Board of Trustees

John Estey is Chairman of S&C Electric Company, a Chicago-headquartered global supplier of equipment and services for electric power systems. Mr. Estey joined S&C in 1972 and held a number of responsible positions before being elected President in 1988, President and CEO in 1997 and Chairman of the Board in 2015.

He is Lead Director of Southwire Company, a member and Past Chairman of The Adler Planetarium Board of Trustees, and is a Director of The Shelter for Abused Women & Children in Naples, FL.

John was born and raised in Toronto, Canada and holds the degree of Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from Queen’s University and an MBA from the University of Chicago.

Jane Irwin joined the American Writers Museum Board in 2014 and currently serves as Vice Chairman and Chair of the Board’s Development Committee. 

Jane retired as Senior Vice President Administration at PotashCorp, a mining and chemical manufacturing company where she lead human resources and administrative services and was a member of the executive leadership team. Prior to this position, she was a partner and managing consultant at Hewitt Associates, a global human resources consulting firm. Jane began her career as an associate attorney, specializing in ERISA and employee benefits law at firms in Chicago and Detroit. 

Other board positions Jane currently holds include S&C Electric Company, Chicago IL, the Chicago Botanic Garden, and University of Michigan Law School’s Development and Alumni Relations Committee.

Jane has a B.A. in Multidisciplinary Social Science – Pre-Law from Michigan State University and a J.D. from University of Michigan Law School.

Hill Hammock served as Vice Chairman and Chief Operating Officer of LaSalle Bank at the conclusion of his Commercial Banking career. He then served as Chief Administrative Officer of Chicago Public Schools from 2007 until 2009. Hill is currently Chair of the board of the Cook County Health and Hospital System. He was previously Chair of the Metropolitan Planning Council of Chicago, the Chicago History Museum, and was Founding Co-Chair of the American Writers Museum. Hill earned his MBA from The University of Chicago’s Graduate School of Business and his bachelor’s degree in applied mathematics from Georgia Tech. Cheryl and Hill have two sons. They enjoy both the arts and traveling in their leisure time.

Roberta Rubin is a Founding Board Member of the AWM, joining the museum after 40 years as a bookseller and 32 years as the owner of The Bookstall at Chestnut Court in Winnetka. The Bookstall was named one of the top 10 bookstores in America by USA Today and Bookstore of the Year by Publishers Weekly. Roberta has been involved with numerous Boards and philanthropic activities, including the Ragdale Foundation and the American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression. Roberta enjoys spending time with her children and grandchildren, attending Chicago Symphony Orchestra concerts, playing tennis, walking with her dog Rosie, and swimming in Lake Michigan all summer and into the middle of October.

Gail Bent is a transactional attorney at BMGI where she handles investment transactions in support of the Gates family and foundation. Prior to that she was an attorney in Investments and Business Transactions at Allstate Investments and a partner in the Corporate and Securities Practice at the international law firms of Greenberg Traurig and Mayer Brown.

Gail holds a B.A. in History from Yale University and a J.D. from the University of Michigan Law School.

Ellen Boates Clark has been a member of the American Writers Museum Board of Trustees since 2019. She is the former Director of the Wilmette Public Library, a position she held for twelve years after being a member of the reference department for fifteen years. Her previous experience included reference and consulting services in corporate, academic, and private libraries. She also served on the board of the Congregational Library in Boston.

Ellen has a bachelor’s degree in French from Wellesley College and a master’s degree in library services from Rutgers University.

Werner Hein has been an AWM trustee and officer from the outset when, in 2010, Founder Malcolm O’Hagan began his efforts to establish the Museum. He is currently Senior Counsel at the law firm Mayer Brown where he has worked much of his legal career. Werner co-founded two transatlantic policy organizations and continues to be engaged in them. Werner has his law degree from Columbia law school and the University of Bonn, Germany.

Dr. Malcolm O’Hagan is the founder of the American Writers Museum.  His career in industry included fifteen years as president and CEO of the National Electrical Manufacturers Association. He has served on a number of industry and civic boards. 

Dr. O’Hagan, a naturalized US citizen, was born and raised in Ireland, and holds a B.S. and M.S. in Mechanical Engineering from The National University of Ireland.  He obtained his D.Sc. from The George Washington University in Washington D.C.

Carey Cranston has been President of the American Writers Museum since 2016. He was previously President of Fox College, a private career college in Chicago, and held leadership positions at PR firms Hill & Knowlton and Kemper Lesnik. Carey has taught writing at the University of Illinois at Chicago and DePaul University. He serves on the Board of Fox College.

Carey holds a B.A. in English from DePaul University, an M.A. in English from the University of Illinois at Chicago and an M.S. in Library and Information Sciences from the University of Illinois in Champaign Urbana.

Olivia is a trusted advisor on civil litigation matters, especially regarding intellectual property. She has represented individuals and corporations across the country in complex technological matters. She helps clients protect, enforce, and defend intellectual property rights, including patents, trade secrets, copyrights and trademarks. An experienced trial lawyer, Olivia has litigated and tried significant cases before the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois and other federal courts around the country, and has also briefed and argued patent appeals before the Federal Circuit. Before practicing law, Olivia spent five years as a patent examiner for the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, gaining extensive experience regarding the use of procedures available before the USPTO.

Olivia is active in the Chicago community. Among other interests, she currently serves as the Chair of the Attorneys Subcommittee on the Membership Committee for the Economic Club of Chicago; serves as the Executive Director and past President and Founder of the Richard Linn American Inn of Court; serves on the Local Patent Rules Committee at the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois; and serves on the Board of the American Writers Museum and as past President of its Chicago Council.

Marion Cameron has been President and CEO of Sipi Metals Corp. since 2007, where she has served in various executive functions since 1992.  

Prior to Sipi, Ms. Cameron was associated with international metals trading companies in New York.

Ms. Cameron studied Electrical Engineering at Trinity College Dublin, where she grew up, and graduated with an MBA from Pace University in New York.

Ms. Cameron is a member of the board of the Lyric Opera of Chicago where she chairs the investment committee and is a Trustee of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.

After a career in Education, Joan went on to open travel agencies both in Chicago as well as London. She currently works as Firm Administrator for Clifford Law Offices.

She has been a docent at The Chicago History Museum for several years.

She is the immediate Past Chairman of The Goodman Theatre and still very involved

Currently serving as Benefit Events Leadership Chair. She serves on various philanthropic Boards in Chicago as well as Naples, Florida where she has a second home.

She earned a BS degree in Education as well as a Masters in Education Administration, both from DePaul University.

An enthusiastic reader whose parents had to admonish her to “get your nose out of that book.” This proud founding board member graduated from Northwestern University‘s School of Communication with a double major in Theatre and Speech Education. She has taught, performed and directed in several theatre companies and schools in Minneapolis-St Paul, Boston, Chicago, and New Jersey. She specialized in Creative Dramatics, Children’s Theatre, and Environmental Education and, to this day, never misses an opportunity to read aloud.

Currently, she and her husband Doug divide their time between Chicago, Michigan, and New Mexico where they support arts, education, and organizations that combat food insecurity.
Their continued involvement with the AWM is based on the strong belief that the written word is a foundational part of learning, understanding, and joy in life. The American author that inspired her as a young adult was Gene Stratton Porter.

Carolyn Curiel has worked as a journalist and an educator and served as a public servant at home and abroad.

On her way to becoming White House Senior Speechwriter and Special Assistant to President Clinton, she drafted noted speeches on race, including the “mend it, don’t end it” speech on affirmative action, the apology for medical experiments on Black men in Tuskegee, and remarks in Memphis to Black religious leaders. The U.S. Senate unanimously confirmed her as Ambassador to Belize in Mr. Clinton’s second term. Before returning home in 2001, she delivered long-stalled agreements on regional security, the environment, and economic cooperation.

In more than a decade at The New York Times, she was an editor and writer on national and global news that included presidential campaigns, the fall of communism in Eastern Europe, and the crackdown at Tiananmen Square in Beijing. On The Times Editorial Board, she directed the newspaper’s influential election endorsements, prompting another newspaper to call her “the most powerful person in New York politics.” She previously was Producer-Writer at ABC News Nightline with Ted Koppel, and an editor at The Washington Post.

At Purdue University, Ambassador Curiel served as chief of staff for the institution, then turned to experiential teaching as a professor of civic communication who regularly engaged her students directly with top journalists, public officials and others who steer public dialogue. Crain’s NewsPro magazine recognized her in 2017 as one of the nation’s 10 top journalism instructors in higher education, even though Purdue lacked a journalism program.

Edith Falk is Principal of Falk Consulting LLC, providing consulting services to nonprofit organizations in fundraising, marketing and governance. Previously, she was co-founder and CEO of Campbell & Company, the national consulting firm providing capacity building services to a broad spectrum of nonprofit organizations in the arts, education, healthcare and conservation, across the country.

Edith has served as president of the Association of Fundraising Professionals (AFP) Chicago Chapter, member of AFP’s National Board and dean for two years of the Executive Leadership Institute, and is past Chair of the Giving USA Foundation, the publisher of the annual Giving USA report on philanthropy. In 2015, she was awarded the Rosso Medal for Lifetime Achievement in Fundraising from the Lilly Family School of Philanthropy at the University of Indiana.

As a volunteer, Edith is Vice Chair of the American Councils for International Education, which promotes language immersion, cross-cultural education and research through international exchange between the United States and 80 other countries. She is also a Board member of the International Women’s Forum, Chicago.

She earned her B.A. degree at Oberlin College in Ohio and her M.B.A. degree at Northwestern University, Kellogg School of Management, both with honors.

Jay Hammer was present from the creation of the Museum’s first advisory council in Washington DC, working with Founder Malcolm O’Hagan and Founding Vice Chair Werner Hein to develop the Museum’s business plan and fundraising strategy. 

Since its founding in 2002, Jay has served as CEO and President of Theralogix, the nation’s leading online seller of physician-referred nutritional supplements. Jay received his B.A. in English from the University of Chicago, did graduate studies in English Literature at Johns Hopkins, and received his MBA from Harvard Business School. Jay grew up on the North Shore of Chicago and attended New Trier West.

Karen Hale is the Chief Legal Officer and member of the Executive Committee of Novartis. She serves as a trusted, strategic advisor to the Novartis Board of Directors and the Executive Committee of Novartis and leads a high performing team of legal and corporate affairs experts that have a passion for establishing an impeccable reputation for Novartis in local and global communities.
Prior to joining Novartis, Karen spent just under 24 years at Abbott Laboratories and AbbVie where she most recently served as Vice President, Deputy General Counsel and led AbbVie’s racial justice efforts to establish a long-term, multi-faceted program focused on helping expand quality education, jobs, healthcare and justice. In addition, she oversaw significant high-profile litigation matters. Karen joined Abbott in 1997 and AbbVie in 2013 when it separated from Abbott. At AbbVie, Karen worked in key legal and compliance leadership positions, including Vice President and Associate General Counsel, Litigation & Specialty Operations and Chief Ethics and Compliance Officer, leading AbbVie’s global compliance program.

Prior to joining Abbott, Karen was an associate attorney with the law firm Sidley & Austin in Chicago, Illinois.

She earned a bachelor’s degree in economics from Duke University and a juris doctorate from the College of William and Mary.

Julie is retired from Allstate Insurance Co. were she held research, technology and communication leadership positions. Previously, she served as research librarian at Schaumburg Township District Library and Wheaton Public Library. Julie volunteers at a local community outreach program and pursues her passion for writing and reading literacy.

Julie holds an M.A. in Library Science from the University of Iowa, and a B. A. in English and German, summa cum laude, from the University of South Dakota, Vermillion.

Joanne Leedom-Ackerman is a novelist, short story writer, and journalist. Her works of fiction include The Dark Path to the River and No Marble Angels. She is editor of The Journey of Liu Xiaobo: From Dark Horse to Nobel Laureate. A former reporter for The Christian Science Monitor, Joanne is a Vice President Emeritus and former International Secretary of PEN International. She serves on the boards of the PEN/Faulkner Foundation, the International Center for Journalists, Words Without Borders and Refugees International. She an emeritus board member of Poets and Writers and Human Rights Watch and is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and PEN American Center, where she served as a trustee.

Coco Meers, CEO & Co-Founder of Equilibria, is a serial tech entrepreneur and early stage investor. Her company Equilibria is a venture-backed, high-growth CBD wellness brand bringing balance to women through data-driven, personalized CBD routines. Prior to Equilibria, Coco’s first start-up, PrettyQuick (acquired by Groupon in 2015) introduced major efficiencies to the $70B beauty services industry by offering seamless reservations at salons and spas nationwide. When she’s not building companies, Coco enjoys investing in other consumer-focused female founders as an active angel investor. Before entrepreneurial life, Coco was based in Paris where she helped market and manage global brands under the L’Oreal SA portfolio. Coco is a Board Director of the Joffrey Ballet. A native Southerner, her favorite writer is William Faulkner despite his run-on sentences! She has an MBA in Finance and Entrepreneurship from Chicago Booth, and graduated magna cum laude from Princeton with a BA in English and French. She is a mom of two and lives in Lincoln Park, Chicago.

Grove Mower has worked in the securities business in New York and Chicago since 1982, and is presently the Managing Partner of Hummer Mower Associates, a financial advisory and planning firm in Chicago, Il. He joined the board of the American Writers Museum in 2019, and is also a trustee of The Ragdale Foundation, an artist residency in Lake Forest, Il. He resides in the Lincoln Park neighborhood of Chicago with his wife Brooke, is the proud father of two twenty-something sons, Chapin and Ned, and a corona rescue puppy aptly named Vino. Grove holds dual degrees in English and Political Science from Brown University. He is the author of the coming-of age novels Forty Rod Road and Hope.

Judy is an art critic and advisor, and the author of two books of fiction and numerous short stories.  She has taught both art history and writing courses at Georgetown University, the Smithsonian Institution, and at the Newberry Library in Chicago.  She is also President of the Ralph and Evelyn Davis Family Foundation, and has served on a variety of non-profit boards, currently including the Chicago Public Education Fund.  

She holds a B.A. in Political Science from DePauw University, a J.D. from Loyola University of Chicago, and an M.A. in Writing from The Johns Hopkins University.  Before devoting her career to art and writing, she worked in private practice as a litigation attorney and for the U.S. Department of Commerce’s International Trade Administration. 

Dominique Raccah is the entrepreneurial Publisher and CEO of Sourcebooks, the company she founded from her home in 1987. Originally a source of financial information for bankers, Dominique has lead a continuously growing, pioneering general book publishing house that happily produces everything from adult and teen fiction, to top titles in children’s books, to baby names and college guides. The publisher has created scores of New York Times bestsellers, hundreds of national bestsellers, and #1 selling titles in perennial categories. Sourcebooks today has over 150 employees, publishes more than 400 new titles each year, and is proud to be one of the top book publishers in America. It is the largest woman-owned book publisher in the country as well as the largest trade book publisher in Chicago. Dominique has been widely recognized as a leader in innovation in book publishing – Sourcebooks has won every innovation award that the industry gives – as well as in the field itself, being named Publishers Weekly Person of the Year in 2016. She is also a member of The American Writers Museum Board of Trustees.

Dominique is deeply interested in expanding readership, creating a world of readers, and connecting authors and readers in new ways. Sourcebooks works with its retail partners to experiment and develop new ways to inspire and delight their customers, and create books that have extraordinary impact. An inspiring and passionate presenter, Dominique speaks internationally on innovation, the future of book publishing and entrepreneurship, and has been featured in The Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, Entrepreneur, The Chicago Tribune, NPR, and The New York Times.

Chad Riley is a Solutions Consultant at Legility where he consults with legal departments and law firms on complex electronic discovery engagements and related legal operations needs. He started his legal career as a commercial litigation attorney in Chicago and also serves on the Professionals Board of CARPLS, a Chicago-area not-for-profit legal aid organization. Chad is currently President of the Chicago Council of the American Writers Museum, in addition to being the Board Liaison.

Chad holds a B.A. in journalism from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill and a JD from the South Texas College of Law in Houston, Texas.

Sarah Schrup is the Deputy Circuit Executive at the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit in Chicago. Prior to that she was a professor at Northwestern Pritzker School of Law and the director of its Appellate Advocacy Center. Sarah has taught legal writing courses at Northwestern and Loyola Law School and served as a Fulbright Scholar at the JSW School of Law in Bhutan. Sarah holds a B.S.F.S from Georgetown University and her J.D. from University of Michigan Law School.

Michael A. Scodro is a partner in the Supreme Court & Appellate Practice at Mayer Brown LLP in Chicago, having previously served as the Illinois Solicitor General. Michael teaches courses on the U.S. Supreme Court and the role and practice of state attorneys general as a Lecturer in Law at the University of Chicago Law School, and he speaks regularly on appellate practice and the Supreme Court. A member of the American Law Institute, Michael also serves as president of the Seventh Circuit Bar Association and is a past chair of the ABA’s Council of Appellate Lawyers.

After graduating from Dartmouth College and Yale Law School, Michael was a law clerk to Judge José A. Cabranes of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit and Justice Sandra Day O’Connor of the U.S. Supreme Court.