As Director, Office of the President, Sybil is responsible for the consistent and efficient operations of the President’s Office and successful delivery of the President’s highest priorities. She manages the office and liaises with the Board of Directors. She is responsible for grantmaking in the President’s Office, ensuring strategic alignment with the Foundation’s mission and goals. And she is a thought partner to the President executing his strategic vision for the Foundation. She also serves on the Foundation’s Leadership Advisory Team.
Prior to joining the Foundation, Sybil served as Chief of Staff to Chicago Mayor Lori E. Lightfoot. In this role, she oversaw the operations of the Mayor’s Office, led the Mayor’s Senior Team and Cabinet, and served as a key advisor to the Mayor. Sybil also served as Deputy Mayor for Education and Human Services in the Lightfoot administration. In that capacity, she worked with eight departments and sister agencies to forward the Mayor’s equity-driven educational and social policy agendas, including reducing achievement gaps, addressing the adverse impacts of COVID-19, and leading a city-wide youth development initiative. Prior to her public service, Sybil was a Research Associate in the School of Education and Social Policy at Northwestern University, where she led city-wide initiatives focused on closing opportunity gaps for under-resourced youth. She taught undergraduates at Northwestern and graduate students at the University of Chicago Crown Family School of Social Work, Policy, and Practice. Over the course of her career, Sybil has driven systemic change by founding and leading centers, networks, and schools.
Sybil earned her Bachelor’s degree in Psychology, with honors, from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and her Doctorate in Clinical Psychology, with a concentration in Community Psychology, from the University of California at Berkeley.
She currently serves on the Advisory Board of the University of Chicago Harris School of Public Policy’s Center for Effective Government.