Social Impact & Sustainability Panel

Will Towns

Adjunct Professor in KelloggÔÇÖs Sustainability and Social Impact Program

Kellogg School of Management

Dr. Towns is a scholar, activist and practitioner, dedicated to helping solve civic and urban issues at the structural level. William is the Executive Director of Benefit Chicago, one of the first please based impact investment collaborations in the country, bring together The Chicago Community Trust, The MacArthur Foundation and Calvert Impact Capital to mobilize $100 million in impact investments targeting the social enterprise sector in the Chicago region.

He came to Benefit Chicago from the University of Chicago, where he was an Assistant Vice President and led the Office of Civic Engagement’s Anchor Strategies. In this role, his work focused on building community and civic partnerships. He also specialized in developing faculty-led community research projects, cultivating student engagement opportunities, and managing local government relations. Many of the projects William spearheaded were designed to improve the quality of life on the South Side of Chicago in areas of education, housing, public safety, business diversity, job creation and community engagement planning for university development projects.

William has served as one of the architects of the University of Chicago's model of civic engagement, as a part of this work he, lead the office of Civic Engagements first anchor strategic plan. This plan looked to encourage and support businesses hiring locally, deepening the engagement with the arts and cultural institutions, support research that advances the understanding of evidence-based interventions at a systemic level and advancing campus developments that contribute to the sustainability of a shared community. He was a part of the community engagement campaign along with university senior leaders, community partners, and other key stakeholders that secured the siting of the Obama Presidential Center.

He received his BA from Loyola University Chicago, an MBA from the University of Notre Dame, and a Ph.D. from Benedictine University, where his research in organizational psychology focuses on corporate social responsibility. Dr. Towns believes his goal is to use research to help cities, anchor institutions, and nonprofits to develop policies and initiatives that welcome those who stand just outside the door of opportunity to the table of prosperity.

Julie Habbert

Associate Principal

Civic Consulting Alliance

Julie is a Associate Principal at Civic Consulting Alliance, a nonprofit consulting firm focused primarily on the public sector. She joined the organization in the summer of 2020 after serving as a Summer Associate in 2019. Since joining, she has worked on projects across all three of the organization's primary platform areas: education, safety and justice, and economic vitality.

Prior to Civic Consulting Alliance, Julie worked in the education and nonprofit space. Most recently, she worked at uAspire, a national nonprofit focused on college affordability, where she led data collection and analysis efforts and policy initiatives aimed at making financial aid award letters more transparent and easily understood by students and families. Before that, she worked in several roles at Curriculum Associates, an educational technology and publishing company that creates K-12 math and reading assessment and instructional programs.

Julie has an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University and an AB from Washington University in St. Louis.

Tim Brown

Co-Founder & CEO

Tradewater, LLC

Tim Brown is a co-founder and the CEO of Tradewater, a company that collects and destroys greenhouse gases. To date, Tradewater has destroyed over 10.6 million metric tons of CO2e from old refrigerants that would otherwise be released into the atmosphere. At Tradewater, Tim provides strategic direction for the firm in all business areas and is developing new programs to further Tradewater’s mission and expand its impact. He is working to open new markets and facilitate the firm’s international expansion. Tim brings to Tradewater 36 years of experience in carbon programs, environmental policy, hazardous waste cleanup, and pollution prevention.

He founded Wabashco in 2008 to develop carbon offset and renewable energy projects in the Midwest, and in 1998 he co-founded the Delta Institute, a nonprofit organization to improve environmental quality and promote community and economic development in the Great Lakes Basin. He ran the Delta Institute’s environmental program, which included a wide range of water quality, pollution prevention, toxic reduction, and carbon sequestration work.

Tim has worked for a range of environmental organizations in both the private and non-profit sectors including Clean Sites, ICF, and the Center for the Great Lakes. He was a Donella Meadows Leadership Fellow with the Sustainability Institute. Tim holds a B.S. from Northwestern University. He has held leadership positions on many boards over the years including the Gaylord and Dorothy Donnelley Foundation, Rebuilding Exchange, Delta Institute, and the Alliance for the Great Lakes, among others.

Patricia Flores

Science Communication Manager

Chan Zuckerberg Initiative (CZI)

Patricia Flores thrives working at the intersection of strategy and social impact. She currently manages science communications at the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative (CZI), where she leads communications strategies, journalism grantmaking, and external storytelling for CZI’s biomedical science funding. Outside of her role, Patricia serves as the Executive Lead of CZI’s Latino employee resource group. Prior to CZI, Patricia worked at Apple on their corporate communications team, where she drove operations and logistics for global product launch events, including iPhone 11 and the first AirPods Pro. Patricia serves as a Board Member of Acción Latina, the nonprofit publisher of California’s oldest bilingual newspaper.