Meet the Midwest judges

Neil Araujo
Neil Araujo
iManage
2025 regional award winner

Neil Araujo is the cofounder and current CEO of iManage. He was one of the original developers of the company’s flagship document management product, led the company through a successful IPO, and has guided iManage through multiple acquisitions and a divestiture from HP — driving significant growth and shaping company culture. iManage is the market leader in managing information for organizations that create high volumes of confidential data and care about security, collaboration, governance and repurposing their past work through AI technologies.

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Jennifer Deason
Board Member, Former CEO
Board Director, Concentrix and MastercraftJennifer Deason

Jennifer Deason has spent the past 25 years pursuing her passion for innovation and growth. She is an executive who has held various C-suite roles, including CEO, Head of Strategy & Business Development and CFO. Jennifer loves driving innovation by building out partnerships, infrastructure and processes in established multinational and emerging businesses and bridging relationships across business executives. She sees herself as a systems thinker who is able to draw the best out of people to work cohesively toward a common goal. Most recently, Jennifer was the CEO of Home Partners of America (HPA), a Blackstone company. Blackstone bought HPA in the summer of 2021 for $6 billion and Jennifer was selected to run the business jointly by the cofounder and Blackstone. HPA owned 28,000 ($11 billion) single family homes across more than 80 markets. After successfully evolving the business more toward property management, Blackstone sold Home Partners to Tricon Residential. Prior to HPA, Jennifer was an entrepreneur running a special purpose acquisition company, where she focused on buying a technology-enabled business (digital media, e-commerce, SaaS or consumer technology) and cofounding a digital marketing business, Flowcode. She was also an executive at Sotheby’s and The Weather Channel. She spent her formative professional years at Bain Capital, McKinsey and eBay. Jennifer has an MBA from Stanford and a BA from Yale University. She currently sits on the boards of Concentrix (NYSE: CNXC), Mastercraft (NASDAQ: MCFT) and MASS MoCA and is an advisor to NavigateAI. Jennifer lives with her husband, two kids and mini-goldendoodle in Chicago. Outside of spending time with family, she loves to see great art, exercise and travel.

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Michael Fassnacht
Chief Growth Officer & President Chicagoland
Clayco

A seasoned business executive, marketing and strategic thought leader with more than 30 years of experience, Michael Fassnacht joined Clayco, one of America’s largest fully integrated design and engineering-centric builder and real estate development firms across the commercial, industrial and residential sectors as its first-ever Chief Growth Officer and President of Chicagoland in early 2024. Prior to this role, Michael led as President and CEO World Business Chicago, the city’s economic development organization, with more than 100 C-suite executives from all over Chicagoland on its business-centric board between 2020 and early 2024. The organization’s core focus is on growing its industry sectors by supporting the expansion of existing Chicagoland-based companies and by attracting new corporate relocations to the region, all with a focus on equitable economic prosperity across all 77 neighborhoods and the region. Additionally, Michael worked alongside the Mayor’s Office as the Chief Marketing Officer to ensure that all marketing, branding and business development activities for the city were aligned with Mayor Lightfoot’s and then Mayor Johnson’s economic growth plan focused on inclusive growth across Chicago’s neighborhoods.

Michael is a prominent figure in Chicago’s civic community, known for leading crucial pro bono initiatives. His contributions include rebranding the Chicago Public Library and its foundation, developing the city’s bid for Amazon HQ2, supporting the city’s Census 2020 efforts and spearheading Boards of Change, an award-winning voter registration campaign. He recently cochaired Mayor Johnson’s transition subcommittee on Economic Vitality & Equity. Michael’s extensive board service includes the Chicago Public Library Foundation, The Civic Consulting Alliance, CURRENT, The Poetry Foundation, Intersect Illinois, the Executives’ Club of Chicago and World Business Chicago.

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Chris Hart
Managing Director
CFGI

Chris Hart is a managing director at CFGI, leading its business development efforts in Chicago with a national focus on IPO readiness. He has extensive capital markets experience on both the buy side and sell side. Prior to CFGI, Chris was Managing Director of New Listings at Nasdaq where he oversaw Nasdaq’s relationships with private companies in the Midwest. Chris has also had investment roles at Citigroup and Institutional Capital LLC in Chicago, and worked at Morgan Stanley and UBS in Boston, New York and San Francisco where he advised the firms’ largest clients. Chris holds a BBA in Finance and Real Estate from the University of Wisconsin–Madison.

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Amanda Kroener
Cofounder
Carbliss
2025 regional award winner

Amanda K. Kroener is a dynamic leader, entrepreneur and advocate for empowering women in the workplace. With a career spanning multiple industries, including food and beverage, automotive, consumer lending and energy efficiency, Amanda has built a reputation as a transformative force known for financial precision, strategic leadership and data-driven decision-making.

Amanda is the cofounder of SNFood & Beverage LLC, the company behind the Carbliss Cocktails brand, which she leads alongside her husband, Adam Kroener. From its launch in 2018, they have grown Carbliss — known for its full-flavored, zero-carb, zero-sugar, gluten-free cocktails — into a nationally recognized powerhouse, selling more than nine million cases nationwide, without significant external funding. In 2024 and 2025, Carbliss was named the No. 1 fastest-growing food and beverage company in the nation by Inc. 5000. 

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Dorri McWhorter
President & CEO
Executives’ Club of Chicago

Dorri McWhorter is a transformational executive recognized for her collaborative, innovative and purpose-driven leadership style, blending corporate strategy with social impact in a way that’s both disruptive and focused on humanity. She is known for her strategic vision, optimism, and unwavering commitment to inclusivity and collective advancement. As President & CEO of the Executives’ Club of Chicago, Dorri is leading one of the most storied and influential business platforms into its next chapter — defined by bold ideas, meaningful connections and transformational leadership. Under her direction, the Executives’ Club is expanding its influence, reimagining its role in the civic-business ecosystem and convening the conversations that shape the future of business. 

Prior to joining the Executives’ Club in June 2025, Dorri served as President & CEO of the YMCA of Metropolitan Chicago, where she led a region-wide transformation. Under her leadership, the YMCA increased revenue by nearly 50%, launched groundbreaking partnerships with Nike and Peloton, and collaborated with the West Side community to open the first new YMCA location in more than two decades — part of a visionary development focused on health equity. 

Previously, Dorri served as CEO of the YWCA Metropolitan Chicago, transforming it into a 21st-century social enterprise. She scaled operations across 10 new locations, increased the operating budget by 300%, and launched a retirement plan for childcare providers and small business owners. Dorri also led a novel effort to develop an exchange-traded fund for women’s empowerment (NYSE: WOMN) in partnership with Impact Shares. At its first eligible measurement date, WOMN ranked in the top quartile of the Morningstar U.S. Large Blend category. Prior to taking on leadership roles in the social enterprise sector, she was a partner at Crowe LLP. Dorri serves on the boards of directors for LanzaTech Global, Lifeway Foods, William Blair Funds, NexPoint Capital and Skyway Concession Company. 

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Jennifer Sherman
President and CEO
Federal Signal Corporation
2024 Regional Award winner

Jennifer L. Sherman is President and Chief Executive Officer of Federal Signal Corporation. She was appointed to the position on December 2, 2015, and assumed leadership of the company on January 1, 2016. Prior to her promotion to CEO, she served as Chief Operating Officer, Chief Administrative Officer, Senior Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary. 

Jennifer has worked with the board and executive leadership team to strengthen the company’s strategic focus and growth, promote margin improvements and achieve record financial results. Her continuing focus on new product development earned the company a 2016 Chicago Innovation Award and a 2017 nomination for CEO Innovator of the Year from the Executives’ Club of Chicago. 

Jennifer serves as the Chairperson of the Board of Franklin Electric Company, Inc. Additionally, she is involved in charities in the Chicago area and serves on the Board of Trustees for The Field Museum of Chicago and serves on the Board of Trustees for WTTW/WFMT.

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Piyush Shukla
Partner
Linden Capital Partners

Piyush Shukla is a partner and member of the Investment Committee at Linden Capital Partners, a healthcare-focused private equity firm headquartered in Chicago. Prior to Linden, Piyush was on the investment team at Warburg Pincus in London, where he evaluated and executed investment opportunities across the healthcare and consumer sectors. He began his career with Arthur Andersen, where he also qualified as a chartered accountant with the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales.

Piyush holds a Master of Arts with honors in Natural Sciences (Astrophysics) from Cambridge University and an MBA from The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania.

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Michael Stomberg
CEO & Co-founder
The Paradise Group
2023 Regional Award winner

Michael Stomberg brings a wealth of organizational design and strategic leadership experience to The Paradise Group. He has held the role of CEO within multiple companies, including the biopharmaceutical, healthcare, technology and energy industries.

After founding his first company at age 26, an IT consulting company focused on technology solutions for the life sciences industry, he quickly expanded the company into the go-to consulting and human capital solutions provider to emerging life science companies. Following a successful exit, Michael launched The Planet Group in 2009, a leading global provider of specialized consulting services and outsourced human capital solutions focused on the life sciences, energy and technology sectors.

As CEO, Michael led The Planet Group to record organic growth and global expansion and led the company through the launch of four new business lines and the acquisition of numerous firms. The Planet Group achieved more than $1 billion in annual revenue in a 14-year run. Michael also led the M&A activities in May 2021, when The Planet Group merged with ProPharma Group. Michael assumed the role of ProPharma Group’s CEO in September 2021.

Michael holds a Bachelor’s degree from Northern Illinois University and an MBA from the Keller Graduate School of Management. 

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