J. Todd Phillips Named Chair of Cara Collective Board of Directors
Appointment of three new members brings diverse experiences to Chicago nonprofit’s leadership
Cara Collective, an industry-leading workforce development enterprise headquartered in Chicago, formally announced the appointment of J. Todd Phillips to Chair its Board of Directors, effective with the 2023–2024 term.
Phillips has served on Cara Collective’s Board of Directors since 2016. During this time, he has been an active advisor in the expansion strategy for the enterprise, the rollout of the enterprise’s FY23–FY25 Strategic Plan, and the reshaping of the Board of Directors to bring more diverse experiences and skillsets.
“We are thrilled to have J. Todd at the helm of our Board for this new term,” said Kathleen St. Louis Caliento, President & CEO. “In his years of partnership with us, he has demonstrated not only a passion for this work and the people we serve, but an eagerness to roll up his sleeves to help us strengthen and scale this mission. J. Todd’s proven leadership and strategic mind will be a critical asset in the next chapter of our enterprise.”
Phillips is the Founder & CEO of Parson Partners, a boutique management consulting and business services firm. He is a seasoned business executive with a passion for building and leading high-performing teams, for solving problems deemed unsolvable, and for creating strategies that help companies and their executives leap forward. In his twenty-five-year career, he has advised C-suites and Boards of Directors for mid- and large-sized firms, Fortune 500 companies, government agencies, hospitals, and large universities throughout the United States as they seek to define and implement transformational business change. Prior to founding Parson, Phillips spent more than twelve years as a senior executive at three of the nation’s largest health insurance carriers, most recently with overall P&L accountability for a $14 billion division.
In addition to Phillips’ appointment, three new members were voted to Cara Collective’s Board of Directors for the term, including:
• Kapil Khanna, a 22-year veteran of the design industry and Chief Executive Officer of the Lamar Johnson Collaborative, a full-service design and architecture firm. Under his leadership, Khanna has provided project management on some of the region’s largest and most complex projects for healthcare and academic systems as well as extensive projects with Higher Education and Healthcare facilities across the United States.
• Kate Kutay, a change leader in financial services, with a track record of helping leading financial institutions around the globe transform their operations, technology, and risk management. Kutay is the Chief Resilience Officer for Northern Trust, where she leads resiliency strategy with the mission of helping the bank’s operating model continuously adapt to changes in the dynamic and complex business environment.
• Terrill North, a solutions-oriented, mission-driven executive with more than twenty years of philanthropic experience. North is currently a Partner with the Portfolio team of New Profit, a venture philanthropy organization that backs breakthrough social entrepreneurs who are advancing equity and opportunity in America.
These appointments better position Cara Collective’s Board of Directors to help lead the enterprise as it strives to deepen the impact of its work to eradicate poverty and scale its reach to more job seekers in Chicago and nationally. A complete Board list can be found at http://www.caracollective.org/our-leadership.
