2018 Award Winners

Dorri McWhorter became the CEO of the YWCA Metropolitan Chicago in March 2013. She has embarked upon a journey to transform the 140 year old social service agency to a 21st century social enterprise. Dorri is moving the agency into the digital age by re-launching the TechGYRLS program, which focuses on developing STEM awareness for girls ages 9 through 14 and introducing 3D: Developing Digital Diversity, which provides web and mobile application development training to adult women. Dorri has also led the YWCA’s expansion of digital services with the launch of YShop.org (e-commerce platform), womenshealthexchange.org (health insurance and information) and the MPWR mobile app (community engagement). Dorri was included in the inaugural list of “The Blue Network”, comprised of the top 100 innovators in Chicago, by Chicago Tribune’s Blue Sky Innovation and recognized by Good City Chicago receiving its Innovative Leader Award. Dorri lead the process for the YWCA to develop an exchange traded fund (ETF) for women’s empowerment ($WOMN) in partnership with Impact Shares, which is the first non-profit investment advisor to develop an ETF product.
A proven leader in the corporate and social change sectors, Dorri prides herself on being a socially-conscious business leader throughout her career. McWhorter is an active member of Chicago’s civic, business and philanthropic communities. Most recently, she was a partner at Crowe Horwath LLP, one of the largest accounting firms in the U.S. She has also held senior positions with Snap-on Incorporated and Booz Allen Hamilton. Dorri is also active in the accounting profession having served as a member of the Board of Directors of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) and a Board of Directors for the Illinois CPA Society. McWhorter also serves on the Board of Directors for several organizations, including The Metropolitan Club, Chicago Finance Exchange, and Chicago Child Care Society. McWhorter is also a member of the Executive Council of Ms. Tech advancing women businesses in technology and a board member of the Chicago Center for Arts and Technology. As an engaged community leader, McWhorter served as a member of Mayor Emanuel’s second term transition team. She is also a board member for the State of Illinois Charitable Trust. McWhorter received a bachelor of business administration degree from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and a master of business administration degree from Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management.

Shaily founded Elevate K-12 , a live classroom service that replaces zipcode based classroom formats to bring quality online instruction to low-income students in K-12 schools!