Reflecting on Our Year, A Major Gift and What’s Upcoming

A Letter from Our CEO | Wednesday, July 22, 2026

This week marks the conclusion of my third year as CEO of Leadership Greater Chicago (LGC), and what a year it has been! My heart is filled with gratitude for our amazing community and the gift of leading LGC. I want to take a moment to share some of the remarkable milestones we have achieved together with the resounding support of our LGC Executive Board, the LFA Board, our generous sponsors, our dedicated staff and the entire LGC community.

Our commitment to empowering and cultivating a continuous pipeline of courageous, diverse cross-sector civic leaders to lead transformation for the Greater Chicago Region is more critical now than ever before. Last year, to support our mission and continued investment in civic leadership, LGC received a special, catalytic gift of $500,000, spread over a five-year term, from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. The award — the largest unrestricted gift LGC has ever received — represents a significant opportunity to advance strategic priorities and deliver on our mission.

In addition to this exciting news, this year, we have:

  • Launched our new website and Fellows portal aligned with our refreshed mission and organizational purpose, “We Propel Chicago Forward.” Since launch, more than two thirds of our network have activated on the LGC Fellows Portal Network!
  • Modernized our program to offer purposeful, tangible, place-based learning that leverages the city as our classroom to explore the region’s most pressing socioeconomic issues, connect deeply to one another’s humanity and inspire collective activation.
  • Built momentum in fellowship recruitment, successfully sustaining a 25% increase in Signature Fellows Program applications for three consecutive years and increasing the Daniel Burnham Fellowship recruitment pipeline, demonstrating continued strong interest from a diverse group of civic-minded leaders.
  • Increased our efforts to bring Fellows together in community to accelerate collaboration and action by launching our new Fellow Convenings — small group gatherings hosted by Fellows that have engaged over 200 Fellows so far — and hosting six Leadership Series Sessions open to our entire network and participating sponsors.
  • Ignited new energy at a sold-out Celebrate Leaders event that highlighted the power of cross-sector collaboration to meet the moment and exceeded our fundraising goals to support LGC’s mission. 

As I look to the year ahead, I am excited to leverage America’s 250th anniversary as a call-to-action to renew and strengthen our commitment to civic engagement. This is an opportunity for us to invest in the next generation civic moment, and we are planning some exciting new initiatives and notable firsts for LGC.

One of those firsts is our inaugural one-day conference to inspire and catalyze collective activation among LGC’s network and external partners. This conference will create the space to inspire cross-sector leaders to forge a shared regional purpose and work towards establishing a civic blueprint centered on growth, collective activation and the power of cross-sector collaboration to bridge divides and reimagine our future together.

This week, we are announcing our 42nd Class of the LGC Signature Fellows Program. The 2027 program year will mark the start of our intentional efforts to reduce class size — a mission-focused move that will foster space for the vulnerability, authenticity and deep connection that builds transformational, lifelong relationships and amplifies the magic of LGC.

The launch of LGC Connect, an innovative, peer-to-peer matching program, is also on the horizon. Whether you’re an LGC Fellow since 1985 or have just completed a fellowship program in 2026, this new tool will connect you with Fellows across Classes, Cohorts, programs and industries. We look forward to growing meaningful engagement across our network of over 1,600 Fellows.

Thank you for being in community with us, for your unwavering commitment to civic leadership, and for all the ways you are activating for those who live in the Greater Chicago Region and beyond. We propel Chicago forward — together.

In service,

Myetie Hamilton
Chief Executive Officer
LGC Fellow since 2016

LGC is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization. To learn more, visit lgcchicago.org.