Monica Faith Stewart is passionate about public service and leadership, about excellence and integrity: her personal model is the Servant Leader. A published social science researcher, management consultant, and government affairs specialist, she brings expertise from across a range of subject areas and diverse domains, including as lead manager of a large-scale research study (1994 Chicago School Reform Study) and as chief author/researcher of a white paper addressing the economic conditions of Black women and positing a set of policy responses (2016 Black Women’s Economic Agenda).  She brings a wealth of management experience drawn from government service and professional consultant engagements, locally and internationally. A former state legislator, she has worked for state government and a federally funded education research laboratory. Her overseas background includes a decade as the managing director of the Illinois Africa Office of Trade and Investment, based in Johannesburg, South Africa. A strategic thinker with strong analytic skills, Monica is a dynamic, engaging public speaker and became a frequent guest on South African TV news and talk shows, as well as a regular presenter before business, diplomatic and academic audiences. A woman of faith, Rev. Stewart co-founded a non-denominational church in Johannesburg and served there for 15 years.   

Having returned to Chicago, she is fully engaged in church ministry, progressive politics, and several community organizations. She recently served as minister for membership at the First Unitarian Church in Hyde Park; and she also organized Women Pray for Peace, an interfaith prayer service. She serves on the boards of the Timuel D. Black Educational Foundation, the Vivian G. Harsh Society (for the Harsh Collection at the Carter G. Woodson Regional Library) and of the Independent Voters of Illinois / Independent Precinct Organization. Her primary interests are theology and social justice, leadership, and public policy for economic change. An alum of the Chicago Public Schools, she holds an MPA from the Harvard Kennedy School of Government and an AB in History from Vassar College.