Board of Directors

Beverly S. Billy – Founder and Executive Director

Beverly S. Billy founded Annie’s Legacy in 2006. Ms. Billy recognized the need for a resource center that provides women with knowledge, a sense of empowerment and the skills to become self-reliant.

Ms. Billy’s passion to serve and help others led her to a career in healthcare, where she worked in leadership capacities in volunteer management, patient advocacy, community relations, hospice and palliative care. She most recently worked at to Northwestern Memorial Hospital, where she previously spent 23 years before a six-year tenure at the University of Chicago Medical Center.

Ms. Billy has received a number of honors for her work with patients, families and the community, including the Martin Luther King Humanitarian Award; the Black and Hispanic Achiever’s Award; and the “Patients’ First—One of our Finest” Award. She is also a member of the National Omicron-Psi Honor Society.

Ms. Billy earned a degree in Human Development with a minor in Organizational Development from North Park University. Currently, she is pursuing a Masters of Science at Spertus College. Ms. Billy is a Chicago native, residing in the Woodlawn community.

Pat Hurston – President

Pat is a member of CNA’s Worldwide Operations team and serves as Vice President of Billing and Collections. In this role Pat is responsible for managing a multi-billion dollar portfolio of billings related to commercial property and casualty insurance coverage. She is responsible for a staff of 250 associates in three operating locations in Chicago, Maitland, FL and Reading, PA.

Pat comes to CNA from JP Morgan Chase (Bank One), where she was Senior Vice President of Government Financial Solutions. She has more than 30 years of banking industry experience in areas ranging from corporate treasury sales and service to global cash management, disbursement services, credit process reengineering, and treasury management solutions development and delivery to government entities.

During her tenure at Bank One, Pat developed solutions for government entities’ treasury management needs and nurtured Bank One’s relationship with government customers. In addition, Pat serves as the board chair for Centers for New Horizons and Annie’s Legacy. She is also the recipient of Leadership Awards.

Pat received a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration from the University of Detroit Mercy; and an MBA from Northwestern University’s Kellogg Graduate School of Management.

Pat and her husband reside in Chicago.

 

Penny Hurley – Secretary

Penny has held several leadership positions in health care organizations. Her most recent position was Director of Special Projects at the University of Chicago Medical Center (UCMC). She led the UCMC nursing department and the organization to win the 2007 Magnet Award, one of nursing’s most prestigious awards. Penny is very active in the nursing /healthcare community and holds a Magnet Appraiser position at the American Nursing Credentialing Center. In this role she surveys healthcare organizations and nursing departments around the nation that are pursuing the Magnet Award of Excellence.

Penny received a Bachelor of Science in Nursing from Purdue University and master’s degrees in Science in Nursing Community Health and Business Administration from St. Xavier University.

James Cappleman

James Cappleman, a licensed clinical social worker, is a project manager for research at ACCESS Community Health Network. His current project seeks to create guidelines for improving the way lab tests occur and are relayed to patients in outpatient clinic settings.

He is the author of the book Asking the Right Questions to Get the Health Care You Need and has done numerous workshops to help empower people to make informed choices about their medical care. As the former board president of the Uptown Chicago Commission (a not-for-profit Chicago neighborhood organization), James has an established reputation as a community activist.

Joanne Worden

Joanne Worden has more than 25 years of experience helping organizations meet strategic objectives and achieve desired results through effective application and appreciation of human capital.

From 1988 to 1999 Joanne held various positions at AMCORE Financial, Inc. a multi-bank holding company headquartered in Rockford, IL.  She had key responsibility for developing standard management and employee practices in the area of Human Resources, and created procedures and guidelines to enhance the organization’s recruitment, selection, performance management, compensation, and talent management initiatives. Ms. Worden was also responsible for the start up of the organization’s premier Training and Development unit, and helping to establish the company’s solid diversity initiative.

From 1999 through 2008 Joanne shared her talents with three training and consulting firms: Financial Training Resources/Omega Performance, St. Meyer and Hubbard, Inc., and Monarch Performance Group.  Responsibilities in these roles included: new business development, client relationship management, conducting and analyzing organizational diagnostics, and providing consultation on a wide variety of human resource issues.  She has also coached over 200 mid-level to executive managers on performance success initiatives.

Currently, Ms. Worden is employed as a Learning Manager for Navistar, Inc.  In this role she is responsible for the design and delivery of the organization’s leadership development initiatives, new employee onborading programs, assisting with diversity and inclusion processes, and helping employees create and manage career progression plans.

Joanne is a certified facilitator for Lominger Limited, the Franklin Covey Leadership Center, and the Center for Creative Leadership.  She is a graduate of Coach University’s Corporate Coaching program, and a recent participant in the Human Resources Management Association of Chicago’s Leadership Institute at Northwestern’s Kellogg School of Management.

Ms. Worden holds a degree in Program Administration from Indiana University, and she is an affiliate faculty member for Northern Illinois University. Additionally, Joanne obtained the Professional in Human Resources (PHR) distinction from the Society of Human Resource Management in 1995, and Senior Professional in Human Resources (SPHR) certification in 2008.

A lifelong and dedicated volunteer, Ms. Worden has spent time working with Northwestern Memorial Hospital helping to measure patient satisfaction, as well as screening, interviewing, and training new volunteers. In addition to her work with Annie’s Legacy, she currently offers her coaching services to Chicago’s Career Transition Center.  Joanne has served as a board member and past-president of the YWCA of Rockford, IL, and has also volunteered with DuPage County Habitat for Humanity, Northern Illinois Food Bank, TAILS Animal Shelter, and Chicago Cares.

Nykia Wright

Nykia Wright is a consultant in the Higher Education and Life Sciences Practice at Huron Consulting Group. Examples of her project work include vetting opportunities and challenges associated with opening a brick and mortar campus in China for a top private university in the southeast, building a financial model for ten residency programs for a top academic medical school in the northwest, helping a regional university in the southeast set strategy and positioning for the future, and helping perform an efficiency, effectiveness, and flexibility study for a top research university in the midwest.

Prior to working at Huron, Nykia worked at Capmark Finance, where she was responsible for analyzing the financial statements of several hundred franchises, reporting financial positioning to bond holders. She also worked at JP Morgan Chase in London, England, as a financial marketing consultant, where she was responsible for marketing a post-trading technology solution to various investment banks.

Nykia has an MBA from the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College (Hanover, NH), International Business Certification from the University of Cambridge (Cambridge, England), and a B.S. in Business/Finance from Carnegie Mellon University (Pittsburgh, PA). She has also studied at the Indian School of Business (Hyderabad, India), and has a green belt in Lean Six Sigma.

Nykia volunteered for Prevent Child Abuse in Atlanta, where she was responsible for helpline call intake, for two years.