Ignite Welcomes Two New Executive Board Members

Two new executive board members join Ignite from Greentarget and NorthShore University Health System

At the start of the new fiscal year on July 1st, 2022, youth housing and services nonprofit organization Ignite welcomed two new executives to its Board of Directors, a body that supports the fundraising, stewardship, and growth of the organization. The executives joining the board are the following: Betsy Hoag (Director of Research and Planning, Greentarget) and Dr. Stacy Raviv (Medical Doctor, NorthShore University Health System).

The current Board of Directors is comprised of the following executives: Lindsay Mullen (Board Chairperson, Co-Founder & CEO, Prosper Strategies), R. Delacy Peters, Jr. (Vice Chairperson, Partner, R. Delacy Peters Jr., Esq.), Patricia Brottman (Vice Chairperson – Engagement, MTV Networks (Retired), Joseph Washburn (Treasurer Finance Vice President, Allstate Insurance), Robert Gephardt (Secretary, Senior Vice President, Neuberger Berman), Michael Jacobson (Saul Ewing Arnstein & Lehr), Daniel Kirk (Chief Operations Officer, O’Reilly Family Foundation), Alison Blair Mast (Northern Trust), Bonnie Masterman (Bank of America (Retired), Thomas O’Reilly (Neuberger Berman (Retired), Lynn Watkins-Asiyanbi (Senior Vice President, General Counsel & Corporate Secretary, CECO Environmental Corporation), and Jocelyn Woodards (Popular Education Coordinator, AFL-CIO (Washington, D.C.)

“With their combined expertise and commitment to research, public and individual health care, and advocacy, Betsy and Stacy will have a profound impact on Ignite’s mission as we expand our efforts to highlight how housing, equity, and health play significant roles in the growth of our vibrant youth,” said Stephanie Piccirilli, Ignite President & CEO. “Not only in strengthening our supports, but also helping Ignite to amplify its voice as we advocate for systems and communities that embrace and lift up the needs of young people experiencing homelessness.”

The two new board members will join the current board as they contribute to a year of expansion and change within the organization, as Ignite continues to offer nonstop services and housing for youth while carrying out their Five Year Strategic Plan. Ignite will continue to strengthen its mission by adapting its model to meet young people,14-26, where they are and continue to walk with them until they develop the support systems, skills and safety-nets they need to move from survival mode to resilience.

Through the Five Year Strategic Plan, the organization will expand according to three distinct pillars: diversifying funding and program models and expanding financial resources to create a

pathway that eliminates a funding time clock - allowing youth and staff to determine a timeline set up for each young person’s success; growing outreach to communities on the south, north and west sides of Chicago through an extensive mapping project and direct outreach in new neighborhoods; and build organizational capacity to support innovation, recognition and build sustainable impact.

Since the organization’s founding in 1976, the Ignite Executive Board has worked alongside staff to grow the scale of the organization, allowing for more programs to be offered to the teens and young adults throughout Chicago that most need them. The Executive Board has been the driving force behind years of successful strategic planning, fundraising, clothing and food drives, and more, providing Ignite staff and clients with an essential connection to a larger community of donors, volunteers, and participants in the mission to end youth homelessness.

New Board Member Bios:

Betsy Hoag (Executive, Board of Directors) has more than 20 years of experience in marketing research, strategic planning and consulting. She currently leads Greentarget’s award-winning Research and Market Intelligence team dedicated to designing and executing quantitative and qualitative research campaigns. She also co-leads Greentarget’s community investment initiatives, which has included work with Ignite and Erie House’s Youth Options Unlimited Program.

Her career in marketing began with the Chicago White Sox, but over the years she has worked with such clients as PwC, Bank of America, Johnson & Johnson, Kimberly-Clark, PepsiCo, the American Bar Association, Hyatt, TCS Education System and the Illinois Office of Tourism.

Betsy has initiated and led community investment and pro bono projects throughout the course of her career, ranging from pro bono consulting work for a USAID women-owned business initiative in Pretoria, South Africa to leadership of fundraising initiatives for St. Mary of the Angels School in Chicago.

Dr. Stacy Raviv, MD (Executive, Board of Directors) is a Critical Care Medicine Specialist in Evanston, IL with the NorthShore University Health System, and has over 20 years of experience in the medical field. She currently also serves as an Assistant Professor of Clinical Medicine, University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine. She has worked as a fellow of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine at the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, and an attending physician at the Department of Emergency Medicine, Veterans Health Administration in Palo Alto, CA.

She has served as a board member and board president on the Chicago Jewish Day School board of directors, on the Anshe Shalom B’nai Israel Congregation Medical Task Force, and has volunteer experience at the Erie West Town Health Center as a Pulmonary Physician. She has been published in the Journal of Asthma, the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, and the Intensive Care Medicine Journal.