Ciara Dilley
Consultant, Former SVP Pepsico

Ciara Dilley is a marketing and innovation leader with more than 25 years of experience building some of the world's best-known consumer brands. Most recently Senior Vice President, Growth Portfolio at PepsiCo, she spent over a decade at the company, where she led the global Lay's brand as well as its Positive Choices and Better Choice Snacking portfolios. She created WomanMade, a PepsiCo initiative supporting women's economic empowerment, and led the US pilot of compostable packaging for salty snacks. Before PepsiCo, she headed European innovation for Kellogg and held marketing leadership roles at Premier Foods, Campbell Soup Company, and Diageo, working on brands such as Guinness and Smirnoff. Ciara holds a degree in Law and German from Trinity College Dublin.

Danielle Solomon
Managing Partner - Forvis Mazars

Danielle Solomon is Managing Partner of the Chicago office of Forvis Mazars US, a role she has held since 2024. A CPA with nearly 30 years of experience, much of it in healthcare, she also serves as the firm's National Industry Leader for Healthcare, overseeing a practice that provides audit, tax, and advisory services to more than 5,200 providers across the country. Before the formation of FORVIS in 2022, she spent a decade as a National Industry Partner in BKD's health care group in St. Louis. Earlier in her career, she was Director of Financial Planning, Risk Management and Corporate Compliance at St. Luke's Hospital and spent nearly 14 years at KPMG, rising to Senior Manager. Danielle holds a BS in Accounting from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.

Leïla Bessila
Astrophycist

Leïla Bessila is an astrophysicist specializing in asteroseismology, the study of the "song" of stars. She develops mathematical models for the European Space Agency's (ESA) PLATO mission, set to launch in 2026.Passionate about science education, she co-founded Projet Matilda, an association that offers fun, hands-on workshops to make science accessible to all young people. She also authored and illustrated Audacieuses ! 10 femmes qui ont marqué les sciences (Daring! 10 Women Who Made Their Mark on Science), a book celebrating women scientists through colorful watercolor portraits.Leïla is a 2025 laureate of the L'Oréal-UNESCO For Women in Science Prize and was named to Le Point's 2026 Deeptech list.

Aïda Camara Crowder
Nextland Consulting

Aida is an internationally certified executive and leadership coach, speaker, and organizational development consultant - and the founder of Next Land Consulting, a career strategy and talent development firm dedicated to empowering professionals in managerial roles and career transition, in both English and French.
Drawing on over 25 years of global experience, Aida has built her career at the intersection of business and human potential. Her professional journey spans global organizations across the U.S. and France - from Cost Control at Allianz and Human Capital at Lend Lease, to leadership and career coaching at the Kellogg School of Management.Her expertise encompasses personal branding, leadership and intercultural coaching, career exploration, interview strategy, and negotiation. She partners with managers and senior leaders
across a broad spectrum of industries — including Tech, Finance, Healthcare, Consulting, Luxury Goods, Media, and Entrepreneurship — guiding them through career pivots,
leadership growth, and professional reinvention.
A sought-after speaker and guest lecturer at universities across Europe and the U.S., Aida brings the same strategic clarity to the stage that she brings to her coaching. She has designed and led academic programs at the University of Grenoble UPMF and within the French Consulate in Chicago, and drives meaningful impact through institutional partnerships with international organizations - among them the United Nations, the World Bank, the French American Chamber of Commerce, Alliance
Française de Chicago, Campus France, NSHMBA, and HACE, among others.Aida holds a Master's in International Business (Université Grenoble Alpes & Nebraska Wesleyan University) and an undergraduate degree in Engineering Economics, complemented by an Organizational Development Certification from DePaul University, an ATD Training Certification, and a Gallup Strengths Coaching Certification.Affiliations: ICF — International Coach Federation (Chapter Member) ; FACC — Franco-American Chamber of Commerce (Chair, HR Committee) ; ATD — Association for Talent Development (Member) ; SHRM — Society for Human Resource Management (Member) ; GPF — Francophone Professional Group in Chicago (Board Member) • ChiMe Music School (Former Board Member).

Véronique MacDonald is a licensed real estate broker with Compass - the company building the first modern real estate platform, pairing the industry's top talent with technology to make the search and sell experience intelligent and seamless. Based in Evanston, she helps clients buy, sell, and rent across the Chicago area and specializes in international relocation.Born in Normandy, Véronique earned her law degree in France and a Master of Laws at Northwestern University. She practiced law in Brussels before returning to Chicago, where she led the global communications team of a large international organization. Her experience across two cultures and two languages shapes her approach today: attentive listening, agile problem-solving, and support that goes well beyond the transaction, from schools to utilities to settling into a new city.A committed leader in Chicago's French community, Véronique serves on the boards of the French-American Chamber of Commerce and the Association des Français et Francophones de Chicago.