A Greater Chatham Initiative program
Nedra Sims Fears serves as Executive Director for Greater Chatham Initiative (GCI), a nonprofit, place-based community development organization serving the Auburn Gresham, Avalon Park, Chatham, and Greater Grand Crossing Black Chicago Southside neighborhoods. Inspired by her idyllic childhood in Chatham, Fears champions Greater Chatham so the next generation can live here proudly and prosperously. As a self-described “Daughter of Chatham,” she recently purchased and rehabbed Cubs legend Ernie Banks’ former home just blocks from her childhood home. Fears is a Harvard University Loeb Fellow. She holds an MBA in Finance from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University and a B.S. in interior architecture from Cornell University.
During Nedra’s eight-year tenure at GCI, she created Mahalia’s Mile, a State-Designated Cultural District on 79th Street between State Street and Cottage Grove Avenue. She completed an architectural design plan and is executing the repositioning of Mahalia’s Mile as both a walkable and economically viable corridor for its 16,700 residents and 500,000 tourists and bus riders. Nedra also created the retail store Artists on the 9ine, an artist/maker space on the eastern boarder of Mahalia’s Mile at 735 E 79th Street. Mahalia Jackson Court, which is on the western border at 1 E 79th Street, is an 8,500 square foot public courtyard. Community-driven plans are now under way to install seven murals, 88 banners, 20 planters, decorative street scaping, and sculptures as part a five-year redevelopment plan. For her placekeeping and placemaking achievements, Nedra received a Midwestern Emmy for “Making of Mahlia’s Mile”, a Chicago Neighborhood Development Award, a Congress for the New Urbanism award, and the 2020-2021 Merit Award for Design from the Illinois Chapter of the American Society of Landscape Architects.
Always passionate about how money can be a tool to placekeep the built environment, Nedra, during the first half of her career, was an affordable housing mortgage banker. She financed $1 billion of home and apartment building loans while working for Fannie Mae, Community Investment Corporation, the City of Chicago, and others.
John works with the 2,500 businesses in the Greater Chatham area in particular promoting and growing the leading industrial clusters of Fabricated Metals, Transportation, Distribution & Logistics (TDL) and Food Processing & Packaging. John is leading our charge into Urban Manufacturing and entrepreneurial development & incubation. His 24 years in the food and beverage sector provides him deep insight to lead our small business and restaurant corridor development initiatives. John directed FoodLab Chicago 1.0 & 2.0.
John grew up in manufacturing, first building cars at Chrysler in downtown Detroit. Then Ingrid and EKCO Housewares. Was CEO of GB Engineering pioneering 3D technologies in product development and tool building. Founded Truck Dispatching Innovations consulting to 100+ companies pioneering last mile route optimization, GPS and mobile technologies. Deep small business insight having owned and operated restaurants and coffee shops for the past 24 years. John has extensive international experience – 3 years in Southern Africa, twice set up factories in Mexico, sourced and supported products in China. John has an engineering degree in Advanced Manufacturing and an MBA from Harvard Business School with an organizational behavior and Industrial Strategy focus.
As a Chicago native with a degree in Economics from Northern Illinois University, I began my career as an accountant, working in the financial industry for over 20 years. Though my career initially focused on numbers, my true passion for theatre and the fine arts was always present, especially after studying acting in high school. I channeled this passion into a volunteer role as a community ambassador with the All-Stars Project (ASP), a national nonprofit that helps inner-city youth and families create success through performance-based programming.
After completing an M.S. in Entertainment Business from Full Sail University in 2011, and an MBA from the University of Phoenix in 2014, I transitioned into the entertainment industry. My skills in business management and accounting led to an opportunity with a prestigious entertainment business management firm in West Hollywood, CA, where I worked as a Senior Business Management Accountant. This role allowed me to expand my expertise in project management, event operations, entertainment tours, and brand development.
The COVID-19 pandemic led me to pivot again, shifting my focus toward nonprofit work with an emphasis on business development, communications, events, and cultural affairs.
My current role with the Greater Chatham Initiative allows me to consult on small business food service development and provide industry support services. I am deeply committed to preserving the history of my community while fostering a thriving future for the next generation of entrepreneurs and artists.
Christine is a third generation Chicago South Sider and an award-winning entrepreneur, business financing coach, and financial services professional. She holds a BA in Psychology from Yale University and an MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, where she received concentrations in Finance, Entrepreneurship, and Strategic Management, interned in venture capital as an Investment Fellow at VestedWorld, and was a Toigo Fellow and Forté Fellow.
Christine has advised businesses and investors on three continents. After graduating from Chicago Booth, she founded Chama Capital, a financial technology company on a mission to increase access to capital for women-owned businesses. She previously managed the Chicago Neighborhood Recovery Program in Chatham, launched the African operations of an impact investment consulting firm in Accra, Ghana, and raised capital for a fund manager that invests in financial institutions serving underbanked communities globally.
Christine started her career as an Investment Banking Analyst at Barclays in New York. She is a Herman Family Fellow and has been honored as a Polsky Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation Featured Member, an Immerse Founder-in-Residence, and a Toigo Foundation Vision Award Winner and Top 35 Rising Leader.
Rhea Steele serves as the Deputy Director of Greater Chatham Initiative. Rhea Steele, a seasoned business executive, has a career history spanning more than 30 years within the technology industry. After 15 years of corporate management which includes the IBM Corporation followed by 14 years of successful entrepreneurship, in 2010 Ms. Steele co-founded Blue Ocean Logic, Inc., a sales, marketing, and technology solutions management firm and was the Founding Chairman of Chatham Technical Institute, a nonprofit organization supporting other nonprofits engaged in digital community development.
Over my 19 years of restaurant management and operations, my success in my career came from structure and routines. I’ve gained a range of knowledge from the different companies I’ve worked with and for. AORs, SOP, and clear attainable goals are crucial at every level of business. Often struggling and failing businesses lack these 3 pillars. Having had much success in having these at my core my intent with FoodLab is to coach those
who are looking to move to the next level.
Having worked in small/private and larger companies and seeing the recipes for success in the larger companies. I aim to help instill this in the local small/private establishments so they can share a high level of success that larger companies have.
