Our Staff
Rosanna A. Márquez, President and CEO
Rosanna brings a distinguished record of public service and civic leadership to the Eleanor Foundation. She joined the Foundation in 2002, charged with transforming the century-old provider of housing and educational services for women into a strategic grantmaker focused on working women's economic security issues.
A leader on housing and public policy issues, Rosanna was appointed by President Bill Clinton to serve as the Regional Administrator of the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) where she oversaw implementation and evaluation of $3 billion in annual HUD funding for programs throughout a six-state midwestern region. She was a cabinet-level member of Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley's administration, spearheading a number of initiatives, and representing the City of Chicago on a number of boards and inter-agency task forces. Before entering public service, Rosanna was a litigation attorney with the Chicago-based international law firm Mayer Brown.
Rosanna is a graduate of Harvard Law School and graduated with honors from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She is the President of the Board of the Chicago Metropolitan Housing Development Corporation, a Board member of the Donors Forum, the Chicago Community Land Trust, Business and Professional People in the Public Interest, and The Cara Program, and past President of the Board of Leadership Greater Chicago.
K. Sujata, Director of Programs
Sujata manages the grantmaking function for the Eleanor Foundation, bringing significant experience in housing and women's issues to her work of guiding economic self-sufficiency programs for single working women since 2006. She addressed housing issues as Director of the Chicago Continuum of Care (now the Chicago Alliance to End Homelessness), a public-private partnership established to oversee the city's 10-Year Plan to End Homelessness, and as Director of Planning at Interfaith Housing Development Corporation of Chicago. Through her tenure as Executive Director of Apna Ghar, Sujata doubled that nonprofit organization's budget as she raised awareness of domestic violence and women's empowerment in Chicago's South Asian community. Sujata began her career as a research scientist at Northwestern University where she published several peer-reviewed articles, and worked for several years in the manufacturing industry focused on product development and organizational process improvements.
Sujata holds a PhD in Materials Science from Northwestern University and an MBA from the Illinois Institute of Technology. Sujata was the Chair of the Chicago Chapter of Asian Americans/Pacific Islanders in Philanthropy from 2007-09. She is active with the South Asian American Research and Policy Institute, an action research group addressing the policy needs of South Asians in Illinois. She serves on the Boards of the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois and the Crossroads Fund, as well as the Advisory Board of the Center for Urban Research and Learning at Loyola University. Sujata was honored as one of 35 Champions for Change by Women Employed in 2008, and is a 2009 Leadership Greater Chicago Fellow.
Vicky L. Nurre, Director of Development & Communications
Vicky brings 20 years of marketing and development experience in the nonprofit and corporate sectors to her philanthropic work with Eleanor Foundation. Before joining the Foundation in 2008, she launched the Taproot Foundation's Midwest office. As the national nonprofit's founding Chicago Managing Director, she doubled local practice revenue in two years to deliver an estimated $3.4 million in pro bono services to area nonprofits. Previously, Vicky was Director of Marketing and Membership at the Chicago Jobs Council where she helped advance public policy change on workforce issues through communications and membership growth. There, she also established Chicago's first professional development program for frontline staff.
Vicky served business-to-business clients of Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide, GolinHarris and LC Williams & Associates. She managed public relations programs at US Robotics and helped introduce the world's first 56K modem. Vicky began her career as marketing staff in Arthur Andersen's Chicago office and later served as outside public relations counsel on national media relations programs. Vicky holds a Bachelor's degree in journalism and mass communications from the University of Iowa and studied at City University of London. She serves on the marketing committee of the Chicago Green City Market.
Lora A. York, Office Administrator
Lora joined the Eleanor Foundation more than 10 years ago, assisting the organization through its strategic transition from direct service provider to public foundation as well as the creation of its grants program. At the Foundation, she is responsible for grants administration and financial matters, and staffs the Board of Directors. Lora has a Bachelor's degree in history from the University of Pittsburgh.
Treneice N. Bailey, Receptionist/Administrative Assistant
Treneice has worked part-time with Eleanor Foundation since 2004, assisting staff with administrative work. Her academic work includes healthcare studies at Chicago State University and Dillard University.
