Leadership

Board Members

Lisa R. D'Angelo

Lisa is a co-founder and board chair of WIND. After a corporate career in finance and marketing, Lisa found her calling in the nonprofit arena where she advises local organizations in fundraising and marketing. She has BS and MBA degrees in Finance from Fordham and New York University respectively. Lisa’s passion for social justice, with a focus on helping women and families build stronger futures, led her to create WIND with her talented group of co-founders.

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Tracy Lawson McKeithen

Tracy is a co-founder and vice chair of the board. Tracy leads a family homeless shelter agency. She has a Master’s degree in psychology and is a Community Psychology doctoral student doing research on homeless families and the barriers faced by homeless mothers released from incarceration. Tracy has a passion for working with at-risk vulnerable populations and has a heart of service for mothers.

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Kelly Costello

Kelly is a co-founder of WIND. She helps with programming and leads the volunteer program, collaborating with others to bring the best possible experiences to the women who receive WIND services. With over 25 years of experience in teaching and consulting in design and innovation, she has shifted her focus to mission-driven organizations and nonprofits. Kelly splits her time between running her own design consultancy, Panorama Innovation, and teaching at Northwestern University and at the Institute of Design at IIT in Chicago.

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Penny Hirsch, PhD

Penny is a founding board member of WIND. She was also a long-time faculty member and associate director of the Cook Family Writing Program at Northwestern University. Penny designed and taught a variety of courses in writing, engineering design communication, and project management. Her first-year seminars, like her volunteer work, focused on inequities in the criminal justice system and ways to help formerly incarcerated women return to their communities. Hirsch did her undergraduate study at Wellesley College and the University of Michigan, received her PhD from Northwestern University, and was a founding member of Communication Partners, a Chicago-area communication consulting firm.She is delighted to be a board member of WIND.

Visit Penny at the Cook Family Writing Program.

Margaret Knell

Margaret Knell serves as WIND’s secretary and focuses on governance. She has over 25 years of experience in not-for-profit and association management, with a focus in governance and legal operations. Margaret holds a BA in Communications and Business from John Carroll University; an MBA from the Keller Graduate School of Management; and an MS, Information Technology and Privacy Law, with Honors from The John Marshall Law School, Chicago. Margaret believes strongly in mentoring other women and giving back to her community and feels fortunate to be able to do so by participation on the WIND Board.

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Laura Pigozzi, PhD

Laura joined the faculty of the Cook Family Writing Program in the fall of 2022 as Assistant Professor. She holds a PhD in Rhetoric and Scientific & Technical Communication with a doctoral minor in Bioethics from the University of Minnesota. Laura trained as a mechanical engineer, with a BS in Mechanical Engineering with a Bioengineering Option from the University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana. Additionally, She holds Affiliate Faculty status in the School of Nursing, University of Minnesota and Affiliate Faculty, Center for Community Health Equity, DePaul University/Rush University.

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Stephen E. Sudhoff

Steve is president of Jefferson Cook Associates, Ltd., a risk management consulting firm for banks and brokerage firms. His 30 years of experience in the Chicago financial community includes extensive market and credit risk management leadership in large international banking and brokerage firms. He was a co-founder of Family Promise Chicago North Shore and has served in leadership positions in other Chicagoland nonprofits. Steve has an MBA from the University of Chicago and his CFA Charter was awarded in 2002.

WIND Advisors

Kathy Bell

Kathy Bell guides development of strong organizations. During her career as an Executive Director, Kathy served health care, business, professional, technology and philanthropic organizations.

Honor Teoudoussia

Honor Teoudoussia is an Executive Editor at National Geographic Learning. For 25 years, she has developed language and literacy programs for K-12 students. Honor did her undergraduate work at the School of the Art Institute in Chicago and at University of Montana. She then joined the Peace Corps and served as an English teacher for three years in Cameroon. She holds an MFA in Writing and Rhetoric from DePaul, and she is currently working on a second MFA in Writing at Northwestern. Honor is an aspiring writer who writes a blog about travel and the body. She loves helping others find the transformative power of writing, which is why she volunteers with WIND, co-leading the Writing for Empowerment course.

Kim Hoffman

Kim oversees the portfolio of undergraduate course offerings for the Segal Design Institute at Northwestern University and leads its strategic initiatives. Hoffmann also serves as a director of the James Dyson Foundation, a charitable organization dedicated to engineering and design education. She holds an MS in Product Design from Stanford University and a BS in Mechanical Engineering from Northwestern University.

Ryan LaHurd, PhD

Ryan spent most of his professional career in higher education as an English professor, Academic Dean and President at various colleges and universities. He later served as president of The Near East Foundation, an international development organization in New York City. He retired as president of the James S. Kemper Foundation in Chicago, a non-profit that focused on helping college students prepare for organizational leadership.

Sally A. Nuamah, PhD

Sally is a professor at Northwestern University. Previously, she worked at Duke University and held competitive research fellowships at the University of Pennsylvania, Harvard University, and Princeton University. Her research sits at the intersections of race, gender, public schools and political behavior. Sally’s first book, How Girls Achieve (2019) was recently selected for the 2020 Prose Award in Education Practice and Social Science by the American Publishers Association and received the Critics’ Choice Award from the American Educational Studies Association. Sally’s newest research is focused on the punishment of Black women and girls and its political consequences. In addition to research, Sally is a staunch advocate for girls. She is the founder of Herstory: the TWII Foundation Girls Scholarship and has an award winning film titled, HerStory, based on this work. Sally was recently named one of Forbes Magazine “30 Under 30” in education and awarded the Andrew Carnegie Fellowship, aka “the Brainy Award”.

Barbara Shwom

Barbara is Professor of Instruction in Writing at Northwestern University’s Cook Family Writing Program and is also the Managing Principal of Communication Partners, a communication consulting firm headquartered in Evanston that she runs with her husband, Karl Keller. Complementing her professional work, Barbara is committed to improving educational access, opportunities, and support to people who have been underserved. Currently, she is coordinating tutoring support for incarcerated students in the Northwestern Prison Education Project; and she is on the Board of Directors of Youth and Opportunity United, a youth development organization in Evanston. Barbara is delighted to have the opportunity to contribute to WIND’s mission to support and inspire women with a history of incarceration, providing them with education, tools, and strategies for success.

Mia Wright, MD

Mia completed her undergraduate studies at Harvard University, received her medical degree from Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons and completed her residency at New York Presbyterian/Columbia University Medical Center. She is part of the WESTMED Medical Group, where she also served on its operating board of directors. Dr. Wright is committed to empowering women around health issues, especially those with a history of incarceration.