The knowledge of the past with
a vision for the future

Will Germain is a Senior Investment Officer at Ventas, Inc, a leading real estate investment trust and S&P 500 listed Company. As a member of the Senior Leadership Team, Will is responsible for investments within the fast-growing research and innovation portfolio, the Company’s #1 capital allocation priority. Germain has been involved in more than $15 billion in completed real estate transactions during his tenure at Ventas. He is a member of the Board of Phase 1 Ventures (P1V) and a member of the Urban Land Institute’s University Development & Innovation Product Council.

Annie Werner is the Co-founder of A&O Advisors. A&O Advisors is a next-generation boutique investment advisory and lifestyle management firm based out of Chicago. Overseeing assets of over $90 million, A&O’s unique lifestyle and wealth advisory platform are built for managing the lives of professional athletes, exonerees (the wrongfully convicted) & high net worth individuals & families. Annie is originally from Wisconsin and graduated from Northwestern University.  Prior to founding A&O Advisors, Annie spent 15 years at Merrill Lynch’s Private Banking and Investment Group in Chicago where she excelled as one of the youngest women partners at the firm.

Pete Giangreco is a principal in The Strategy Group, one of the leading communications and direct mail firms in the country. Pete has worked on nine presidential campaigns, including serving as Deputy Director of Polling and Paid Media for Obama for America (2008) and Deputy National Field Director for Clinton-Gore (1992). Pete also works closely with the Energy Foundation directing communications efforts for the Illinois Clean Jobs Coalition, which spearheaded the passage of the Future Energy Jobs Act, the biggest clean energy breakthrough in Illinois history. Pete received his Bachelor’s Degree from the University of Michigan in 1987, and has been a guest lecturer at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government and the University of Chicago, in addition to teaching classes at Northwestern University and Loyola University Chicago.

Mr. Neal is a principal and owner of Neal & Leroy, LLC. He joined the family-owned firm in 1981, becoming the third generation of lawyers practicing in Chicago. Mr. Neal’s practice concentrates in real estate, zoning, land use, and public and private finance, employment and labor law. In 2018, Mr. Neal was named a Leading Lawyer in commercial litigation; government, municipal, lobbying and administrative law; land use, zoning and condemnation law; public finance law; and commercial real estate law.