Governing Board
Michael Bierut
A partner at the renown design firm Pentagram, Bierut currently serves as a director of the Architectural League of New York and New Yorkers for Parks. The former president of the New York Chapter American Institute of Graphic Arts, he has won hundreds of design awards and his work is represented in several permanent collections.
Robert Finkel
Finkel is the president of Prism Capital, where he has recruited and coordinated two investment teams and overseen equity fund deployment into 14 portfolio companies and mezzanine fund deployment into 20 companies. Currently, he serves on the boards of Artromick and SterilMed; he is the founder of the Illinois Venture Capital Association, from which he received the prestigious Fellows Award.
Lee Francis (Vice-Chair)
An internist and CEO at Erie Family Health Center, Francis is clinical instructor of internal medicine at Northwestern University's Feinberg School of Medicine. He is a past president of Physicians for Social Responsibility (PSR), a national organization dedicated to the prevention of violence and nuclear war, and continues to serve on its Board of Directors.
Seth Grae
Grae is president of Lightbridge Corporation, which develops and tests nuclear fuel technology to enhance proliferation resistance and dispose plutonium. His efforts at the Lightbridge Corporation have resulted in it becoming one of the first Western companies to contract with Russian nuclear institutes, along with becoming an early grant recipient from the Energy Department for nonproliferation-related work in Russia. The Lightbridge Corporation also provides advisory services to governments seeking to establish new nuclear power programs that meet the highest of international standards.
Austin Hirsch
Hirsch is a partner at Reed Smith. His practice encompasses all aspects of business law, including mergers and acquisitions with both financial and strategic parties, corporate and real estate finance, venture capital transactions, partnership and joint ventures, and international transactions, with special expertise in counseling significant privately owned companies.
Robert Lipman
A founder of Lipman Hearne, Lipman is a leading expert in conceiving and guiding marketing and communication programs in support of major fundraising campaigns for nonprofit organizations. He has provided leadership for identity and public visibility programs and led the development of public information and advocacy campaigns for the University of Chicago and the RAND Corporation.
William Revelle (Chair)
An American Association for the Advancement of Science fellow, Revelle directs the personality program in the Department of Psychology at Northwestern University. Formerly, he served on the Federation of American Scientists' Board of Directors. He is chairman of the board of Calcomco, a small information company that publishes the San Diego Daily Transcript and Columbus Business Journal.
Lowell Sachnoff (Secretary & Treasurer)
Sachnoff is a lawyer at Reed Smith. Previously, he served as founding partner at Sachnoff & Weaver, Ltd, where he represented individual and business clients in complex litigation and business matters. He possesses a strong commitment to pro bono work, active as a board member of the Lawyers Committee for Nuclear Arms Control and Lawyers Alliance for World Security.
Joan Shapiro
A banker with community investment expertise, Shapiro is a pioneer in socially responsible investing. As president of the Social Investment Forum, her work was nationally recognized. Previously, she worked as an executive vice president of ShoreBank Corp.
Joan Winstein
Winstein is CEO of Loan Strategies, Inc., a bank consulting practice, and a consultant for FSVC, an arm of USAID, advising banks in developing countries. Previously, Winstein served as a vice president and credit officer for Midwest corporate banking relationships at First Chicago (now JP Morgan Chase); and a relationship manager for coal, gas, electric, and nuclear utility clients at Bank of America.
