Staff & Associates

Aaron Bennink, Small Business Program Manager, provides individual counseling and training to entrepreneurs at the South Side office.   He also coordinates and teaches workshops on various business planning and management topics.    He has experience in both Domestic and International Microfinance, and has run his own national business in Canada.   He has an MBA in Marketing from the Degroote School of Business at McMaster University and a B.A. in Business from Calvin College.   

Lisa Heidorn assists with one-on-one counseling for entrepreneurs and teaching workshops. She has a Ph.D. from the University of Chicago, and taught and conducted research in an academic environment for over a decade before pursuing her MBA in international business at Loyola University Chicago.

Curtis Roeschley, Director of the Small Business Development Unit and the IL SBDC at Hull House-Uptown, began in 1989 as Coordinator of Business Development and in 1992 moved into the director's position. As director he oversees all small business programs and is responsible for program design and implementation, development, and financial management, and provides counseling to small business clients. He serves as an officer on the board of the North Side Community Federal Credit Union. He has previous experience as an independent bookstore business manager, and has an MBA from Eastern College in Pennsylvania.

Kathleen Robbins, Director of the IL SBDC at Hull House-Parkway, coordinates the small business development activities at the South Side office and provides counseling and training to local businesses. She has over sixteen years of experience in the small business development arena. She has developed and implemented training programs and initiatives targeted to small business, prepared and analyzed loan packages, managed several small business loan funds, and has facilitated training sessions for staff of community-based economic development organizations. Kathleen has an MBA in Finance from Rutgers Graduate School of Management and a BA in marketing.

Johanna Torres is our Financial Literacy specialist.

Tom Ullmann, Small Business Specialist, provides and coordinates individual counseling for Latino clients with the assistance of bilingual volunteer mentors. He helped develop the first Hull House Spanish-language entrepreneurial program and teaches the Latino business training class. He has more than 30 years of business experience as an owner and manager, and has been active in the field of small business development since 1989. Tom has both an MBA degree and Ph.D. from Northwestern. His dissertation focused on the role of micro enterprise programs in Central America. He serves as the vice-chair of the board of the Illinois State Micro enterprise Initiative.

 

Associates

John Howard works one-on-one with entrepreneurs offering business advice with a special emphasis on business planning and marketing.  John has technical expertise in finance, sales, marketing and strategic planning. He has over 22 years experience as a senior executive in the pharmaceutical industry where he concentrated on marketing and business unit leadership. In addition to this experience, John started and has run his own consulting and marketing communications company since 2000.  He has a Bachelor's degree from the University of Detroit and an MBA from the University of Toledo.

David Tilson works one-on-one with entrepreneurs offering sound business and technical advice, positive encouragement and relevant research sources. He has technical expertise in finance, marketing and e-commerce. He has over 9 years of experience in technology consulting for Ernst & Young, PricewaterhouseCoopers and Washington Mutual Bank. He has a Bachelor's degree from Purdue University in Computer Science and an MBA from DePaul University.

Victoria Vastalo is the instructor for the biannual Entrepreneurship Training Program. She regularly facilitates our workshops on various small business development issues. She has an undergraduate degree in Business Management from North Central College in Naperville, IL. She is an independent consultant who specializes in managing the finances of small businesses in the areas of accounting, software and strategy. She gained over thirteen years of experience working in various financial management positions before deciding to open her own consulting enterprise. She holds a Masters of Arts degree in Linguistics from Northeastern Illinois University.