BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Jay Harris

President

Jay is the Founder, President, and Managing Member of InfinityBox, LLC. He has a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Purdue and a Master's in Engineering Management from Northwestern. Jay is active in the St. Giles Catholic Church, where he serves in leadership roles of the Men's Society. He also serves on the leadership team for St. Ignatius Business Society. He and his family live in the near-west suburbs.

BOD DOCUMENTS

OPPORTUNITIES

Deb Abrahamson

Vice President

Deb is former Executive Director of the Oak Park Education Foundation. She attended Cornell University and the University of Pennsylvania, plus a Certificate of Nonprofit Management from the University of Chicago. She is President of the Maywood Fine Arts board of directors, and Chair of Women in Philanthropy for OPRF Community Foundation. She is also a career coach with the Posse Foundation. She and her husband live in Oak Park, where they raised their two children.

Tricia Marks

Treasurer

Tricia is former Managing Director of Capital Markets at Madison Capital Funding, LLC. She has a B.B.A. in Accounting from the University of Iowa. Over the past seven years, Tricia has been an active volunteer Cross-Country and Track and Field Coach at Fenwick High School in Oak Park.

Laurel Steele

Secretary

Laurel is a former Bank Examiner for The Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland. She holds a B.S. in Accounting from Hampton University and a J.D. from the University of Virginia. She began her career as an Accountant for British Petroleum in Cleveland, served as a Public Defender for the Hamilton County Public Defender's Office in Cincinnati. Laurel is actively involved in volunteering with her children's schools.

Tali Albukerk

Tali is Chief Counsel/National Administrator, ABA Free Legal Answers. She has a B.A. in Political Sciences from the University of Michigan and a J.D. from Chicago-Kent College of Law. Tali became involved with PBN shortly after it began, participating in all PBN projects, managing its senior programs, and joining the board in 2013. She lives in Oak Park with her husband and two daughters.

Laura Brookes

Laura is Associate Director of Contracts and Partnerships at the Community Mental Health Board of Oak Park Township, which assists in planning, developing, coordinating, evaluating, and funding mental health, substance use, and intellectual/developmental disability services. Prior to that, she served as policy director at TASC, advancing effective and equitable drug, behavioral healthcare, and criminal justice reform initiatives. She earned a B.A. from the University of Wisconsin–Madison and an M.P.H. from the University of Illinois at Chicago.

Marisa Green

Marisa is Project Manager for PBN's Senior Legal Clinics and Senior Center Initiatives. She has a B.A. from the University of Michigan and a J.D. from Chicago-Kent College of Law. Marisa started her law career practicing litigation at two Chicago law firms, Bollinger, Rubbery & Garvey and DLA Piper. She spent seven years in an active litigation practice, working on commercial litigation matters and performing medical malpractice and product liability defense work. She lives in River Forest with her husband and two teenage children.

Laura Kaufman

Laura is President and Principal Consultant of Partners in Effective Philanthropy. Previously, Laura was the Executive Director of the Jewish Women's Foundation of Chicago. Laura has also served as Executive Director of the Boston Women's Fund and Northwest Action Against Rape, Development Director at Women, Inc., and as Program Director with the Chicago Chapter of the National Organization for Women.

Lori Kim

Lori is the Sr. Customer Success Account Manager at Microsoft and serves as the Co-President at Barrington Council for the Gifted and Talented (a non-profit community and advocacy group for gifted education). Lori has a B.S. in Finance from DePaul University and a J.D. from UIC John Marshall Law School. She has an Illinois law license and Managing Broker Real Estate license. Lori has been an active volunteer at PBN, BCGT, Willow Creek Community Church, Korean American Wellness Association, Microsoft STEM, Women at Microsoft Midwest and Marketplace Ministry for Microsoft.

Cathleen G. McClendon

Cathy is a CPA and Principal at Burton Partners, LLC, and has over thirty years of experience in tax and financial consulting for closely held businesses and individuals. She was named a “Five Star Certified Public Accountant Professional” in 2014. Cathy has volunteered and been a member of various non-profit and service organizations and is a former past president of Soroptimist International of Chicago. Burton Partners was a proud supporter of Pro Bono Network with their accounting and tax expertise during 2014-2020.

Simrit Patel

Simrit Patel is an Illinois licensed attorney with an extensive background in nonprofit management. She has a B.A. from Northwestern University and a J.D. from Chicago-Kent College of Law. Simrit is the owner of SCP Legal LLC and concentrates her practice in the areas of family law and adoptions. She previously served as Executive Director of Anima - Glen Ellyn Children's Chorus and as Director of Development for the National Indo-American Museum.

Tiffany Puckett

Tiffany Puckett is an Illinois licensed attorney with a background in education law and real estate law. She is also an Assistant Professor at Northern Illinois University where she teaches education law in the College of Education and the College of Law. She has a Ph.D. in Education Policy, Organization and Leadership, and a J.D., both from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.