Join us in congratulating our 2023 awardees!
Harry Chaddick Distinguished Public Service Award
Marissa Novara, Vice President of Community Impact
The Chicago Community Trust
As the Vice President of Community Impact for The Chicago Community Trust, Marisa Novara leads the team that oversees the development and implementation of the Trust’s strategic initiatives, its policy agenda, and grant making to reduce the racial and ethnic wealth gap in the Chicago region. She has more than 25 years of experience engaging with communities to create innovative programs that respond to their needs and drive policy change. Most recently, Marisa served as Commissioner of the Chicago Department of Housing. She led the passage of nine bills in four years, conducted the country’s first Racial Equity Impact Assessment on the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit program and in 2021 invested a record $1 billion in affordable housing.
Before joining the City, Novara was vice president of the Metropolitan Planning Council, where she designed and managed the Cost of Segregation project, which concluded how decades-old racial and economic segregation patterns cost the Chicago region an estimated $4.4 billion in additional income each year. She also led the subsequent creation of the region’s first comprehensive guide to a more racially equitable future. Before that, Novara directed affordable rental and for-sale housing development for Lawndale Christian Development Corp. in the North Lawndale community, where she lived and worked for more than a decade.
Novara has a bachelor’s degree from the University of Michigan in sociology, master’s degree from the University of Chicago’s Crown Family School of Social Work, Policy and Practice, certificate in affordable housing finance, development, and management from the University of Illinois at Chicago, and master’s in urban planning from the Istituto Politecnico di Milano in Milan, Italy.
The Doris B. and Marshall M. Holleb Community Impact Award
Brad White, Senior Program Director
The Richard H. Driehaus Foundation
Brad White is the Senior Program Director at the Richard H. Driehaus Foundation, a Chicago-based foundation seeking to improve the built environment, support cultural stewardship in the arts, and strengthen democracy through investigative journalism. He is responsible for overseeing development and implementation of program goals and funding strategies for the Built Environment program.
Brad has over 35 years of experience in community development, affordable housing, and philanthropy. He previously served as the Associate Director of the Alphawood Foundation. Major projects included overseeing the restoration of Frank Lloyd Wright’s Unity Temple and working with a wide variety of arts, architecture, advocacy, and historic preservation organizations. Prior to his work at Alphawood, Brad spent more than ten years overseeing the development of affordable housing at Related Midwest and Mercy Housing.
Brad was appointed by President Obama to the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation in 2011 and served until October 2020. He led its task force on Historic Preservation and Rightsizing and directed development of a policy statement on community revitalization. Brad is a board member at Enrich Chicago, a nonprofit focused on racial equity and inclusion in the arts; DOCOMOMO-US; and the Julius Rosenwald-Rosenwald Schools National Historical Park Campaign. He is a member of the Public Policy Committee of ULI Chicago and has served on technical advisory panels concerning the Michigan Boulevard Apartments, Cook County Land Bank, and Accessory Dwelling Units. Brad is the former Chair of Landmarks Illinois, Preservation Action, Lambda Alpha – Chicago Region Chapter, and Unity Temple Restoration Foundation.
LAI International Member of the Year Award
Richard Wilson, AIA, AICP, City Design Director
Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture
Please help us congratulate our esteemed colleague, Richard Wilson for winning the LAI International Member of the Year Award, an honor presented annually to the member most epitomizing dedication to the work and ethos of the Society.
Richard has been an active and passionate member of the Chicago Region Chapter since 2006. He joined the board in 2018, rising to the presidency in 2020. Richard was the Chapter’s first 2-year term leader. He did an incredible job keeping the Chapter vibrant and financially stable during the toughest years of the pandemic. Chicago Region Chapter member, Jacqueline Loewe, described it beautifully: “Richard put all of us on his back and got us through Covid together.”
Richard’s presidential term was not just about the good health of the Chapter, it was characterized by a genuine attention to our core values of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI). He did not shy away from honest discussions about our chapter demographics and our industries’ responsibility to society. He handled tough conversations with his natural and sincere disposition and with great personal integrity.
Richard has also been instrumental in increasing our corporate sponsorship levels, which has allowed us to keep the membership dues and event ticket prices stable despite the rapidly increasing venue costs. He also initiated a new annual event of convening the past presidents at a reception where the current board present their initiatives and seek input. This event is a highlight for many and the camaraderie and continuity it instills is so important for preserving community.
More recently, Richard brought his hard work and great ideas to the LAI International level serving as International Secretary and playing an integral role in the development and execution of the 2023-27 Strategic Plan. Having chaired the Vision, Mission, Principles and Goals Committee, he garnered valuable insights from a wide representation of the honorary society about the opportunities and challenges facing LAI as it steers toward its 100-year anniversary.
Most impressively, Richard has performed all this amazing work for LAI while serving in the Senior Leadership Team at Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill. His impressive career spans 30 years of global design and construction experience throughout the Americas, Asia, Europe, India and the Middle East.