CWHC Board of Directors
Mary Ann Johnson
Co-Founder
Mary Ann has been involved in the organization since its founding. She is the former director of the Jane Addams Hull-House Museum at UIC.
Lisa Oppenheim
President
Lisa is the former director of the Chicago Metro History Fair at the Chicago History Museum where she worked with students, teachers and parents to coordinate projects from the Chicago area.
Maureen Hellwig
Vice President
Maureen was Senior Director of Programs for Erie Neighborhood House until her retirement in 2015, where she helped found the Allied Health Care Career Network.
Esther Nieves
Secretary
Esther Nieves has worked with grassroots, statewide, and national organizations. Her career experience includes leadership positions in city government (Chicago), not-for-profit/non-governmental, and philanthropy.
Cristina De La Rosa
Treasurer
Cristina De La Rosa is the Executive Director of Erie Neighborhood House, a nonforprofit social services agency serving over 13,000 low-income, primarily Latinx families and individuals through education and empowerment in Chicago.
Lisa Bernal
Director
Lisa is Program Manager for the Chicago Public Schools, American Indian Education Program and a tribal member of the Sisseton Wahpeton reservation in South Dakota.
Kerry Cochrane, LCSW
Director
Kerry is currently a psychotherapist in private practice, and was formerly Clinical Director at Cathedral Counseling Center. Kerry has an educational background in Library Studies, archives and oral histories.
Maryanne McDonald
Director
Maryanne McDonald, MPH, is a seasoned grants professional and public health advocate. After more than two decades working as a leader in not-for-profit grants management in Chicago organizations, she founded her own consultancy. MMcD Development Consulting, in 2022.
Margot McMahon
Director
A lifelong-environmentalist, internationally- awarded Margot McMahon sculpts human, plant and animal forms expressing her hope that decisions be made to support life on earth. She has been called the “Studs Terkel of the sculpting world,” for her humanistic portraits, most recently the Gwendolyn Brooks Monument for Gwendolyn Brooks Park.
Riva Lehrer
Director
Riva Lehrer is an artist, writer and curator who focuses on the socially challenged body. She is best known for representations of people whose physical embodiment, sexuality, or gender identity have long been stigmatized.
Laurie Little
Director
Laurie is a Chicago based filmmaker, educator, digital artist, colorist, photographer and founder of the production company, Luminist Films.
Rana Segal
Director
Rana has worked as a director, producer and cinematographer for 30 years and has produced/directed many documentaries about Chicago women.
Judith Singleton
Judith Singleton is an Assistant Professor of Sociology at Dominican University. Dr. Singleton is a medical sociologist who focuses on issues concerning women's reproductive health. She is currently researching the inequality of perinatal health outcomes in the city of Chicago. .
Jyoti Srivastava
Director
Jyoti Srivastava is an author and photographer. She is passionate about Chicago's art-scene and has spent many years documenting Chicago's Public Art. She has published a book, "Contemporary Sculptors of Chicago", which highlights the work of fifty sculptors of Chicago. Her photographs have been published in book and magazines in the US and abroad.