CDEL Welcomes Six New Board Members!
This June, CDEL welcomed Six New Board Members to the CDEL Board of Directors. They are: William Daley of OpsReady, LLC; Yvette Lyles of Pathway to Living; Uche Ndumele of Conagra Brands Inc., Shaunte Robinson of JPMorgan Chase, John Schumacher of True Financial POV, and April Thomas of Discover Financial Services.
Read below to learn more about our new board members!
William (Bill) Daley, OpsReady, LLC
As Chief People and Administrative Officer, Bill’s current work involves building and leading people operations for his company. He is also responsible for legal, compliance and risk functions; regulatory and government affairs; environmental, social and governance initiatives; business development and other administrative functions for a growth focused global software and process automation firm.
Prior to his work at OpsReady, LLC, Bill began his legal career in Las Vegas, Nevada practicing in labor and employment matters which continue to be his focus today. He then worked in Chicago at JPMorgan Chase & Co., and US Foods, Inc. He went on to Archer Daniels Midland Company as Chief Global Labor and Employment Counsel followed by a position as Vice President and Chief Counsel at Conagra Brands, Inc.
Bill holds a Bachelor of Arts in Behavioral Science and Law from the University of Wisconsin. He earned his Juris Doctor from Marquette University Law School. He previously was an Associate Board of Directors Member for YMCA Metro-Chicago.
Yvette Lyles, Pathway to Living
As Director of Community Relations, Yvette represents Pathway to Living to primary referral partners, media contacts and others. She develops and implements outreach plans for new referral sources and community partners within assigned Region. She also creates professional relationships with community partners who serve the Senior population.
Before her work at Pathway to Living, in Virginia, Yvette worked as a Senior Account Executive and has had several Business Development roles within the Healthcare Industry. She served in the role of Senior Account Liaison before being promoted to On-Call Administrator/Manager of Business Development. She has also worked as a Hospice Consultant for Hospice of Virginia. Yvette moved to Illinois to work for The Joint Commission as a Manager of Business Development.
Yvette holds a Bachelor of Science in Therapeutic Recreation from Hampton University in Virginia. She earned a Master’s of Business Administration from Regent University. She received a Lean Six Sigma Green Belt certification from the College of DuPage. She currently serves as an appointed member to the Illinois Department on Aging Community Care Program Advisory Committee; has been a past board member of the Hampton Roads Veterans Community Partnership and served on numerous committees including: Past member & Chairperson of Advocacy & Legislative Committee with the Peninsula Task Force on Aging.
Uche Ndumele, Conagra Brands, Inc
As Vice President and Chief Counsel of Employment Law & Corporate Finance, Uche has been responsible for directing all aspects of legal strategy and execution with respect to securities law compliance matters, corporate governance, labor and employment matters, leading the COVID-19 pandemic response team, and setting legal and business strategies.
Prior to his work at Conagra, Uche started his legal career in New York City as Corporate Associate at Thelen Reid & Priest, LLP and then at K&L Gates LLP. He then became Senior Counsel and was promoted to Assistant General Counsel at AOL Inc. Uche then went on to work as Senior Director and Associate General Counsel before becoming Vice President and Associate General Counsel of Pinnacle Foods Inc. Pinnacle Foods was acquired by Conagra Brands in October 2018 leading to his current role in Chicago.
Uche holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Political Science with minors in Business and History from Villanova University. Uche then earned his Juris Doctor from Cornell Law School with a concentration in Business Law and Regulation. Previously, Uche sat on the Board of Trustees for Family Promise of Morris County. He also currently sits on the Board of Trustees for the Lincoln Park Zoo.
Shaunte Robinson, JP Morgan Chase
As the Vice President, Relationship Manager: Commercial Banking, Shaunte’s focus is on managing mid-market customer and prospect relationships across a variety of industries through financial services solutions. Shaunte also serves as the Segment Lead for Minority, Women and Veteran-owned business through the firms Diverse Businesses strategy.
Previously to her work at JPMorgan Chase, Shaunte started her career at Wells Fargo Bank where he worked for over 9 years. She began as a Financial Analyst in Global Banking, was an Associate in the Credit Management Training Program before finally becoming the Vice President, Relationship Manager for Global Banking.
Shaunte completed a 5-year undergraduate/MBA program at Florida A&M University. She earned a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration before receiving her MBA in Finance.
John Schumacher, True Financial POV
As Founder and President, John works to provide valuation and financial advisory services dedicated to rendering a high-quality financial point of view on strategic, tax & accounting and legal matters while remaining cost effective and providing clients the best work product and overall service possible.
Previously to founding True Financial POV, John was a Summer Associate Investment Banker with UBS, and then an Auditor for Arthur Andersen before being promoted to Management Consultant. He also was a Management Consultant for BearingPoint before moving to being a Valuation Specialist at KPMG US and at Houlihan Lokey. He worked as a Senior Manager at ValueKnowledge LLC and then as a Director at Stout. Before his current role, he was the Managing Director for FV & FMV Valuation, Inc as well as Adamy Valuation.
John holds his BSBA in Accounting from Drake University before earning his MBA in Finance and Corporate Strategy from the University of Michigan – Stephen M. Ross School of Business. John has also served on the Board of Directors for The Ability Experience, founded by the Pi Kappa Phi Fraternity.
April Thomas, Discover Financial Services
As Director of Legal Operations and Chief of Staff at Discover Financial Services, April is responsible for work across all organizational levels to ensure success of the legal team. She is responsible for all operations and financial management within the Legal Department.
April started her career at Motorola as a Marketing Financial Analyst and then as a Senior Internal Auditor. She was then a Senior Financial Analyst at PepsiCo Chicago before becoming the Legal and Compliance Operations Manager at US Foods. April then worked at Takeda Pharmaceuticals as a Senior Manager, Legal Operations. Prior to her work at Discover, April worked as Director of Legal & IP Operations and Head of Vendor Management at Astellas.
April holds a Bachelor of Science in Finance & Real Estate from the University of Missouri-Columbia. April was previously the Vice President for the African American Employee Resource Group at Takeda. She is also a member of many professional organizations including: CLOC, ACC, Law Department Operations Executives, and ACFE.