Recipient of the 2024 Alumni Trailblazer Award

Jessica is the CEO of Impact Engine, an investment firm with a mission to bring more capital to a market where financial returns are linked to positive social and environmental impacts. Impact Engine manages venture capital and private equity strategies that invest in transformative for-profit, positive-impact funds and businesses. For Jessica, investing for social good is more than just a business model; it’s a philosophy guiding the decision to invest only in companies that demonstrate a commitment to economic and social returns. This approach, she believes, is good for society and good for business. Before Impact Engine, Jessica created McDonald’s Corporation’s global and U.S. sustainable sourcing strategies. At McDonald’s, she enabled the integration of ethical, environmental, and economic sustainability across all food and packaging sourcing. Jessica also worked in urban economic development through the City Advisory Practice at the Initiative for a Competitive Inner City. Jessica holds a BA in Public Policy from Haverford College, an MBA from the Stanford University Graduate School of Business, and an MPA from the Harvard University Kennedy School of Government. She has co-authored two Harvard University case studies on public-private partnerships. She also serves as a board member for the Metropolitan Planning Council, the Rustandy Center for Social Sector Innovation at Chicago Booth, and Fixer. Crain’s Chicago Business named her to its list of 40 Under 40 in 2013, and she served as a 2014 Leadership Greater Chicago Fellow. She lives in Chicago with her husband (IMSA ’95) and three children.