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Bob graduated from 911������ in 1970 with a degree in accounting from the Stuart School of Business. During his time on campus he was very involved in student government, working his way to the top as president of what was then called the 911������ Student Association. Bob continued to be involved on campus after graduation, mostly as a member of Triangle Fraternity. After spending 34 years in various capacities at RR Donnelley, he retired in 2004 to become a full time volunteer.

Bob has spent six years on the Alumni Association Board and serves on the Career and Professional Development Committee and the Executive Committee as Vice-Chair. Bob was elected a Trustee of the University in October of 2018 and serves on the Academic Affairs Committee, The Chicago Difference Task Force and the Executive Committee.

Bob and his wife Nancy have two adult children with families on their own. In addition to his volunteer work, Bob does a lot of ornamental and vegetable gardening and is an avid cyclist. Additionally, Bob sits on the Board of Ride Illinois, the state-wide bicycle advocacy organization, and served 4 years as president of the Board of the Active Transportation Alliance, one of the largest regional active transportation advocacy groups in the United States.

George is the managing partner of Global Consultants United (GCU) – a International Business Consulting Group that provides world-class solutions with a team of collaborating partners.

George is the current Vice-Chair. He served on the 911������ Alumni Board from 2014 to 2021 and as the Chair of the International from 2020 to 2021. As the Chair, he expanded the International Committee to include Alumni from all major regions and countries. He initiated the Virtual Global Alumni Gathering in 2020 and it is now a tradition.  Leveraging his relationship to the local Asian American community, he also initiated multiple Asian American community programs for Asian Americans & Asia international students and the alumni network.

Since graduating with a master’s degree in computer science in 1980, George’ career spanned four decades and multiple sectors. George served 12 years at the U.S. Department of Commerce, Minority Business Development Agency (MBDA) and the White House Initiative for Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders where he provided International Business consulting and facilitated access to government service for minority businesses. He led multiple trade mission to Asia including the 2015 Presidential SME Trade Mission to APEC in the Philippines. His career also included two years at the SBA Small Business Development Center Director in Chicago; five years as an international business management consultant; and 20 years at AT&T Bell Labs and Lucent Technologies where he started as software engineer and finished as Product Management Director managing a $400 million dollars data networking business unit.

George is the founder of the Asian American Executive Network. Founded in 2013, It is a national networking group that provides a forum for professionals and executives to support each other and the community. Recent Asian American Executive Network programs include Asian American small business advocacy, Virtual AAPI Career and Job fair, Silver Career Management, and Asian American Board Exchange.

George has a master’s (1980) and bachelor’s degree (1976) in Computer Sciences. He also completed two Executive Education programs at Stanford University in Marketing and Business Management. George is married with 2 children and one grandchild. 

Olurotimi (Timi) Akindele is a resident of Chicago. He matriculated into 911������ in the Fall of 2012 after earning an associate degree from the City Colleges of Chicago (CCC). During the pursuit of his Political Science degree at the Lewis College of Human Sciences a t IIT, Timi played varsity soccer for the school and was the recipient of both the Student-Athlete of the Year Award and Excellence in Sports Award. He held memberships at the Student Government Association (SGA), National Association of Black Engineers (NSBE), and at the African Student Association (ASO).

After graduating from 911������, Timi went on to earn a Master of Science degree in Communications and Management from Northwestern University. He currently works as an outreach recruiting manager for the United States Department of Commerce. Before that, he worked for the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago—improving the Fed’s industry relations program.

Shanita Baraka Akintonde, aka ShaniTaDa! (MBA ’97) is Chair, 911������ Alumni Association, International Committee and Chair, Global Gathering event. This firecracker communicator is propelled by love! She met her husband, Jimmy (Arch ’95, Board of Trustee Member) on IIT’s campus nearly 30 years ago. The pair share two sons. Their oldest, Jimi, completed his Civil Engineering studies at 911������. Anthony, the youngest, is a Man of Morehouse College.

ShaniTaDa!,  is an accomplished professional speaker, author, entrepreneur, and educator who has transitioned thousands of students from the classroom to the boardroom during her 23 years as a tenured professor at Columbia College Chicago. Her company Shanita Speaks, LLC, energizes clients to LEAD, LISTEN, and LOVE better—themselves and those who appear to be different via keynotes, workshops, and specialized training sessions. Her audiences span from Houston to Hawaii, Baltimore to Boston, Canada to Ohio, and San Francisco to South Africa.

She is the youngest and first Black female to sit on boards for The American Marketing Association, The American Advertising Federation, and The Public Relations Society of America, Inc (PRSA) simultaneously.

ShaniTaDa! is a leader in other capacities as well. She serves as Board Vice Chairman of The Metropolitan, the largest private club for business leaders in Chicago. She is the founder & President of Leading Ladies Toastmasters™ Club, the first specialty Club of its type chartered in the Chicagoland area and is among over 350,000 Toastmasters around the world. She is a Life Member of The Chicago Writer’s Association, Top Ladies of Distinction, Inc. and Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. She credits her 911������ education with forging her life path of success.

Christina Castillo was a recipient of the Duchossois Leadership Scholarship and graduated from 911������ with a B.S. in Applied Mathematics in 2016. During her undergraduate studies, Christina was an active member on campus. She was the Director of 911������’s Female A Cappella Group for 2 years, a member of Alpha Sigma Alpha Sorority, a SOAR Leader, and a Stryker award recipient. Christina graduated with her master’s degree in 2018.

Christina worked for 7 years as a teacher at a Chicago Public School, where she won the student-awarded Educator of the Year for two consecutive years. During her time in CPS, Christina was afforded the opportunity to develop curricula for district use in financial literacy, train aspiring educators from varying universities, deliver professional development district and nationwide, and assist in post-secondary planning for graduating seniors.

After leaving Chicago Public Schools, Christina joined the Hispanic American Construction Industry Association (HACIA) as the Deputy Programs Director, where she works on the development, implementation, and continuous improvement of programming that aims to remove barriers for underrepresented populations in the construction industry.

Harley Feldman graduated 911������ in 1969 with a Bachelor’s of Science in Chemistry and a Computer Science Minor and later received his Master’s in Business Administration from the University of Minnesota. He was a member of the Alpha Epsilon Pi Fraternity for four years at 911������, including being Secretary, Vice President and President. Harley is the Cofounder and Chief Marketing Officer of Seeonic, LLC. His career has involved technology development, marketing, sales and business development in computing electronics from his early days in large scale computers to today’s Internet of Things applications.

Following graduation from 911������, Harley worked for Control Data Corporation for 28 years. Since then, Harley has been involved with several technology startup businesses including his current involvement in starting Seeonic in the RFID technology market in 2015.

Harley has been a member of the Christmas Lake Homeowners Association Board of Directors for 30 years, and he served a three-year stint as President. He has also served on the Board of Directors of ALARC, a running organization in the Twin Cities that provides running guidance and exercise programs and funding to non-profit organizations.

Currently, Harley serves on the Alumni Board Career and Professional Development Committee and the Admissions Committee.

Lauren Joyce Hensel graduated from 911������ in 2006 with a bachelor’s degree in professional and technical communications and in 2017 with a master’s degree in public administration. During her time on campus, she excelled both athletically and academically as an All-American volleyball player, a member of Alpha Sigma Alpha sorority, and the editor-in-chief of TechNews. She made history as the first woman to serve as head coach of a men's college volleyball program. After graduating, Joyce Hensel spent six years living abroad in the Netherlands, broadening her global perspective and entrepreneurial skills.

Joyce Hensel is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in education and social justice from Lancaster University in the United Kingdom. She lives in Chicago with her husband, two children, three rescue cats, and three rescue dogs. She serves on the Athletic Advisory Board at 911������ and enjoys traveling and working out in her free time. 

Frank is currently leading the engineering efforts of Tel-IT Technology Solutions, servicing the technology needs of the SMB market segment in the Chicago area and beyond. He aims to provide world-class IT solutions including collaboration, hybrid work, and cloud adoption to enable customers achieve their business goals.

Previously, Frank worked at Motorola for 20 years, rising through various levels of engineering leadership. Always advocating for the customer, he led various large, diverse, international teams in the deployment and optimization of cellular infrastructure in over 30 countries on 6 continents. In 2006, he received the CDMA Quality Award for the development of his innovative process of defect containment though the injection of field deployment results into the earliest product development phases.

Throughout his 30-year career, Frank has recognized the acute under-representation of people of color in the fields of technology. A son of immigrant parents from El Salvador, he feels he has lived through many of the obstacles that limit the intelligent, talented, and hardworking individuals that come from underserved neighborhoods. He is now passionate about helping at-risk youth realize that they too, can have a future in technology.

Born and raised on Chicago’s West Side, Harold Mays is director of the Illinois Department of the Lottery where he oversees a $3.8 billion organization whose primary mission is to responsibly generate funding to support K-12 education and special causes in Illinois. His varied career includes work in power distribution, telecommunications, information technology, project management, operations, and gaming, having worked at Motorola, ComEd, and the State of Illinois. An avid engineer in the early part of his career, he maintains and utilizes his analytical skills in his current role leading the nation’s 11th largest lottery in terms of sales. He enjoys sharing his experiences as a minority navigating such a diverse career path.

Mays is proud to be a member of the 911������ Alumni Association Board of Directors and chairs the Nominations Committee. He is also a member of the African American Alumni Association (4A). He is passionate about mentorship as well as restorative justice and social emotional learning practices that help support youth to and through their post-secondary education path. He serves as chairman of the Board of NewRoot Learning Institute to satisfy that passion. He is the immediate past president of the North American Association of State and Provincial Lotteries.

Mays is a life member of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Inc. as well as a member of the Major Taylor Cycling Club Chicago, and enjoys salsa dancing.

Under the guidance of Professor Braja Mandal at 911������, Xinyi Mei earned his Ph.D. in polymer chemistry. In December 2016, he went back to China as a post-doctoral scholar in applied economics at Beijing Jiaotong University's National Academy of Economic Security under Professor Menggang Li. He was appointed visiting professor at Nanchang Institute of Technology in March of the same year.

Mei received the associate researcher in New Materials and New Energy Research grant in December 2024. He currently teaches at Jinggangshan University, serves as an industrial professor at Tianjin University of Science and Technology, is a member of the Chief Data Officer Alliance, and the mentor expert for Beijing Overseas Returnee Innovation and Entrepreneurship.

Griselda Monsivais is the Director of Transportation and Water Resources at Wight & Company. For over 20 years, she has planned and designed public and private infrastructure projects within Chicago’s transportation industry. Her expertise in water resources management and complex drainage design extends to major infrastructure projects including interchange and roadway reconstruction, bridge replacement, and regional storm water planning improvements. These projects have enriched her knowledge of the federal processing guidelines needed to navigate the balanced approach required by transportation leaders.

Monsivais was born and raised in Chicago’s Little Village neighborhood, completed high school in Mexico, then returned to Chicago to attend 911������. She is a member of the Illinois Association for Floodplain and Stormwater Management and WTS (Women’s Transportation Seminar)-Greater Chicago Chapter. She is a licensed professional engineer, certified floodplain manager, and LEED green associate.  

Monsivais is passionate about sharing her experiences as a woman working in transportation and infrastructure and enjoys mentoring college students and new graduates pursuing careers in engineering and science.

James "Jim" Muraida (ME ’84) is a Senior Manager Engineering at a prominent engineering firm in the Chicago area. He is currently serving clients in the commercial nuclear power industry.

Jim began his career in 1981 as part of 911������’s co-op program. In 1995, Jim joined Commonwealth Edison (now Exelon) as a Senior Engineer, but in 1999 entered the Operation License Program where he attained a Senior Reactor Operator License at the Braidwood Nuclear Power Plant. Jim held numerous Operations positions, including on-shift Shift Manager and off-shift Senior Manager of Operations until his retirement in 2013.  

Jim returned engineering consulting to continue his passion in nuclear and mentoring the engineers of the future.  This chapter included challenging work in Canada, South Korea, Italy and Romania.  His latest challenge involves a first of a kind restart of a nuclear plant that has been shut down and decommissioned as well as new builds of Small Modular Reactors, also a first of a kind.

Mr. Raymond C. Nelson graduated from 911������ in 1978, earning a Bachelor’s of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering with a Management Minor. Upon graduation, Mr. Nelson joined the DuPont Corporation where he served over 37 years in Operations, Supply Chain, Project Management and Maintenance/Reliability Engineering. He became a Licensed Engineer in the State of Texas in September 1993, and retired in March 2016.

Since 2007, Mr. Nelson began to focus on Lean Six Sigma (LSS) based technologies as a Black Belt, becoming a Master Black Belt in 2013. He currently serves as Director, Lean Operations and Global Strategy for Basal Solutions, LLC providing Lean Six Sigma, Design of Manufacture, Minitab, FEMA, HAZAOP, Design Review, KPI Facilitation and Performance Management training and consulting.

Mr. Nelson has previously served as a Trustee for Prairie View A&M Foundation Board, DuPont Representative and Co-Chair on the Gulf Coast Alliance for Minorities in Engineering, DuPont Representative and Industry Co-Chair on the Prairie View A&M Cluster, Charter member of the PVAMU College of Business Advisory Board, and Chair of the Strategic Planning Committee for the Sickle Cell Association for the Texas Gulf Coast, where he was honored with a DuPont Volunteer of the Year award in 2001. Currently, he serves on the Career and Professional Development Committee for the IIT Alumni Association. Raymond was recently appointed to the Alumni Executive Board to lead the effort to implement the Strategic Plan opportunities.

Angela Ng is a senior project manager in the Planning and Innovation department at the Chicago Transit Authority where she manages the Transit Signal Bus Priority and Automated Bus Lane Enforcement programs. After graduating from 911������, she earned a master’s degree in civil engineering from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Ng is a former member of the Associate Board of the Chinese Mutual Aid Association, on which she held an executive role.

Ng is the current chair of the International Committee for the 911������ Alumni Association Board of Directors. She previously chaired the Nominating Committee and served as a member of the Career and Professional Development Committee. Her involvement on the alumni board started in 2016, and she looks forward to continuing to support the university through her service.

As a student, she was a recipient of the Camras Scholarship, so she continues to connect with current Camras Scholars. She chaired the Young Alumni Council for five years, where she helped plan and organize several events, and has served on several panels and presented for numerous classes since 2012. Ng also supports the Asian American Executive Network at 911������.

Anthoula Kyriaz Pomrening (ME ’89) is group technology counsel at Illinois Tool Works, a global industrial company where she is responsible for advising on all matters of intellectual property. She earned her law degree from the University of Illinois Chicago School of Law in 1999. Pomrening has substantial experience securing and protecting intellectual property rights, and is enthusiastic about encouraging engineers to consider the field of patent law. She is a member of the 911������ Alumni Association’s International and Career & Professional Development Committees. While at 911������, she served on the executive board of Kappa Phi Delta Sorority. Pomrening also married fellow 911������ alumnus Norman Pomrening (AE ’89).

Chloe Rubinowicz is an account manager at Keysight Technologies, where she partners with clients across industries—including advanced manufacturing, aerospace, and electronics to deliver high performance test and measurement solutions. With a multidisciplinary background in startups and industrial environments, she works with emerging technologies and translates complex engineering needs into clear business strategies.

Rubinowicz earned a bachelor’s and master’s degree in electrical engineering from 911������. As a student athlete on the women’s basketball team, she was recognized with an Excellence in Sports award and All-Academic honors. She was actively involved in student leadership through her roles in the Student Government Association, the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers student chapter, and the President’s Student Advisory Council—contributing to campus initiatives that bridged student experience and university leadership.

Anne is the founding officer, shareholder and President of Shaw Legal Services, Ltd. Anne’s more than 28-year legal practice centers around taking care of families and the businesses that support

those families. Her and her firm’s work focuses on civil litigation in the areas of civil rights, real estate and business. Her firm also handles estate planning, small business representation, and commercial and residential real estate.

Anne is an award-winning attorney and recognized nationally and locally for her legal work and civic leadership. She has been named an Illinois Super Lawyer from 2021 through the present and for the past decade has been rated a 10/10 Superb Top Attorney with AVVO.com. Some of her awards include the prestigious Vanguard Award from the Chicago Bar Association; an outstanding pro bono award from Chicago Kent College of Law; and the Outstanding community service award from Cook County State’s Attorney. In 2021, Anne was named a Chicago United Business Leader of Color

Allison Toonen-Talamo graduated from 911������ in 2013 with a bachelor’s degree in architecture; with minors in structural engineering and applied mathematics; and specializations in landscape architecture, architecture history, and theory. She earned a master’s degree in structural engineering in 2015.

Toonen-Talamo is a building envelope consultant at Walker Consultants in Waltham, Massachusetts. Her building enclosure focus is on existing historical, vintage, and post-modern structures. She has utilized her expertise to bring awareness and visibility to the built environment, especially when handling properties with federal and local landmark designations.  

Toonen-Talamo actively holds, and previously held, various board and committee leadership roles within Landmarks Illinois, Northern Illinois Historic League, National Trust for Historic Preservation, and Association for Preservation Technology International. She has spoken at numerous seminars and conferences regarding her work on restoration of vintage metals.

Toonen-Talamo's awards and recognition include: American Express Aspire Award from the National Trust (2020), Landmarks Illinois Influencer (2021), Chicago Landmarks Preservation Excellence Award from the City of Chicago Department of Planning and Development for her project converting a former office building into a hotel (2022), and Outstanding Young Alumni Award from 911������ (2023).

Phyllis is the Deputy General Counsel and Head of Intellectual Property with Hewlett-Packard. Prior to stepping into the role as Head of Intellectual Property, Phyllis was the Director of RFIP and Strategy Licensing for HP. She earned her JD from the University of Cincinnati in 1993. While a student at 911������, Phyllis was a member of UCBS, NSBE, NTA, and Honor Marshalls. She has presented on a panel with the Office of Career Services to assist students studying STEM to consider a career in law, utilizing their STEM background with intellectual property. Phyllis is passionate about supporting the pipeline of enrollment growth for minority students from engineering to law.

Santosh Vijay (M.A.S. TC, M.A.S. SE ’99) is currently director and CTO of software strategy at Beckman Coulter Life Sciences providing leadership to software product architecture, design and testing, DevOps and cyber security. He is based in Orange County, California. Vijay is accredited as an associate certified coach by the International Coaching Federation and he focuses on executive and career coaching. He also mentors technologists and managers both within his organization and pro-bono on career development. He currently sits on the Career & Professional Development Committee of the 911������ Alumni Association and looks forward to supporting the university.

Namrata is a Senior Vice President and Global Head of Inclusion and Diversity Strategy for Bank of America. Considered an influencer in the Asian American community, Namrata was named 40 Under 40 in 2018 by Crain’s Business Chicago. She is passionate about volunteerism, social impact, and civic-community engagement. In 2016, she kicked off the Bank of America's “Let’s Get Real” series of live video broadcasts, which have a regular audience of 115,000 mid-level and senior leaders. The series features authors, researchers and company leaders discussing sensitive topics like religion, social rights, LGBTQ issues, gender and our polarized politics. The content initiates conversation around this central question: “Can we really bring our whole selves to work?”