New Year, New Board Officers and Committee Chairs

2022 has ushered in a new year with new officers on the Board of Directors at Woods Fund Chicago! We are delighted to announce L. Anton Seals as the newly elected Board Chair.

Anton has served on the Woods Fund board since 2017 and is currently a member of the board’s Program Committee, which advises staff on grantmaking policies, strategies, and evaluation, and the Finance Committee, which advises the foundation on its investments and its financial obligations. Anton, a South Shore Chicago, IL native, is an organizer, educator, asset-based community development trainer, community connector, filmmaker, and entrepreneur whose work has been dedicated to service, active engagement, and empowerment to dismantle oppressive systems impacting divested and oppressed communities. Anton is the Lead Steward (Executive Director) of Grow Greater Englewood, a social enterprise established in 2014 that works with residents and developers to create sustainable food economies and green businesses to empower residents to create wellness and wealth and the founder of OURS, a vertical Cannabis and Hemp company he started in 2019.

“I welcome the appointment as Chair of the Woods Fund, and I'm grateful for the confidence my fellow trustees have entrusted in me to serve and also lead. In these times of uncertainty, I am reminded by the late great Marcus Garvey, "Lose not courage, lose not faith, go forward." 

Anton also serves on the board of the Chicago Food Policy Action Council and Friends of the Park, and he is Chair of the South Shore Works Planning Preservation Coalition. He has advised and counsels other organizers and activists, political and civic leaders, and corporate and philanthropic organizations on pushing for a more racially just society. His distinctions include being a 2018 Next City Vanguard Fellow and a 2010 German Marshall Fellow.

Anton’s experience and expertise in community organizing and advocacy and his deep relationships in Chicago’s diverse communities are critical to the work of Woods Fund, and we look forward to working with him as our new Board Chair. Congratulations, Anton!

We would like to express our heartfelt gratitude to Lerry Knox, outgoing Board Chair, for his stellar and steady leadership these past two years as Board Chair, and we look forward to continuing our work together on the board.

Woods Fund is also excited to announce and congratulate the other newly (re)elected and talented Board Officers and Committee Chairs below whose partnership in this work is invaluable.

Officers of the Board

Board Chair (3-year term): L. Anton Seals, Jr., Lead Steward, Grow Greater Englewood
Vice Chair (1-year term): Anne-Marie St. Germaine, Founder and President, Terrace Strategies LLC
Treasurer (1-year term): Kurt Summers, Accredited Investor/Consultant
Secretary (1-year term): Alice Kim, Director of Human Rights Practice, The University of Chicago’s Pozen Family Center for Human Rights

Committee Chairs 

Executive/Governance Committee Chair (1-year term): Anne-Marie St. Germaine, Founder and President, Terrace Strategies LLC
Finance Committee Chair (1-year term): Kurt Summers, Accredited Investor/Consultant
Program Committee Chair (1-year term): Barbara Ransby, Professor, Gender & Women's Studies Program, University of Illinois at Chicago