Dairy-Free Cream Cheese that are available at key natural retails across the nation. Spanning both meat and dairy alternative categories is a standout characteristic in the food industry. Also in contrast to other alternative proteins, Fy is a complete vegan protein, containing all nine 183

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essential amino acids, and is a nutritional powerhouse. It has minerals and is a good source of fiber, including both beta-glucans and prebiotic fiber, which are known to support immune and digestive health. Fy boasts a higher protein digestibility score than peas, peanuts, and many other plant-based proteins; and contains twice as much protein as raw peas and 50% more than tofu1 . Fy is also differentiated by what it lacks—it’s produced without the use of antibiotics, hormones, or pesticides, and is non-GMO.

fermentation technology and Fy Protein will have a meaningful impact on nourishing people and nurturing the planet for generations to come. References: 1. USDA Food Data Central, https://fdc.nal.usda.gov/fdc-app. html , accessed April 2022

As important as it is for them to do well as a company, it’s equally as critical that Nature’s Fynd do ‘good’ in the community and hometown. We’re headquartered in the former Union Stockyards on the South Side of Chicago, the epicenter of the 20th-century meatpacking industry. In that same space, we now make a sustainable protein and have created 100 new jobs, with plans to employ over 200 more people over the next two years. We intend to invest in and revitalize other communities across the globe in the same way.

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Our mission is to help anyone reach their health potential. Already a successful tech entrepreneur, Alex Skryl had not intended to take on another similar venture. However, Alex was deeply moved by the growing epidemic of chronic disease in the United States. He felt that it was time to put his entrepreneurial mindset towards giving back to the community. Thus, Alex decided to launch NutriSense - a digital health platform that empowers individuals to better understand and take control of their metabolic health. NutriSense equips individuals with the tools to personalize their own health journey. Once users receive their personal continuous glucose monitors (CGM), they team up one-to-one with world-class dietitians to provide evidence-based recommendations determined by their own novel biometrics found right within the NutriSense app. Whether users want to lose a few pounds, shed a few seconds off their mile time, or spend a few extra years with their grandchildren, the NutriSense team provides its members with the tools they need to achieve their own unique goals. NutriSense measures its success by each individual and their accomplishments. We ask every NutriSense user upon starting, what are your personal goals to ensure we’re providing them with a unique experience designed to reach their health potential.

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Mr. Z joined NutriSense with the simple, yet complex, goal of being able to keep up with his grandchildren. After only 4 months with our program, Mr. Z lowered his A1C by 17%, decreased his fasting glucose by 50 points, and lost 15 lbs. He is not only able to keep up with his grandkids, but completed his first 5k this past September. Helping individuals like Mr. Z to reach their health potential is not only rewarding, but it drives us to continue improving the NutriSense program. With every stride, we’re one step closer to empowering an even greater number of individuals like Mr. Z to take control of their metabolic health.

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LOOKING UP TOGETHER

Astronomy and space science are rich with breakthrough discoveries and big questions about the universe and our place in it. In this digital age, stunning imagery and detailed information is readily available—anyone with an internet connection can dive deep into any topic that piques their interest. In an information-saturated world, how can a century-old museum stand out and stay relevant?

The Adler Planetarium has embraced new technology since its founding in 1930. In fact, the museum was itself a technological marvel when it opened—the first planetarium in the Western Hemisphere. It introduced America to the Zeiss star projector and harnessed the power of actual starlight to kick off the World’s Fair in 1933. The Adler is a co-founder of Zooniverse, a research platform that connects science teams (and their 187

Located on the shores of Lake Michigan, on Chicago’s Museum Campus, the Adler Planetarium has the best view of the Chicago city skyline.

massive data sets) with volunteers all over the world. And now, in its two domed theaters, the museum offers digital sky shows that immerse audiences and their imaginations in the wonder that is the cosmos. Still, for the Adler, innovation has never been about the technology itself—the magic is in using every tool available to spark human curiosity and connection. Personal connections have always been central to the Adler experience. Founder Max Adler wanted the public to understand that “under the heavens, everything is interrelated, even as each of us to the other.” Every piece in the museum’s renowned historical collection—every astrolabe, telescope, and work on paper—helps tell the story of humans looking up and trying to make sense of the universe. In the decades since it first opened its doors, the museum has reminded its neighbors that even in a light-polluted city like Chicago, where few stars and planets are visible to the naked eye, people can simply look up and feel connected to the universe, to their neighbors, to people everywhere and in every time.

Original sky shows in the museum’s two domed theaters encourage guests to look up at the wonders of the universe.

In 2013, the Adler decided to embrace urban stargazing. The museum turned small telescopes to the planets, Moon, and Sun (safely filtered, of course) and invited the public to take a look and embrace the sky as part of their neighborhood, as much as the buildings and streets. The enthusiastic response led to a full renovation of the museum’s lakeside Doane Observatory in 2014 and the launch of ’Scopes in the City in 2015, a traveling telescope program where now Chicagoans can observe the sky from their own neighborhood through partnerships with local parks, public libraries, and small businesses.

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On August 21, 2017, 60,000 people gathered at the Adler for Chicago’s Eclipse Fest to celebrate the first total solar eclipse in the United States in nearly 40 years.

The public clamored for more. As a total solar eclipse was about to cross America from coast to coast in 2017, the Adler distributed a whopping 250,000 pairs of eclipse glasses to be used from anywhere. And, on the day of the eclipse, the museum hosted a block party that brought more than 60,000 people to its grounds.

programming focused on creating community and a sense of belonging: An informal astronomy live-stream where people can learn to spot celestial objects from wherever they are; an ever-changing guided tour of the night sky over Chicago; a musical (and educational) sketch comedy show that tackles big topics like parallel universes and black holes; and virtual field trips that let Zoom-fatigued students explore and interact in three dimensions.

A few years later, the Adler launched a new brand and institutional strategy that emphasized bringing people together just as a pandemic was about to force people apart. And that new mission—to connect people to the universe and each other under the sky we all share—would remain the museum’s north star throughout its unforeseeable two-year pandemic closure. Adler staff moved fast to develop original, all-digital

The museum’s landmark lakeside facility is once again open to the public, sporting a new copper dome roof, a new telescope in the Doane Observatory, and a completed observation park able to host public observing parties from Chicago’s backyard for decades to come.

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YOLO (Youth Organization for Lights Out) is a STEAM civic action program with the Adler’s Teen Programs that empowers high school students to advocate within their community about light pollution.

Opening day, May 12, 1930. Guests line the stairs of the new Adler Planetarium—the first planetarium in the Western Hemisphere.

An exterior shot of the Adler Planetarium taken in 2021, featuring the new copper dome roof.

The Adler continues its innovative work with Chicago youth to study and combat light pollution in the washed-out urban sky. The museum’s scientists work closely with Adler teens to collect and analyze data with high-altitude balloons and all-sky cameras that the students assemble on site. The hard work of these teens contributed to the designation of Illinois’ first International Dark Sky Park at Middle Fork River Forest Preserve in Champaign County and the World’s Largest Urban Night Sky Place at Palos Preserves in Cook County, just southwest of Chicago. America’s oldest planetarium sets itself apart by embracing a simple act in today’s complex world: the power of looking up together.

Adler Planetarium 1300 S. DuSable Lake Shore Dr. Chicago, Illinois 60605 This rare 16th-century celestial globe, made by Gerhard Mercator, showcases 50 constellations, most of which are still used today.

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GET OUT AND PLAY - THE FORGE ADVENTURE PARKS Chicagoland is home to one of the world’s most fantastic recreation destinations: The Forge: Lemont Quarries. Since opening in the summer of 2020, the 300-acre park has been named one of the top three new destinations in the United States. The park provides authentic, purposedriven outdoor experiences for people of all ages, backgrounds, and abilities. Activities include high & low ropes courses, ziplines, climbing walls, hiking & mountain bike trails, kayaking, laser tag, archery, fishing, axe-throwing, and bouldering. But that is not all. It also offers youth summer camps, festivals, workshops, educational programming, dining, running and biking races, and an outdoor concert venue. Adventure comes in endless forms at The Forge!

FORGING COMMUNITIES Located just outside Chicago, The Forge: Lemont Quarries is a recreational paradise built around previously derelict limestone quarries in the village of Lemont. It is the first of what will be many adventure parks built by The Forge Adventure Parks. While the park wins headlines as the largest and one of the top-rated aerial adventure courses in North America, receiving those kinds of accolades are not the company’s sole motivation. The Forge aims to do more than put Lemont onto the map for adventureseekers. The company endeavors to change the way people think about recreation by investing in communities and transforming disused and underutilized public spaces into celebrated destinations that drive longterm positive social and environmental impact.

INNOVATIVE PLAY The Forge Adventure Parks designs, builds, and operates recreation destinations. However, its key innovations lie in its Three E’s philosophy. “Our goal is to bring authentic indoor and outdoor recreation to the masses at a scale never seen before,” said Jeremie Bacon, co-founder of The Forge. “We want to create places that resonate with our visitors and make them want to return again and again. We accomplish this by crafting experiences that span the three core pillars of our vision: Exhilarate, Educate, and Entertain.”

The Forge utilizes a first-of-its-kind public-private partnership model which enables it to restore, conserve, and preserve the natural landscape while offering hundreds of thousands of visitors a unique place to play, learn, and challenge themselves. Since opening the Lemont Quarries location, The Forge has been recognized for investing heavily to create a positive social impact by accentuating the natural beauty and historical significance of the area for Chicagoland. Founders Jeremie Bacon, Chris Gladwin, and Bart Loethen are dedicated to community outreach, outdoor educational experiences, and local development. They share an ambitious vision to build adventure parks across North America and, eventually, the rest of the world.

The Three E’s are the cornerstone of The Forge’s innovative approach to business. “Exhilarate” encompasses the physicality of personal challenge by choice, athletics, and movement. “Educate” includes programming like outdoor classes based on state teaching standards, fairs, expos, and environmental stewardship. “Entertain” encompasses food and beverage offerings, outdoor concerts, movies, festivals, races, and special events. “We look at the pillars as concentric circles on a canvas and try to create immersive real-world experiences where the circles overlap,” explained 191

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tricking you into learning something while having fun (Educate!). As for Entertain, you may reach the summit and bump into an artist painting a landscape or musicians performing songs or playing a concerto. You never know how we’ll surprise you at The Forge.”

PURPOSE BEFORE PROFIT The heart of this company is building meaningful public-private partnerships that benefit two kinds of communities: like-minded participants and the citizens living in and around the cities where The Forge operates. Using private capital, The Forge aims to resurrect dilapidated public spaces by transforming them into recreation destinations and productive business zones for towns and communities. City, community, and environmental leaders are consulted to determine how to reclaim and restore these spaces to transform them into assets that produce benefits for everyone. These partnerships are structured on agreements that protect the public’s interest while enabling private capital to invest in long-term projects. “This form of partnership is a fabulous example of how everyone can win when public and private groups come together in a united effort that puts people before profit,” said Bacon. Community participation and involvement are integral parts of The Forge’s business model. To further its cause, it established a nonprofit organization to benefit the parks and local communities. The Forge Charitable Adventures, a 501(c)3, exists to help improve the health of communities by restoring and preserving nature, promoting active stewardship of the environment, and providing access to outdoor education and recreation opportunities to people of all ages, abilities, and socio-economic circumstances.

Bacon. “We make sure that each pillar influences every activity at the park and try to guide you through the customer journey in a way that helps you to experience the pillars without realizing it. That’s our biggest innovation. No one has done that before for outdoor recreation.”

“I love being stopped by a guest and seeing the happiness on their face as they tell me of their transformative experiences at the park,” said Bacon. “Seeing people overcome obstacles, push their limits, and conquer their fears is incredibly rewarding. It makes all the blood, sweat, and tears that I put into this business worth it.”

This philosophy is demonstrated by one of the many activities at The Forge: Lemont Quarries. Explained Bacon: “The tallest climbing structure in our park looks like a post-apocalyptic Willis Tower whose individual towers are peeling apart like a banana. As you venture up the rearleaning structure, you can choose to feel the thrill of dangling over the edge of a 100-foot precipice. That’s the ‘exhilarating’ part. Standing atop the 85, 95, or 110-foot observation decks, you are rewarded with a view of the real Willis Tower and the Chicago skyline to the East. Looking North, South, and West, you can see the industrial corridor that flanks the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal, numerous train lines, the entirety of the village of Lemont, and a large stretch of the historically significant Illinois & Michigan Canal. Specially placed placards relate the history of the sites,

Adventure comes in endless forms.

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“The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.” — ELEANOR ROOSEVELT

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REAL ESTATE

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MODERN RESIDENT EXPERIENCE Livly offers apartment technology that property managers use to simplify tasks and elevate resident experiences.

Livly, Inc. is revolutionizing apartment living & powering communities across the globe. Founded in Chicago in 2017, Livly has built the first unified enterprise-grade operating system tailored specifically for residential properties. The Livly operating system serves as the remote control for apartment living, connecting residents, guests, staff, and vendors with state-of-the-art software, access controls, services, and comprehensive data analytics. The Livly Operating System offers user-friendly alternatives to antiquated and disjointed solutions, simplifying tasks such as managing maintenance tickets, paying rent, and communicating with property management. Livly delivers a new level of convenience and an elevated sense of community for users—ultimately, enabling property managers to better serve their residents and encouraging residents to renew their leases. 195

Livly provides value the moment a resident signs their new lease, streamlining the entire move-in process, from scheduling move times to setting up renter’s insurance, payments, and utilities and integrating residents into their new communities via powerful social tools. Once residents settle in their new apartments, Livly becomes the all-in-one solution for life in their communities. Residents have access to a multitude of convenience functions, from resident services like home cleaning and pet care to private community social channels, and much more. For property managers, Livly is the control center for managing day-to-day resident experiences like package management, property access, rent, maintenance and much more. Today, Livly works with some of the largest companies in residential real estate, including The Related Group, Lincoln Property Company, and Greystar. Livly investors include The Pritzker Group, OCA Ventures, and Founder Equity.

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At Cohesion, we are transforming commercial real estate with smart building technology that enhances the workplace experience, streamlines operations and optimizes revenue in one single digital platform.

Our company was co-founded in 2018 by CEO, Thru Shivakumar and CTO, Nik Patel with a vision to disrupt the commercial real estate industry and bring it into a new, connected and autonomous experience.

We are a Chicago-based smart building platform for owners, operators and tenants of commercial office buildings. Safety, transparency and technology are in high demand to help employees experience workplace connection, collaboration and community. The Cohesion app fulfills these demands by integrating building systems and IoT devices for seamless interactions in the workplace environment.

Thru’s extensive background in the commercial real estate industry led her to working alongside Raj Gupta, the executive chairman of Environmental System Designs, a leading Chicago-based global engineering design firm at the forefront of next-generation building design. After discussions about creating a new smart building system technology, Cohesion was founded and became a spin-off venture of ESD.

Our platform also allows building operations teams to create an efficient and sustainable tech-enabled workplace experience. They can monitor and optimize indoor air quality, manage building access control and occupancy and report on Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) initiatives. The platform offers an opportunity to accelerate focus on energy efficiency and a greater emphasis on reducing the carbon footprint of commercial buildings.

Nik’s impressive technological background combined with an entrepreneurial mindset has led our company to great success. By leading and executing the strategy of our software development, we can achieve our company vision and goals to have a more connected ecosystem within the workplace environment. 197

MEET OUR BOARD: With support from our remarkable board members, we have the tools to implement forward-thinking strategies that elevate our company’s prosperity.

DAN DEL DEGAN Dan is the operating executive at Marlin Equity Partners and has held several leadership positions over the years at tech companies such as Salesforce, Ensighten, Synchrony [sold to Divine]. and SpringCM [acquired by DocuSign].

KOK KUA NG As Senior Vice President of Group Investment at Frasers Property Limited, Kok Hua executes strategic mergers & acquisitions and corporate initiatives in key markets the Group operates in Asia Pacific and Europe. He is also tasked to initiate new markets and assess opportunities in the PropTech space that are complementary to the company’s real estate businesses.

RAJ GUPTA As a multiculturally-founded company, Cohesion puts great value on providing an inclusive and healthy workspace. We have more than 100 employees worldwide and continue to prioritize our six Core Values: Integrity, Commitment, Ingenuity, Meaningful Interactions, Continuous Improvement and Action Bias.

Raj is the Executive Chairman of ESD where he leads the company’s mission to Improve Society Through the Built Environment. He works on long-term initiatives to support the company’s future, including the expansion of career development paths for employees, promotion of the ESD brand and corporate governance.

In 2021, our company raised $15 million in our Series A financing round with the support from investors such as The Morgan Stanley Next Level Fund, a fund that invests in early-stage technology companies with women or diverse members as part of the founding team, and The Hyde Park Angels, along with other noteworthy investors. We were also named BuiltIn’s Best Companies to Work For in both 2021 and 2022.

STEVEN KOCH Steven has a long history of civic engagement, currently serving as a board member to several Chicago organizations, such as the Chicago Tech Collaborative and the Chicago River Task Force, the Chicago Community Trust, mHUB, the Greater Chicago Food Depository, Navy Pier Inc. Cohesion 833-796-5500 info@cohesionib.com cohesionIB cohesionib

Through integrated technology, Cohesion is making buildings smart, simple and sustainable.

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CHAPTER 13

IT, OUTSOURCING & MANAGED SERVICES

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MAKING IT WORK.

Steadfast’s capabilities include a full suite of hosting and cloud services, backup and disaster recovery solutions, cloud storage, and more. But what sets Steadfast apart is that all consultation, design, deployment, management, and ongoing maintenance are included in addition to those capabilities.

Steadfast began in 1998 as an internet-technology passion project for Steadfast’s Founder, Karl Zimmerman, when he was only 14 years old. Karl’s dream to help companies with their data hosting and security needs started early on, and through these relationships, Karl learned there was a frustrating gap with many hosting companies – the lack of immediate and reliable service. This information fueled Karl’s determination to evolve his hobby into “Steadfast”, a comprehensive IT services company that does not waver on prompt service, reliable and superior infrastructure for thousands of clients and partners. Today, the company is a strong privately owned and operated cloud solutions provider that enables customers to focus more on their business and less on IT. From an extensive background in infrastructure, Steadfast has evolved to provide focused cloud consultation, engineering, and hosting.

Steadfast’s commitment to small and medium-sized enterprises—not just large corporations—is also unique in its market. Others in the industry offer similar services to Steadfast’s but tend to cater almost solely to enterprise-level customers. Steadfast, however, wants to use its expertise on smaller businesses’ behalf, enabling them not just their maintenance but their growth. “We handle these tasks for them so that they can enjoy all the benefits of a premium infrastructure without the time or expense of buying and maintaining hardware or staffing 24/7 IT experts,” says Tim.

“We saw the need for a true technical partner and for the expertise that comes with that, and we’ve kept that base,” says Tim Monner, VP of Marketing and Business Development. “At the core, we’re still a bunch of IT nerds that really like to help business people focus on their business concerns, while we help them use IT to solve those concerns.”

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Karl Zimmerman, Founder of as an in-house necessity—a trend Steadfast has seen on the horizon for a long time. The company started with data-center colocation that evolved into dedicated server hosting, for example, and then into early cloud technologies. It’s an evolution Steadfast will continue to enable by expanding its service offerings to meet increased demands and by building customized solutions for its customers to get them where they want to be.

have graduate degrees, others years of on-the-job experience. Others come from corporate IT backgrounds or from startups. Whatever their experience, Steadfast’s team members have one thing in common.

The technology involved may be getting more complex, but Steadfast’s mission remains simple: “We take everything off of your infrastructure plate,” Tim says. “We make your life easier.”

“They’re driven to make a difference,” Tim says. “They all have a voice at Steadfast and all have the opportunity to effect change that will impact our customers, our company, and our industry in general. Our team affords us a broad understanding of different experiences, and we use that insight to shape our organization for optimal success.”

Sales@Steadfast.net +1-312-602-2689

More and more organizations are beginning to understand the benefits of treating IT infrastructure management services as a utility instead

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CRITICAL INFRASTRUCTURE IS DISRUPTED BY CYBER-ATTACKS: NETWORK PERCEPTION DEVELOPS A TECHNOLOGY TO PROACTIVELY VERIFY AND VISUALIZE THEIR CYBER RESILIENCE. OUR MISSION

OUR HISTORY

In cybersecurity, threat actors are often one step ahead and the average cost of a breach routinely goes beyond seven figures. Most security solutions focus on detection and response, taking a reactive approach to cyber-attacks. The pace and acceleration of network changes create new vulnerabilities every day, decreasing the likelihood of such solutions identifying and recovering from breaches. Network Perception’s technology enables Operational Technology (OT) teams to find, prioritize, and mitigate network security and compliance vulnerabilities before a breach occurs. Our mission is to protect critical assets by continuously verifying that cyber resiliency principles, such as network segmentation and zero trust, are correctly implemented at any point in time.

Network Perception started as a research project funded by the Department of Energy and the Department of Homeland Security at the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign in 2014. The initial research consisted in formally verifying that organizations in charge of operational technology (OT) such as industrial control systems have the correct set of network access control to protect their mission-critical assets. The founding team worked closely with industry partners for years to understand their challenges and develop the next generation of network verification and visualization technology. This technology was packaged first into a desktop application called NP-View which has the unique capability of being lightweight and robust, providing compliance and security teams the fastest way to verify complex firewall rulesets in minutes rather than days. The application was adopted by the North American Electric Reliability Corporation, NERC, which is the regulating body for the electric industry in North America, to conduct audits for critical infrastructure protection.

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OUR SOLUTION Threats don’t stop after an audit takes place or vulnerabilities are mitigated and OT Security is a journey that requires continuous visualization and verification. NP-View evolved into an always-on solution to enable organizations to make the transition from point-intime audits of their critical network into continuous and automated network accessibility reviews. Today, NP-View protects thousands of the most critical networks in the US and abroad by providing real-time visibility into network architecture. Thanks to its proactive technology, OT organizations can build cyber resiliency and mitigate vulnerabilities before they can be exploited. The platform also provides different teams with an easy collaboration solution that strengthens critical networks protection with intuitive, topological maps that act as a GPS for network segmentation, providing understandable and actionable insight for all.

OUR VALUES Network Perception is a Midwest company with a global reach. First incubated at the University of Illinois Research Park in Champaign, the headquarter and most of the team are now located in Chicago. A key support for the company’s growth has been the expanding local ecosystem of partners including Serra Ventures, Energy Foundry, and TechNexus. We are continuously investing in talent, innovation, and best-in-class user experience. Our company culture is driven by three core values: 1) Solving complex problems that have a societal impact. 2) Striving for elegance by designing and developing highly intuitive solutions. 3) Nurturing constructive teamwork by making sure everyone’s voice is respected.

Angela Duhownik, Regional Sales Manager, Tanya Thorson, Head of Marketing, Stephen Gallagher, VP Sales.

OUR FUTURE Going forward, we will continue to lead cybersecurity innovation to better protect OT networks. We are expanding both internationally and across all industrial sectors including energy, transportation, and manufacturing. Cybersecurity is an ongoing journey and Network Perception provides the unique capability to ensure organizations are always prepared.

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“Innovation distinguishes between a leader and a follower.” — STEVE JOBS

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PROFESSIONAL CONSULTING

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PLAN FOR THE UNPREDICTABLE

WE ARE THE WORLD’S FIRST XSP. MSPs and MSSPs are segmented, unregulated and no longer what our clients need. As an XSP, Entara takes a security-first approach to providing cyber security and IT operations that are integrated into innovative IT solutions. An XSP brings synergy back to managed services because it integrates an organization’s IT and security operations under one roof, solving the disconnect between MSPs and MSSPs which can cause costly delays and mistakes.

It’s no secret that we live in a fast-paced world. Technology is constantly changing, cyber security attacks are on the rise, and consumer interests and needs continue to evolve. To keep up, Managed Service Providers (MSP) and Managed Security Service Providers (MSSP) are having to modify their offerings to adhere to industry requirements, take advantage of the latest technologies, and protect their clients. For over two decades, Entara served its clients as a leading MSP. We provided best-in-class service and delivered IT solutions that addressed the changing IT landscape. But we realized standard MSP offerings were no longer enough. We wanted to continue to provide excellent customer service and industry-leading technology solutions, but also maintain the cyber security of both our clients and ourselves. Downward pressure from both regulators and insurance providers convinced us that it was time to integrate our IT and cyber security offerings and deliver strategic, future facing solutions for our clients. Because of this, we redefined ourselves - and our industry - and created a new class of service providers: the eXtended Service Provider (XSP).

MSPs also rarely put into practice the security standards they ask their customers to adhere to – this double standard puts everyone in the ecosystem at risk. As an XSP, we take a security-first approach to providing cyber security and IT operations because we recognize that no matter how secure we make our clients, they will always be at risk if we do not protect ourselves first. XSP is built on the same principal as standard plane safety: in the event of an emergency, you must put your own oxygen mask on first before helping others. To ensure the safety and success of others, you must first prioritize your own safety, so you do not unconsciously become a liability to someone else. The days of unregulated, segmented services are numbered. It’s time to hold ourselves and our industry to stricter standards as XSPs and solve these issues for the greater good of both ourselves and our clients. 209

Pam Diaz, CEO & President

Raum Sandoval, CISO

CALLING ENTARA AN XSP IS MORE THAN JUST MARKETING we are committed to doing better not just for our clients’ security and success, but for our own. We firmly believe that our industry is constantly on a journey of change, and we are passionate about staying in front of it. There can be joy in the unpredictability of our industry. Its fast-pace and ever-changing standards mean there is always a new challenge to overcome. At Entara, we believe in proactivity. We plan for the unpredictable by employing curious minds who are motivated to be forever-students to stay ahead of the curve as subject matter experts. We invite you to journey with us.

Entara Claire Sullivan marketing@entaracorp.com EntaraCorp

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CELEBRATING THREE DECADES IN CHICAGO TECH

WHO IS JELLYVISION?

WHERE WE STARTED

Jellyvision is the benefits engagement platform trusted by companies large and small, including many of the Fortune 500. We’re committed to reinventing how employees choose and use benefits, and our sophisticated technology delights and guides employees to make better decisions — leading them and our customers to more prosperous futures.

Since there’s been a Chicago tech scene, there’s been Jellyvision. But we didn’t always look the way we do today. (We all have a few more grey hairs than we used to, right?) Founded by Harry Gottlieb in 1989, Jellyvision began as an educational media company, achieving massive success by producing CD-ROM games like You Don’t Know Jack and Who Wants to Be a Millionaire.

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But as the computer game market shifted and CD-ROMs became obsolete, we knew it was time for us to change, too. In 2001, Gottlieb relaunched our company as Jellyvision Lab, an agency that developed interactive business software inspired by You Don’t Know Jack’s voice-driven interface. By 2009, we were hired to create an interactive conversation that helped employees choose their benefits.

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We’re building a benefits engagement platform for the future: a platform that helps employees make smarter benefits decisions in the moments that matter, drives down healthcare costs for our customers and their employees, and provides greater insights into benefits usage. The vision: employees use and appreciate their benefits, and our customers are able to maximize—no, celebrate—the investment they’re making to support their people. Together, we’re transforming employee benefits from a bloated line item to a valuable investment. Because, at the end of the day, what’s good for employees is good for our customers, too.

That fateful project tapped into a huge unmet need in the healthcare industry and spurred our growth over the past decade, when employee benefits guidance became our primary business focus. Today, we’re the makers of ALEX, a benefits engagement platform backed by behavioral science that guides employees to make smarter benefits decisions at enrollment and year-round.

WHY WE CALL CHICAGO “HOME” Jellyvision owes much of its success to the support we’ve received from the city we call home, and we’re grateful to have been a celebrated member of the Chicago tech community since our inception. Thanks to our employees, we’ve frequently been named a “Best Place to Work” by the Chicago Tribune, Crain’s Chicago Business and BuiltIn Chicago. Our CEO, Amanda Lannert, is a recipient of the Moxie “Woman in Tech” Award, was named CEO of the Year by the Illinois Technology Association, and was most recently inducted into the Chicago Innovation Hall of Fame.

Through it all, innovation has been at our core. It’s our culture of creativity, flexibility, and imagination that has allowed us to survive and thrive through decades of technological advancement, and ultimately drove our unique evolution from gaming company to benefits engagement experts.

Stewardship is baked into our foundation, and it’s our mission to give back to Chicago as much as it’s given us. Through ongoing support of community organizations like Embarc, The Bloc, and Sparkshop, we’re committed to leaving our city better than we found it. Our CEO, Amanda, is also a prominent figure in fostering innovation in our community, serving as a board member for Hyde Park Angels, the Illinois Institute of Technology, and more. She also serves as a P33 committee member, joining the movement to make Chicago a premier tech hub.

WHERE WE’RE GOING

Jellyvision press@jellyvision.com (312) 266-0606 jellyvision JellyvisionLab

For the past decade, HR teams have trusted Jellyvision’s benefits platform, ALEX, to guide employees to the right plans and solutions at open enrollment. Our vision for the next decade is to meet employees wherever they are—at enrollment, when they’re trying to access telemedicine, when they’re managing their diabetes, and at other crucial employee benefits moments throughout the entire year.

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Reboot Partners helps emerging growth company CEO’s to operate at scale and accelerate global growth—and advises Fortune 1000 executives and multi-national corporations on how to tackle their most challenging issues, by seizing emerging market opportunities, building global partnerships and development initiatives, and leading sustainable digital-transformation programs. From behind-the-scenes CEO advisement to hands-on strategic-execution programs, Reboot helps leaders out-flank competitors and lead the next-generation of profitable growth through award-winning accelerator programs—including Dancing with Startups—which empowers organizations to tap into entrepreneurial and DEI ecosystems to co-create new growth initiatives, ventures, partnerships, M&A and ESG opportunities. Named a “Growth Guru” by Inc. Magazine and a Silicon Valley Serial CEO, Dean DeBiase has served in chief executive and chairman roles of more than a dozen emerging growth companies, accelerating them through market-making hyper-growth phases including global expansion, digital Dean DeBiase, Chairman - Reboot Partners disruption, scaleup, turnaround, roll-up, spin-out, divestiture, acquisition and IPO—with dozens of successful exits. He has also been the CEO of Fortune 500 subsidiaries, and a director on public, private, family-enterprise, CVC, PE and VC boards, and is currently the Chairman of Revieve and PBC Linear.

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The Reboot Chronicles is a no-holds-barred podcast, hosted by Dean DeBiase, that has been bringing together CEOs, entrepreneurs, authors, speakers and global leaders for over a decade. Listen in wherever you get your podcasts, for inspiration on how people have rebooted themselves -and- through behindthe-scenes stories about their organization, how they are rebooting competitiveness, growth, innovation, technology, talent, culture, governance…and more.

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executives, entrepreneurs, civic and government leaders, with programs in growth and innovation, leadership and strategy, technology and digital transformation, ESG & DEI initiatives, and corporate and family-enterprise governance.

The Reboot Institute is an Executive Educational platform and thought leadership advisory network that delivers in-demand training, education, workshops, keynotes, books, blogs, videos, media—as-well-as Forbes, Fortune and LinkedIn articles. We are passionate about delivering the next-generation of more impactful executive education to corporate

Kellogg Corporate Innovation Programs at Kraft Heinz, Pepsi and Whirlpool

“Unlike most classes that are taught 100% in the classroom, Dean takes Kellogg-Northwestern students world learning tour of global corporations, from the innovation center at Whirlpool, to the boardroom of United Airlines. Interacting with top executives about their market challenges, while observing the executional realities of their operating environment and culture, is a tremendously worthwhile experience for anyone interested in making innovation part of their career path.” — Luke Tanen, CEO Chicago Innovation

“Dean inspires audiences with cutting-edge secrets from the hybrid world where the Entrepreneurial Movement meets the realities of global business, covering everything from Rebooting your organization and boardroom to your innovation and career. Dean delivers keynotes with a motivating, entertaining and humorously fun punch, leaving audiences enlightened, energized and armed with Reboot Rules and Dancing with Startups insights they can use to impact their business and personal life.”

The Reboot Fellows Program brings together emerging business, civic, government, academic, student and entrepreneurial leaders, to participate in unique programs designed to increase their civic engagement, expand their skills, broaden their experiences and shift or accelerate their career advancement, by participating in projects made available through the Reboot keiretsu of people, companies and partner organizations.

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With headquarters in Chicago IL and Helsinki FI, Revieve® is a personalized digital brand experience company partnering with global health, beauty and wellness brands, retailers and digital services providers. Revieve’s commercial-grade technology drives tangible business value for its partners by creating consumer-powered experiences across touchpoints—from online and in-app to in-store screens and social platforms. Revieve’s trusted Health-Beauty-Wellness Platform, features easy-to-use self-diagnostic modules that personalize search and shopping experiences by delivering consumers targeted products, services, and treatments. The Revieve platform seamlessly integrates personalized shopping solutions, in-person and live-video consultations with health and beauty advisors, driving tangible business value by increasing consumer engagement, conversion and basket size across all digital in-store and online brand touchpoints.

Dean DeBiase, Chairman & Sampo Parkkinen, CEO – Revieve

The platform leverages Revieve’s proprietary AI, AR and selfie analysis technology to deliver a growing suite of solutions, including the AI Skincare Advisor, AI Makeup Advisor, AI Haircare Advisor, AI Suncare Advisor and AI Nutrition Advisor.

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way to implement robotic automation over that of large-scale traditional robots. At PBC Linear, this new upskilling of the workforce has been the product of new and engaging training programs that utilize augmented reality (AR). Through partners like Taqtile, MagicLeap, Hololens and other AR vision wear platforms, we are helping to create a factory that is more efficient and addresses talent gaps and labor shortages in manufacturing. PBC Linear has been able to increase production by 33% while maintaining only a 3% increase in labor. Heading to 2030, there is an increasing demand for agility and flexibility that includes shorter jobs runs, faster lead times, and a wider variety of parts. PBC Linear will continue to adapt to changing needs with the latest in technological platforms and help other US manufactures lead the way by improving their global competitiveness.

Dean DeBiase, Chairman & Bob Schroeder, CEO - PBC Linear

Rockford, IL-based PBC Linear provides emerging industries and demanding applications with innovative solutions in linear motion products and services, through a range of precision engineered components and mechatronics delivered from a centralized United States manufacturing facility. Our new Applied Cobotics brand has developed automated storage retrieval system which offers customers a collaborative automation tool for lights-out manufacturing and Factory of the Future Programs, with a mix of sophisticated digital technology, smart automation tools, and an upscaled workforce to the factory floor. Under our Factory of the Future Program, Applied Cobotics represents the newest ideas in advanced manufacturing, with the nextgeneration of collaborative robots (cobots). Cobots are another evolutionary branch on the automation tree. Their traditional definition is a robot that works side-by-side with the human workforce to maintain a higher level of production, product quality, and worker safety. For PBC Linear and other small to medium-sized enterprises, they represent a more cost-effective

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Freeborn & Peters LLP is a Chambers-ranked, leading mid-size law firm with global capabilities and a vast array of practice areas.

client service and responsive action. Freeborn’s primary goal is to become an extension of our client’s teams to help them succeed.

Freeborn is proud to deliver sector-specific legal advice that stems from decades of experience and a rich understanding of business and industry perspectives. Along with providing exceptional legal services, each Freeborn attorney embodies the firm’s five Core Values, integrity, caring, effectiveness, teamwork, and commitment, through high standards of

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to grow the Freeborn’s business and provide exceptional legal services. In the summer of 1992, Freeborn moved to 311 South Wacker Drive in Chicago, which remains its headquarters today. Freeborn’s Springfield office then opened in 2000, providing an opportunity to represent clients before the Illinois General Assembly and state governmental agencies. In 2006, the firm launched

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the E-Discovery Lab, which has since saved clients millions of dollars in comprehensive data management and discovery charges. From 2016 to 2017, Freeborn merged with other law firms in key markets to develop offices in New York, Richmond, and Tampa. Today, Freeborn has over 130 attorneys across five offices, practicing in eight practice groups and five industry teams.

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Innovation is critical in driving business at Freeborn. Discovering new markets or up-and-coming topics to provide legal counsel is how Freeborn’s Emerging Industries Team has continued to grow. The Emerging Industries Team focuses on bringing legal insights to a number of technological innovations that are reshaping today’s society such as blockchain, cryptocurrency, crowdfunding, artificial intelligence, FinTech, and more. Although Freeborn is a midsize law firm, our roster of attorneys who practice various disciplines reach regions across the globe. Freeborn’s expertise in identifying legal opportunities or areas for growth has led to new and evolving business for Freeborn across different areas of the world. As the world is ever-changing, Freeborn’s Emerging Industries team is excited to explore the new opportunities that arise. Continuously exceeding client’s expectations is what sets Freeborn & Peters and the innovation of the Emerging Industries team above the rest.

Freeborn & Peters LLP info@freeborn.com +1-312-360-6000. freeborn-&-peters-llp Freeborn_Peters Freeborn-Peters-LLP freeborn_peters

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A TRUE TECHNOLOGY TRANSFORMATION

PRACTICAL SOLUTIONS FOR NEW AGE OBSTACLES Blue Bist is a boutique consulting company based in Chicago, IL. We specialize in change management, team dynamics, and operations transformations. We provide fractional and remote COO, CPO, and CTO support to startups and mentor first-time founders on how to scale. We are a diverse, professional, woman-owned business with a team that combined has 35+ years of strategy, optimization, and technology. (10+ at enterprise-level companies). We partner with pioneering companies through professional services engagements to modernize the digital age. By 10xing our vision as collaborators, you now have a friend complimenting your objectives as you innovate to become and stay an industry leader. We obsess about success for our customers across all industries. Blue Bist prioritizes making a sustainable impact on the needs of your changing business environment and improves long-standing workflows with new efficient procedures. By operating based on principles, we will develop optimal strategies for your business to thrive. 221

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As a bespoke consultancy agency, Blue Bist takes pride in removing all of your constraints to accelerate your journey to scale. Our company will manage all phases of the project life cycle to ensure successful delivery and seamless day-to-day operations in your complex business environments. We’ve helped global companies design and launch departments with operating budgets in the millions, and pass on those same learnings to businesses at every stage. Our speciality is strategic consulting on bringing people, processes, and technology together to go to market fast.

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Blue Bist info@bluebist.com

We are a member of 1871, Chicago’s top tech incubator and love staying in touch with local communicates. Now, let’s shape your strategy and grow.

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Riding Hyper Automation to Business Outcomes and an Engaged Workforce

THE NEED TO INNOVATE

barriers of entry around your business in the form of size, scale, product line diversification, process efficiencies and geographical reach. Those very barriers are to blame for a lack of speed and innovation. All the complexity and process knowhow is acting as an accelerant of business erosion in today’s time of speed and convenience.

Ask any company, and they will tell you they want to innovate. They will tell you that ‘digital’ is the path to their survival and growth over the next era of business. They will speak of the need to attract more versatile talent. They will talk of the focus on owning their marketplace. And they will tell you they are using artificial intelligence to expand their business, but with very vague details.

Many companies have known for years that technical, process, and cultural debt is increasing and becoming more overwhelming to address in an ever-complex world. Most large organizations have answered this problem by throwing people at the situation or outsourcing it so that a 3rd party could throw their people at the process these manual, high volume tasks must get done. Some companies have decided to undertake

The term ‘digital transformation’ is beginning to fatigue business executives. This fatigue is induced by unclear execution plans and even fewer clear expectations. If you work for a large company that has been around longer than 10 years, you likely have focused on creating high

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Automation (RPA) and broader Intelligent Process Automation which was just starting to emerge at the time. This digital workforce of software robots and workflows could automate tasks within a process to deliver on cost, time, and resource savings while freeing talent up to focus on what humans do best- think creatively, provide empathy and challenge the status quo. Within months, Ashling Partners began their journey in helping others with their own journey towards intelligent automation.

expensive integration or workflow projects. Enter Hyper Automation and the Beginning of Ashling Partners The founders of Ashling Partners spent years in the enterprise application space implementing large ERP, CRM, and Data & Analytics applications. Process improvement was always core to their values. However, these large-scale implementations were ripe with questionable ROI, project fatigue, and elongated timelines. They knew there had to be a more agile, rapid way to deliver on value without boiling the ocean.

Changing the Future of Work Instead of providing the same work experience with a slicker user interface, Ashling Partners strives to change our relationship with work. That includes the type of work we do and the fulfillment we get out of it. Shifting the menial, repetitive, robotic work done by many knowledge workers to the robots so employees can focus on value-added tasks that requires creativity and decision-making is Ashling’s vision of the future of work. This vision of a more meaningful type of work and productive relationship with emerging technology is what excites the Ashling team the most. This vision has led to a 2-year growth of 429% of Ashling’s workforce and 2-year revenue growth of 400%.

The Ashling Way Ashling Partners is at the forefront of the Hyperautomation revolution. Ashling helps its clients improve productivity and employee engagement by leveraging intelligent process automation, RPA, data capture/OCR and Machine Learning technologies and design thinking principles to make automation gains sustainable and a driving force for digital innovation and continuous improvement. Founded by business process improvement & technology industry veterans, Ashling Partners values meaningful work for our employees while driving real value for our clients in a sustainable and continuous manner.

marshall.sied@ashlingpartners.com +1-312-852-5666 ashlingpartners

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This desire led them to Robotic Process

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ENVOY MAKES HIRING AND MANAGING AN INTERNATIONAL WORKFORCE A SEAMLESS EXPERIENCE. Envoy is a global immigration services provider offering the only immigration management platform that makes it seamless for companies to hire and manage an international workforce. We combine expert legal representation and proprietary technology to bring efficiency and transparency to the immigration process for employers and employees. At Envoy Global, we believe employees are happier, companies are more successful and our world is a stronger place when people are able to work and live anywhere that opportunity beckons. Yet the corporate immigration process—both in the U.S. and countries around the world— has historically been confusing and time-consuming as a result of changing government policies and outdated HR approaches. Using technology to solve these challenges seems obvious today, but Envoy was the first to seize this opportunity. Formerly known as VISANOW, Envoy was founded in Chicago in 1998 by Robert Meltzer to help people navigate the immigration and visa application process. The company raised its first outside capital in 2014, and shortly after, Dick Burke was named CEO of the company. In 2016, we rebranded as Envoy Global to reflect two years of service and technology enhancements that brought a record number of new enterprise customers to the company. Last year, we released the fourth major iteration of our platform, with features that enable efficiency and real-time collaboration between employers, attorneys and foreign national employees, leveraging nimble technology to help employers and employees navigate the ever-changing immigration process. Combining intuitive software and user-friendly design with more accessible legal representation alleviates the inherent anxiety and uncertainty for foreign nationals on their immigration journey and creates a better experience for them as job candidates and employees, an important aspect that can be overlooked in corporate immigration where HR professionals become middlemen or bottlenecks in the flow of information. By making it easier and less risky for employers to hire foreign talent, Envoy enables workers to pursue career advancement, utilize their talents and reach their full potential. For many individuals, these opportunities affect not just their careers, but their ability to live and raise a family in the country of their choosing, creating an upwards trajectory that will benefit their children and grandchildren for generations to come. Envoy has also significantly disrupted an industry once dominated by law firms that didn’t offer transparency and efficiency. For decades, employers and the attorneys that served them maintained the status quo, forgoing technology and utilizing unreliable methods of communication, case 225

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management and reporting. Envoy was the first to seize the opportunity to bring corporate immigration into the 21st century, and it is the only immigration services provider to offer a truly end-to-end solution for employers and their employees. In 2019, we were recognized for our commitment to technological innovation with two major Chicago-area awards: The Illinois Technology Association CityLIGHTS Industry Disrupter Award and the Chicago Innovation Award.

+1-312-922-9035 EnvoyGlobal

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CHAPTER 15

MARKETING, ADVERTISING & MEDIA

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“Minds are like parachutes, they only function when open.” — THOMAS DEWAR

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Searching for product information on the internet in Spanish isn’t easy, but Revoou wants to change that, at least for online shopping. LACK OF CONTENT Martinez, Revoou’s numbers guy, sent his mother out to do some online research for a new tablet. She doesn’t speak English and not only did she not end up with a tablet recommendation, she had some sobering news for him following her online searches. “She came back to me saying that she didn’t find any of these sites,” he said. “ I realized then that a place like Revoou. com would add a lot of value for the U.S. Hispanic consumer and the Spanishspeaking population in general.” The team was able to add Mavilla to help them on the tech side. “They actually touched a problem that I, as a Spanish speaker, have experienced a lot,” said Mavilla. “The lack of Spanish quality commerce content. It’s actually a big problem to tackle.”

Revoou is a product review and product recommendation content producer and website that provides Spanish language online shoppers independent and trustable easy-to-digest information and comparison tables about products and services to make the most informed online purchasing decision. It’s a model English-speakers have seen dozens of times, but the team of Revoou, consisting of Andres Lombana, Nicolas Martinez and Peter Mavilla, is one of the first to tackle on a broad scale for Spanishspeaking populations from Alaska to Patagonia. “There’s an opportunity to add value to the ecosystem and the consumer itself,” said Lombana, Revoou’s CEO.

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According to Mavilla and the data, Googling something in Spanish will get you around 30% of the results as Googling the same question in English. And this isn’t a new problem. It’s something Mavilla and many Spanish speakers have dealt with their whole life. At 30, he’s a digital native and believes that to get good results and find things online, is almost mandatory to learn English.

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WHY ONLINE REVIEWS? “People want to make smart purchasing decisions,” said Lombana.” And a bad purchasing decision is very easy to make online.” And because there is so much choice and so much information when shopping on the internet Martinez says a trusted third party, the role Revoou wants to fill for Spanish-speaking consumers, becomes key.

The Latin American e-commerce market between 2020 to 2024 has a projected volume of more than $580 billion. In addition, the total of US Ecommerce attributed to US Hispanics is about $860 billion. Lombana says this was no doubt accelerated by the pandemic.

“Reviews have become really important because we’re flooded with products of all kinds and simply have not enough time to do a thorough analysis when we are going to make the purchase,” he said.

POSITIONED TO SOLVE THE PROBLEM

So what people look for is consumer focused journalism, impartial reviews comparing products based on their qualities. These reviews are designed to help consumers easily digest essential key information to make informed purchasing decisions.

Martinez, Mavilla and Lombana share an entrepreneurial spirit with proven success. On top of that spirit Lombana has a background in publishing and Spanish language content with Tribune Content Agency and a deep knowledge of successful business models and technology behind consumer reviews and affiliate content marketing.

The United States, Europe, and Australia have seen a spike in such models in the past eight years, growing to be 15% of all e-commerce revenue now comes through affiliate links.

“Revouu is the intersection of leveraging a lot of my experience and network,” said Lombana.

HISPANIC ONLINE SHOPPERS ARE ON THE RISE

The team at Revoou also has some experts in the biz ready to lend a hand. Revoou collaborates with Ever-growing which offers product recommendations and charts to publishers and also allows them to monetize it through affiliate linking.

Usually Latin America is about one or two years behind the U.S. when it comes to technological trends. So the team at Revoou believes Latin America is on the verge of an e-commerce and affiliate shopping boom.

This partnership has allowed Revoou to accelerate their own learning curve.

“It’s not a question of it is going to happen, it’s when and it’s now,” said Lombana.

E-commerce content and reviews can be costly to produce and publishing staffs have already been shrinking in recent years. Revoou has a B-C component, but sees the majority of its business as being a B2B solution for publishers looking for new revenue streams as well as quality content around e-commerce.

Revoou, INC. andres@revoou.com 312-810-5014 Revoou

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Accelerating the Growth of B2B Brands

Meet Walker Sands

Since 2001, Walker Sands has been pushing the limits of what B2B marketing can do to get the results and recognition our clients deserve. We pride ourselves on helping B2B brands reach their goals — whether that’s increasing revenue, pushing into new markets, attracting top talent, going public or getting acquired — and we always play for high score.

Walker Sands is a full-service B2B marketing agency with core capabilities in public relations, demand generation, branding, creative, marketing strategy and web. Our integrated approach to marketing drives awareness, credibility and conversions for 100+ clients around the world. A ten-time Inc. 5000 honoree, Walker Sands is one of the fastest-growing B2B marketing agencies in the world, with offices in Chicago, San Francisco and Seattle.

Our Approach

B2B brands power the world. But their stories aren’t always heard. For too long, many companies have played it safe with corporate speak and uninspiring campaigns that don’t reflect their true innovation or help them reach their full potential.

At Walker Sands, our mission is to accelerate the growth of B2B brands. With a dedicated focus in technology and services, we help generate awareness, earn credibility and gain market traction for companies across a wide range of industries including artificial intelligence, electronics, fintech, HR technology, IT services, insurtech, martech, professional services, retail tech and more.

At Walker Sands, we know that B2B marketing can be bigger, better and smarter. That’s why we build customized programs that help companies break out of the mold.

Our approach is defined by our ambitious goals, creative thinking and the power of partnership. Through strategic programs tailored to meet our clients’ needs, we offer a full range of marketing expertise — from

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strategy to execution — to provide endless possibilities for the world’s best B2B brands.

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while leading B2B marketing into a new era. Through our values of “Learn, Support, Do”, our people-first mentality is woven into the fabric of our agency and motivates our teams to do the best work of their careers. Continuous learning and improvement is a given across the agency, and our teams understand the importance of supporting one another to come together for the greater good of the whole. We are a team of constant doers that work together to come up with new and innovative solutions to our clients’ biggest problems. Our successes as an agency are the result of this thriving, collaborative culture, which Inc., Crain’s Chicago Business and PRovoke have recognized in their “Best Places to Work” rankings.

Our capabilities include: Branding Creative Demand Generation B2B Marketing Strategy Public Relations Web As our teams work hard to accelerate the growth of our clients, we’re honored to have our work recognized by industry awards including SABRE, PRSA, AVA Digital and more.

Walker Sands Chicago, San Francisco, Seattle, Boston, Atlanta sales@walkersands.com +1-312-267-0066 WalkerSands walker-sands

Our Team In the process of helping our partners, we also accelerate the growth of our people as they work to become the CMOs and CEOs of tomorrow

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Web Design, Development and Optimization with Deep Roots in the City of Chicago

They shared a dorm room and one of those boxy Macintosh computers. It was the early 1990s. Most people didn’t have a computer of their own. It was the age of the “computer lab” where you waited your turn to write your paper and spell check was a program you ran when you finished.

They both grew up in the suburbs of Chicago and met in high school. When Barrett Lombardo and Andy Crestodina graduated, they headed off to the University of Iowa together.

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There were no classes in digital anything. Barrett got an art degree. Andy majored in Mandarin. They went very separate ways after college (Indianapolis and Beijing) but kept in touch and when they both landed back in the Chicago area, they started making things together: interactive comics, mostly using Macromedia Flash. Soon, Barrett got a job as a web developer and a few years later, Andy quit his job as an IT recruiter to join him. In 2001, Orbit Media was born. And they never looked back. During the next 20 years of gradual organic growth, Orbit has made the founders’ parents proud. One of the first certified B-corps in Illinois 3x Inc 5000 winner Clutch Top 1000 B2B Service Provider 40+ industry awards Today, Orbit is a team of over 40 experts with a stellar reputation for web development in Chicago, and a world-wide reputation for it’s SEO, Analytics and content strategy blog. The site attracts a million and a half visitors per year, which is a lot for a little local web shop. Orbit is also known for its events. The Content Jam marketing conference is the largest content marketing conference in Chicago. And the monthly Wine & Web event is celebrating its 11th year. Strangers find Orbit by searching Google. But friends hear about it from friends. Ask anyone in Chicago who they trust for web design and development and Orbit is a name you’re likely to hear.

Orbit Media Studios, Inc. 4043 N. Ravenswood Ave. Suite 316, Chicago, IL 60613 +1-773-353-8301 Orbit Media

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‘‘Attitude is everything.” — DIANE VON FUSTENBERG

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CHAPTER 16

HR & STAFFING 236

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Hiring is hard. Hiring well is even harder. But, that’s exactly what we help companies do: Hirewell. Since 2001, Hirewell has been a staple in the Chicago business community, helping our clients large and small, grow their organizations by recruiting the top-tier talent they need. Innovation is in Our Blood. The recruiting industry is chock full of single skill set providers, but what companies really want is a partner who can have a broad impact across all facets of their organization, solving whatever hiring challenges they have. And we’ve done just that, building diverse teams of highly specialized recruiters in the highest demand fields: technology, human resources, digital marketing, sales, finance & accounting, and real estate services, etc. And we’re just getting started... Managed Recruiting is the Future. Flexibility in creating our custom solutions has been a staple in our approach since our inception. But during our own growth, we also recognized that the traditional fulfillment models for recruiting service are deeply flawed. Contingent Search is expensive and the twosided lack of commitment often yields poor results. Recruitment Process Outsourcing suffers from poor fulfillment; flat-rate service means providers have no skin in the game to maximize the end result. And traditional Executive Retained Search is exorbitantly overpriced, tone-deaf to the modern world of freely available data. But Hirewell’s Managed Recruiting Programs are a paradigm shift in volume hiring. They’re built for high growth and fast scale situations, and more importantly, structured in a way that actually streamlines efficiency for all. It’s a best-of-all-worlds situation: Hirewell can provide dedicated onsite support, high-value services far beyond simple candidate sourcing (ATS management, hiring plans, job description creation and postings, interview set up and debrief, offer presentation and onboarding, 237

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etc.), and still utilize the entirety of Hirewell’s vast recruiting team and diverse skill area focus to achieve an optimized outcome. We’re a Destination for Recruiting Talent How do we do it? By being a great place to work. No seriously, that’s it. We pride ourselves on becoming a destination for experienced, knowledgable and high-performing recruiters. Our industry is notorious for breeding cutthroat, internal competition to the point of mistrust, so we set out to build a culture that is the opposite of that. Our incentives are constructed in a way that encourages collaboration, even across different teams within the organization.

contact@hirewell.com +1-312-496-7955 hirewell hirewell.chicago

And when you have specialized teams of individuals set up to succeed, they’re able to focus on the end goal: helping our clients Hirewell.

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THE LEADING PROVIDER IN EMPLOYER-SPONSORED DISCOUNTS AND RECOGNITION PerkSpot was founded by good people with a great mission: to inspire employees everywhere to love where they work. Where did that mission come from? Our understanding that there was a need—from CEOs all the way down to new hires—to improve the relationship between the employer and the employee. Founder and Executive Chairman, Chris Hill, started PerkSpot out of his Chicago home in 2006, where he was living the typical entrepreneur lifestyle of ramen noodles and no guaranteed paychecks. As Chris launched into the HR technology space, he founded both PerkSpot and our sister company that sold in 2014, Spotlite, which focused on benefits enrollments. Quickly, Chris discovered that employers were struggling to find a way to offer their employees an additional benefit that helped improve their financial wellness. What worked for or benefited some employees rarely worked for others, and employers found it increasingly difficult to come up with a solution that satisfies an entire workforce of diverse employees, while still staying under budget and matching the culture and values of their company. Enter, PerkSpot.

leading brands, as well as local and small businesses, into one easy-touse, accessible, and intuitive platform. Our marketplace helps employees save time and money when making important purchasing decisions, and we play an important role in promoting financial wellness and helping employers attract, engage, retain, and reward their employees. What started as a way for employees to access hundreds of exclusive discounts has grown and transformed into so much more. But, along the way, we’ve always been quick to understand, innovate, and fulfill the needs of employers in the human resources and employee benefits space. When there was a call for a financial wellness employee benefit, PerkSpot offered thousands of discounts that would help employees save.

PerkSpot is an employer-sponsored discounts and recognition program that bundles thousands of exclusive discounts from some of the nation’s

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When employers began to understand the importance of improving their employees’ health, PerkSpot offered wellness discounts to local and nationwide gyms, gym equipment, and more. When employees were seeking recognition for a job well done and employers discovered the value in providing monetary rewards, PerkSpot stepped in with an automated platform that allowed managers to offer a real-time, meaningful recognition program that satisfied those needs.

more: more freedom, more flexibility, more comfort, and more space to grow, develop, learn. With tens of thousands of discounts and over 25 different categories available on our platform, there is something for everyone on PerkSpot. We’ve partnered with nearly one thousand leading employers across the country to help employees achieve a healthier state of financial wellness and flexibility, and we look forward to continuing to improve our product, answer the needs of our industry, and inspire innovation, both within our company and in employees everywhere.

PerkSpot is unique in the fact that our innovativeness is two-fold. As a company, we have worked hard to launch, establish, and develop our product to keep up with the growing demands of the field we work in. But beyond that, we have allowed for innovation as well. We’ve developed a platform that businesses, small and large, could use to advertise interesting, innovative, cutting-edge products and services to employees, allowing them to grow their business and reach a wider clientele. We offer employees a way to access more financial freedom and, in turn, they have the room to create, achieve, inspire, and engage. We like to say that offering PerkSpot as an employee benefit is a way to offer your employees

PerkSpot +1-866-606-6057 perkspot

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INNOVATION ENABLERS, FUNDERS & INVESTORS

“The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man.” — GEORGE BERNARD SHAW

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CHICAGO INNOVATION EDUCATING, CONNECTING AND CELEBRATING INNOVATORS IN THE CHICAGO REGION Established in 2002 as the Chicago Innovation Awards, Chicago Innovation has grown from a single awards ceremony to a yearround series of events and programs to empower Chicago’s innovation ecosystem. Its vision is to solidify the Chicago region as a global hub of innovation and ensure that innovation is for everyone.

innovate and grow. Over 800 women have participated in mentoring relationships to date. In 2017, Chicago Innovation acquired the Chicago Student Invention Convention to teach the skills of creativity, problemsolving and invention to K-8th grade students. Over 20,000 students have taken part in this 10-week invention curriculum and city-wide competition of student-created prototypes. Several Chicago students have received patents for their inventions, and taken home top honors at Invention Convention Nationals, a competition that brings together the best young inventors from across the country each year. In 2019, the organization launched Ageless Innovators, a first-of-its-kind intergenerational co-mentoring program to connect leaders across generations. In 2022, the organization launched The Ladder, a mentoring program to support Black and Latine innovators in reaching their next step.

With a focus on building the spirit of innovation throughout the Chicago region and a deep commitment to inclusion, Chicago Innovation hosts events year-round where people come together to share ideas, find opportunities and build relationships with leaders in business, non-profit, government, academia and the investor community. With over 41,000 people in its network as of 2022, Chicago Innovation now boasts the largest group of innovators across industries, sectors and company sizes in the region. Through hosting the Chicago Innovation Awards, the region’s foremost annual celebration of innovation, the organization routinely celebrates Chicago’s brand as a center of innovation. Out of the past 361 winners of the Chicago Innovation Awards, 98% are still in business. 62 winning companies have been acquired with exit values exceeding $110 billion. The city’s stature is elevated further when the winners of the Chicago Innovation Awards promote their achievements by ringing the Nasdaq Bell in New York City. In fact, Chicago is the only city in the country that rings the Nasdaq Bell.

Looking forward, Chicago Innovation plans to continue its role as a leading convener of innovators, regardless of industry, gender, ethnicity, age, or geographic location in the Chicago region. Furthermore, the organization’s leadership is steadfast in its pursuit of evangelizing the Chicago region as a top destination for innovators. In 2020, the organization published “Rising Together: The Story of Chicago’s Innovation Ecosystem,” a book that shares the story of the people, organizations and culture that helped propel Chicago onto the national stage as a global leader in innovation. In speaking with over 30 of the most influential figures in Chicago’s innovation community, the authors provide a blueprint for what’s needed to ensure that the city can further strengthen its position as a center of creative activity.

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Chicago Innovation Luke Tanen Luke@chicagoinnovation.com

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Since launching nearly a decade ago, our mission has been simple; help founders more easily raise startup funds by building a community around tech and investing. Before Chicago became a tech hub featuring world-renowned incubators like 1871 and more than a dozen unicorns, there was Technori – a small group of early adopters and startup founders on a mission to turn Chicago into the largest and most diverse tech community in the world.

In 2016, Title III of the Jobs Act was passed allowing all investors accredited or not to invest in early-stage companies which sparked a movement that would go on to revolutionize retail investing by spawning an entirely new market for alternative investing.

And, what began as a small blog for tech founders with the occasional meet-up, eventually grew into one of the largest startup pitch events in the country with sold-out events being hosted in more than 7 cities from coast to coast.

Technori became an early champion in the space and partnered with the leading equity crowdfunding platform, Republic to first enable audience members to invest in companies pitching at showcase events, then in 2017, Technori became the first-ever live event and radio show allowing

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a live audience to invest in presenting startups pitching their business to Technori co-founder and CEO Scott Kitun on WGN Radio. This show was a landmark moment for both Technori and the crowdfunding space in general as it brought startup investing to a mainstream audience resulting in founders featured on Technori raising billions of dollars in venture capital, and retail investors committing more than $50M via equity crowdfunding over the next 5 years. In 2022, Technori merged with Boston-based Kingscrowd to continue serving the alternative investing space by combining comprehensive investor analysis and data-driven venture funds with Technori’s existing popular newsletters and podcasts about startups, entrepreneurship and alt investing to effectively become the one-stop-shop for the online private market. 246

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technori.com

THE CENTRAL HUB OF IOT AND INNOVATION IN CHICAGO, LEADING THE INITIATIVE AROUND THE WORLD. The Chicago Connectory is a co-creation space and IoT incubator located in Chicago’s historic Merchandise Mart. Our co-working space builds business, collaboration, and network opportunities to our community. The Chicago Connectory opened its doors in May 2017. The idea for the Chicago Connectory sparked with Bosch, a multinational engineering and technology company and 1871, a non-profit digital startup incubator. The name Connectory is a combination of the words “connection” and “factory”, two central elements of Bosch’s vision for the future. With that in mind, our space was created to bring connections among people, devices, and ecosystems.

GLOBAL NETWORK Our Founder, Dennis Boecker, built the path for innovation around the globe, where four more Connectory locations were opened. Our global Connectory locations exist in Guadalajara, Mexico; Curitiba, Brazil; Stuttgart, Germany; and Shanghai, China. Each location is built by Bosch in partnership with innovation hubs. 247

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OUR COMMUNITY The Chicago Connectory is home to IoT startups, mentors, and collaborators. We also work closely with universities and students to continue to spread the knowledge and resources of IoT. Our global mentor network connects members to IoT specialists around the world, which allows our communities to grow together. This opens opportunities for project collaboration and ideas.

Chicago Connectory 222 W Merchandise Mart Plaza, Suite 570 Chicago, IL 60654 312-505- 7567 info@chicagoconnectory.com

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86 Repairs.................................................................175

Fast Radius.............................................................. 111

Pritzker Group......................................................... 51

A Safe Haven......................................................... 149

Forecheck............................................................ 10, 81

Reboot Partners..................................2, 12, 13, 215

Active Campaign.............................................24, 71

Forge: Adventure Parks .............................20, 191

Relativity.................................................................... 91

ADA Practice Transitions.................................133

Freeborn..................................................1,22, 17, 219

ReloShare, Inc.........................................................157

Adler Planetarium.................................... 1,87, 189

General Assembly................................................165

Revoou, Inc............................................................. 229

AgileMD...................................................................131

Gigi’s Playhouse.............................................13, 145

Rheaply.......................................................................85

Aon...............................................................................49

Habitnu.....................................................................129

Roomii.........................................................................65

Ascent...................................................................... 105

Halo Investing...................................................14, 37

Sage Corps................................................................171

Ashling..................................................................... 223

Hirewell................................................................... 237

Sertifi....................................................................... 6, 55

Azumo.................................................................. 11, 97

Illinois Hispanic Chamber of

ShipBob.......................................................................77

BlueBist.....................................................................221

Commerce..................................................................29

Shure...................................................................16, 103

BMO.........................................................................5, 35

Instashield.......................................................... 15, 99

Sittercity................................................................... 151

Bounce................................................................19, 147

Jellyvision...............................................................211

Siwa Therapeutics...............................................123

Bundlar.......................................................................67

Kaizen Health........................................................137

Smart Mirror..........................................................135

ChangED..................................................................169

Level Ex.....................................................................127

Songfinch...................................................................69

Chicago Connectory...........................................247

Litera............................................................................ 61

Springfour.................................................................41

Chicago Furniture Bank....................................161

Livly...........................................................................195

Steadfast.................................................................. 201

Chicago Help Initiative......................................153

Locker Lifestyle.................................................... 177

Technori................................................................... 245

Chicago Hopes For Kids ....................................141

Loggerhead Tools...........................................15, 101

Teraprint.................................................................. 109

Chicago Innovation............................................ 243

Matter.......................................................... 81, 17, 119

Threekit......................................................................79

Chicago Neighborhood Initiatives.................27

Medtelligent.............................................................75

Timedoc............................................................... 7, 125

Cohesion...................................................................197

Nature’s Fynd.........................................................183

Topstep Trader.........................................................45

Creating IT Futures..............................................167

Network Perception..........................................203

UK Government ..................................................... 31

CSC Corptax........................................................... 107

NowPow.....................................................................83

Uptake.........................................................................93

Devbridge..................................................................73

Nutrisense...............................................................185

Walker Sands.........................................................231

Empist....................................................................... 205

Orbit Media Studios.....................................17, 233

Wavicle Data Solutions................................ 18, 89

Enduvo........................................................................63

P33...............................................................................155

William Blair............................................................43

Enova...........................................................................39

PechaKucha..............................................................59

WorldChicago........................................................159

Entara................................................................ 10, 209

Perkspot................................................................... 239

Xsell Technologies...............................................113

Envoy........................................................................ 225

PhysIQ................................................................23, 121

YCharts...................................................................... 47

Farmers Fridge......................................................181

Power Reviews........................................................57

YMCA of Metropolitan Chicago...............9, 143

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InnovationsoftheWorld.com

SHOWCASING THE BEST OF THE WORLD - CONNECTING MINDS - BUILDING COMMUNITIES

The Innovate series is a 300-page in-depth study and AR video series that showcases the people and companies that are leading the race within the innovation and entrepreneurial ecosystems of each city and industry. A book with augmented reality video, an online platform and a global network with a common goal of ensuring the brightest minds of the world connect and succeed.

IT’S A KIND OF MAGIC...

DOWNLOAD THE GLOBAL VILLAGE AR APP

TO VIEW 100 AUGMENTED REALITY VIDEOS IN THIS BOOK! To experience the future of print, download the Global Village AR App from the IOS or Android App stores. Open the App and hold it about 30cm above any page that contains an image with the “play” Icon.

Make sure your back camera is pointing at the page. Click the Play button that appears onscreen and immerse yourself in the latest updated content with reference to that page.

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“Individually, we are one drop. Together, we are an ocean.” — RYUNOSUKE SATORO

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