2018 LGBTQIA Roundtable

Anne serves on the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) Board of Governors and Chicago Steering Committee. As an HRC volunteer leader, Anne has co-chaired two of the organization’s Chicago galas and currently leads their corporate engagement work in Chicago. Professionally, Anne is public affairs consultant at Kivvit, where she assists a broad range of corporate, civic and non-profit clients. A PCC Golden Trumpet and PRSA Chicago Skyline award-winner, she specializes in strategic message development, corporate social responsibility engagement and stakeholder advocacy campaigns. Anne graduated magna cum laude from New York University. She lives in Chicago with her partner Matt and beloved cats George and Steve.

Denise is a vice president at Northern Trust Corporation in Chicago in their technology department. She started her career with Northern Trust in 1987 working on an innovative dial-up computer system which eventually morphed into Northern Trust’s current online offerings. Today, Denise oversees Northern Trust’s public websites and content management infrastructure. She received her bachelor’s degree from the University of Hartford and master’s degree from DePaul University in computer science. Denise serves on the advisory board and is an active member for Northern Trust’s LGBTQ Business Resource Group. She is also a member of the Center on Halsted’s TFem group, a peer-led discussion group for anyone who was assigned male at birth and identifies as female, feminine of center, or questioning their gender.

Dr. Mo Deslandes graduated from the Illinois School of Professional Psychology and is currently a postdoctoral fellow with The Juniper Center. During their clinical training , Mo worked in a variety of areas, including complex trauma, severe mental health, and substance use. They have focused their practice on sitting with clients and understanding the client’s truth and perspective, using sessions to help explore their inner selves through processing and being allowed a positive space to best understand their needs. Mo works with clients to find what is most helpful and rewarding in sessions and allows the clients to guide their therapy journey.

Tamara Fletcher, PhD is Senior Manager of Inclusion for CDW, an international leading provider of integrated information technology solutions. Fletcher is responsible for overseeing CDW’s twelve Business Resource Groups (BRGs). BRGs serve as a series of internal coworker-led network groups designed to be a resource for the business through talent development, retention and mobilization. BRGs also promote affinity awareness and education to all coworkers. Outside of the BRGs, Fletcher is also responsible for Talent Acquisition Diversity Programs, as well as the execution and facilitation of Inclusion Training. Most recently, in 2016, Fletcher received her PhD in Organizational Leadership through the Business Psychology department of The Chicago School of Professional Psychology. Presently, outside of work, Tamara serves as a founding member of the Chicago Music Award winning Gospel Singing Group, Divine Inspiration.

Throughout his 11½ -year career at United, Bill has held a number of Engineering and Operations positions within the Digital organization. Today, Bill is the Director of Application Performance Management where he leads a team of talented co-workers focusing on the monitoring and automation of United’s most critical applications. Prior to joining United, Bill held a variety of technical and leadership positions at Delta, Proctor & Gamble, and NCR. He is originally from Cincinnati, Ohio, and currently lives in Chicago with his husband of 23 years, Tim, and their dog Midnight.

Dr. Margo Jacquot is the founder and director of The Juniper Center, one of the largest women owned counseling and therapy practices in the Chicagoland area, with five locations and 26 therapists. Dr. Jacquot is a Licensed Clinical Psychologist, Certified Supervisory Addictions Counselor and Board Certified Expert in Traumatic Stress. She is a national lecturer on trauma recovery, substance abuse, LGBTQ issues, and working with couples. She is Certified in EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing), a powerful treatment to help people resolve anxiety, panic, depression, phobias, stress and trauma. Dr. Jacquot provides clinical consultation to other therapists regarding treatment as well as mentoring around private practice development and management. She consults with businesses and community regarding behavioral health and healthy workplace policies. Dr. Jacquot also serves on the board of the Illinois Psychological Association. She is a winner of a Gold Stevie® Award in the 14th annual Stevie Awards for Women in Business and a winner in the 2018 Enterprising Women of the Year Awards.

Bernadette Smith is founder and president of Equality Institute, and award-winning author of three books. In 2004, Bernadette started 14 Stories, an award winning wedding planning firm with an LGBTQ specialty. Several years later, she took this passion for equality and started the Gay Wedding Institute to share her expertise with her peers in the global wedding and travel industry. Her business naturally evolved as she received questions on LGBTQ concerns for the front desk, concierge and other front line staff. Given the politically charged issues of today, Bernadette expanded her training offerings and now consults with retail, restaurant and other industries with front line employees. Bernadette and her colleagues have trained thousands of people from more than 20 countries on LGBTQ issues. Bernadette's expertise has been sought after by the Today Show, National Public Radio and the New York Times, among many others.

Dylan Toropov is the Director of Individual and Major Giving & Special Events at About Face Theatre. They are also the Managing Director and co-founder of Chicago Arts Access and a co-founder of the Chicago Community Bond Fund. Inspired and educated by their years of Chicago activism, they enjoy using the principles and methods of collaboration and community building to provide a healthy structure and long-term sustainability for local live arts programming. Previously, Dylan gained arts fundraising experience at Goodman Theatre, Chicago Shakespeare Theatre, and served on the Board of Directors at Oracle Productions. Dylan arrived in Chicago in 2011 after completing a Bachelor’s Degree in Literature at Bard College in Annandale-On-Hudson, NY and graduating from Phillips Academy in Andover, MA. They spent their youth in Massachusetts and New York acting and singing in many groups and theater productions, but realized by their early twenties that they most enjoyed being behind the scenes, making art financially possible for all of us.