Jim Gagnard

At GCE Lab School, we cultivate global citizens in a collaborative and rigorous learning environment. Our unique learning model delivers hands-on educational experiences that connect academic coursework with the real world. Students learn core academics through thematic and integrated STEAM and Humanities courses, forming connections across all academic areas, including the arts. At GCE Lab School, we provide personalized, one-on-one support and counseling to build your post-secondary plans. Our graduates have 100% college acceptance and 80% of our graduates receive merit-based financial aid. Civic engagement is built right into our daily life. As a GCE Lab School student, you are expected to fulfill yearly service learning credit requirements. To help you achieve this, we’ll plan whole-school community service partnerships and in-house opportunities, or we’ll help you find meaningful service projects in your own community.

WHO WE ARE: Ryan Banks Academy is a 100% scholarship-granting independent day school, aiming to become Chicago's first urban boarding school. OUR MISSION: Fighting educational inequity through personalized and immersive learning experiences. OUR VISION: A world without educational inequities where all young scholars have the opportunity to flourish. OUR NAMESAKE: Ryan Banks was a happy-go-lucky and enthusiastic 12-year-old boy who was full of life, always curious and loved to make others laugh. He was one of the happiest seventh graders to ever walk the hallways of New Sullivan Elementary School, on Chicago’s far-east side. Tragically, on May 19, 2012, Niazi “Ryan” Banks was shot and killed by gun fire. Ryan was a very special child who had the entire world ahead of him. Years later, Ryan’s social worker Valerie Groth wanted desperately to build a community of learners who might be insulated from the violence Ryan faced, while providing a 24-Hour stimulating and rigorous academic environment. Thus, the vision of Ryan Banks Academy was born to serve those students.

Good Governance Begins With a Solid Foundation Who We Are: Our sole focus is on the unique governance needs of private companies throughout the lifecycle of their businesses. Good governance drives private company growth which in turn helps build strong communities and economies. The Private Directors Association, established in 2014, is an independent 501(c)(6) organization based in Chicago. It stands as the sole national association devoted to enhancing the growth and sustainability of private companies through effective board governance. PDAs mission is to drive private company success through the creation and optimization of governance boards, comprised of qualified and diverse members. Our vision is for the Private Directors Association to become the leading professional association for private company directors, advocating and championing board excellence. With a membership exceeding 3,400+, the association represents a diverse and highly skilled community of executive leaders, encompassing current and prospective board members, private company owners, C-level executives of family-owned businesses, ESOPs, private equity-backed companies, and early-stage ventures. Our members engage across our 20 Chapters nationwide (and growing) to promote the mission of enhancing corporate value through high-performing boards. Our value lies in our exclusive focus on addressing the distinctive governance requirements of private companies throughout their business lifecycle. We recognize that strong governance drives private company growth, thereby contributing to the development of robust communities and economies. For more information, visit privatedirectors.org or call 847.986.9350.

Empowering businesses and their energy providers. Enabling the shift to a low carbon and customer-centric future. Using Big Data To Transform The Energy Landscape Agentis leverages billions of data points from over 2.5M businesses in North America to change the way businesses work with their utility. We believe this data will unlock new ways to reduce carbon emissions, accelerate the adoption of new technologies like solar and battery storage, and permanently change the relationship between businesses and the utilities that serve them. About Our Products Energy providers rely on the Agentis SaaS platform to provide a state-of-the-art digital experience to their business customers. Agentis technology leverages utility data to create a connected energy management system that positions the utility as a trusted advisor to the businesses they serve. Through Agentis, business customers gain access to insights around their energy usage, as well as personalized suggestions for energy products and services relevant to their business. Increase customer satisfaction, improve energy efficiency, and develop new opportunities for revenue growth and cost-of-service reduction. Learn about the new digital customer experience at www.agentisenergy.com

A3 Solutions is the developer of A3 Modeling. Empower your finance team with the only tool that supercharges end-user Excel into Enterprise Excel. Why incur the risk and cost to replace your Excel models? Just add A3! Excel models built with A3 scale to 100X, support up to 1000 users, and consolidate in real-time… no links, no macros, no email… and they are ready-made for secure, multi-user, enterprise scale budgeting, rolling forecasting, revenue modeling, multi-currency consolidations, and operational modeling. Developed by an experienced team of engineers, finance professionals and business leaders, A3 delivers the performance, scalability and security demanded by complex organizations. The San Francisco-based company’s product is in use at some of the world’s largest manufacturers, financial firms and retailers including Honda Manufacturing, Williams Sonoma, T.Rowe Price, and Fox TV, in addition to many mid-sized organizations.

Transform Energy with our process for infinite Reliability. infiniRel develops a health diagnostics and control system for solar, wind and storage plants, that similar to combining an EKG and a pacemaker, improves efficiency and profitability, and reduces operational risks by optimizing maintenance, improving output, and extending the life of critical assets with patented, predictive diagnostics. We relief solar energy service providers and renewable asset managers from threats to profitability due to increasing unexpected maintenance costs, decreasing market prices, and a stressed supply chain. Our service model is technology-enabled by integrating proprietary hardware and software solutions into the workflow of maintenance technicians, while providing data to asset managers that benefit from reliability insights to optimize operations, portfolios, and logistics. infiniRels solution is generally applicable to critical electronic power systems used in solar, wind, energy storage, EV-charging stations, electric vehicles, including heavy-lift drones and air taxis of the future. Our team from senior leaders and executives has a track record of bringing numerous new product lines to market, combining industry know-how from the semiconductor, automotive, solar, and telecom industries, which offer a deep understanding of reliability and scalability.

At GCE Lab School, we cultivate global citizens in a collaborative and rigorous learning environment. Our unique learning model delivers hands-on educational experiences that connect academic coursework with the real world. Students learn core academics through thematic and integrated STEAM and Humanities courses, forming connections across all academic areas, including the arts. At GCE Lab School, we provide personalized, one-on-one support and counseling to build your post-secondary plans. Our graduates have 100% college acceptance and 80% of our graduates receive merit-based financial aid. Civic engagement is built right into our daily life. As a GCE Lab School student, you are expected to fulfill yearly service learning credit requirements. To help you achieve this, we’ll plan whole-school community service partnerships and in-house opportunities, or we’ll help you find meaningful service projects in your own community.

WHO WE ARE: Ryan Banks Academy is a 100% scholarship-granting independent day school, aiming to become Chicago's first urban boarding school. OUR MISSION: Fighting educational inequity through personalized and immersive learning experiences. OUR VISION: A world without educational inequities where all young scholars have the opportunity to flourish. OUR NAMESAKE: Ryan Banks was a happy-go-lucky and enthusiastic 12-year-old boy who was full of life, always curious and loved to make others laugh. He was one of the happiest seventh graders to ever walk the hallways of New Sullivan Elementary School, on Chicago’s far-east side. Tragically, on May 19, 2012, Niazi “Ryan” Banks was shot and killed by gun fire. Ryan was a very special child who had the entire world ahead of him. Years later, Ryan’s social worker Valerie Groth wanted desperately to build a community of learners who might be insulated from the violence Ryan faced, while providing a 24-Hour stimulating and rigorous academic environment. Thus, the vision of Ryan Banks Academy was born to serve those students.

Good Governance Begins With a Solid Foundation Who We Are: Our sole focus is on the unique governance needs of private companies throughout the lifecycle of their businesses. Good governance drives private company growth which in turn helps build strong communities and economies. The Private Directors Association, established in 2014, is an independent 501(c)(6) organization based in Chicago. It stands as the sole national association devoted to enhancing the growth and sustainability of private companies through effective board governance. PDAs mission is to drive private company success through the creation and optimization of governance boards, comprised of qualified and diverse members. Our vision is for the Private Directors Association to become the leading professional association for private company directors, advocating and championing board excellence. With a membership exceeding 3,400+, the association represents a diverse and highly skilled community of executive leaders, encompassing current and prospective board members, private company owners, C-level executives of family-owned businesses, ESOPs, private equity-backed companies, and early-stage ventures. Our members engage across our 20 Chapters nationwide (and growing) to promote the mission of enhancing corporate value through high-performing boards. Our value lies in our exclusive focus on addressing the distinctive governance requirements of private companies throughout their business lifecycle. We recognize that strong governance drives private company growth, thereby contributing to the development of robust communities and economies. For more information, visit privatedirectors.org or call 847.986.9350.