Team

Brent has more than 15 years of economic development experience supporting business growth and expansions, assisting entrepreneurs, developing programs and infrastructure, and recruiting domestic and international private sector companies.  He has over a decade of operational and sales experience in manufacturing and global logistics.

Karley brings a wide range of experience to Intersect Illinois, after working in communications at World Business Chicago for nearly 13 years. Prior to WBC, Karley worked for the City of Chicago, spearheading communications and marketing around the city’s marquee events. She also has agency experience, having worked at Edelman on major consumer, healthcare and technology clients. Karley holds degrees in Journalism and Political Science from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Before joining Intersect Illinois, Ms. San Millan worked for Newmark Knight Frank as a Senior Consulting Analyst on their site selection team. Paulina moved recently from New Mexico where she worked in several positions related to economic development for the past 10 years.

As Chief of Staff, Kaitlyn is responsible for managing operations for the organization and its team.  Her experience at the Department of Commerce brings institutional knowledge and critical organizational talent to Intersect Illinois.

Victoria is a recent graduate of Columbia College with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Graphic Design.  As the leading “eye” of the organization she provides artistic direction and brand management to all materials that Intersect Illinois creates and produces.

Zandy has a Bachelor’s degree in Biology. Using her scientific mind to support our CEO in her hectic role as the leader of Intersect, she truly never has a dull moment.

Josh Weidenaar is a recent graduate of Michigan State University, with a B.S. in Environmental Studies and Sustainability with a minor in economics. At Michigan State, he became interested in community and economic development and with EDA funding was able to research economic development tools for focused cluster development around particle accelerator technology transfer businesses.

Max is a graduate of Michigan State University with a degree in Urban and Regional Planning. He has experience as an urban planning research assistant and has worked on multiple projects at higher education institutions and economic development centers in Michigan. He is passionate about researching urban planning and design issues that foster sustainable economic growth.

Sheryl Acar is a third-year student at Northwestern University, majoring in Economics and minoring in Business Institutions. She is interested in studying social and gender economics. Raised in Chicago, she is looking forward to researching and learning more about economic development in Illinois and is passionate about helping to increase jobs in the state.