Creative Office

Likes cheese, dangerous sports and the color blue. She hails from Virginia, attended Haverford College in Pennsylvania and the University of Edinburgh in Scotland, none of which explains why she sounds like she was born and raised in the Midwest. Or why she named her cat Dog. Amanda climbed Mts. Rainier, Salcantay, and Kilimanjaro and now is the C.E.O. of The Jellyvision Lab, also without benefit of oxygen. Amanda Lannert is the Chief Executive Officer of The Jellyvision Lab, Inc. and has been a key figure in driving the company’s direction since its founding in 2001. Her focus at The Jellyvision Lab is on furthering the company’s digital strategy, improving processes to better scale operations, and customer acquisition to continue fueling the company’s growth. Under Amanda’s leadership, Jellyvision has doubled its revenue three out of the last four years and has grown to serve hundreds of mostly Fortune 1000 clients with interactive communication solutions for desktop, mobile, and emerging platforms via the company’s digital agency work and ALEX, the Jellyvision Benefits Counselor (www.meetalex.com). Prior to joining The Jellyvision Lab, Amanda managed global brands for Kellogg’s while at Leo Burnett, where she developed strategies and implemented campaigns for Pop-Tarts and Nutri-Grain bars, in addition to spending two years in a new business and new brand development think tank. Amanda was recently named CEO of the Year at the Moxie Awards and has been profiled in the Chicago Tribune. She is also active in Chicago’s startup community, serving on the advisory boards of 1871 and The Starter League, where she also teaches, as well as mentoring at TechStars, where she was named 2013 Mentor of the Year, and Healthbox Industries. Mrs. Lannert also enjoys a good cupcake.

@ShawnRiegsecker Shawn Riegsecker is the founder and CEO of Centro. He founded the company in 2001 intent on building software to eliminate operational inefficiencies, solve growing complexity and fragmentation challenges, and help marketers make smarter decisions in the media industry. Since then, he has built Centro into one of the largest providers of media operations software and managed services in the industry. Shawn's leadership, commitment to innovation and modernized approach to culture and employee happiness have led Centro to receive many accolades, including No. 1 on Crain’s Chicago Business’ Best Places to Work for four years in a row (2011-2014), #1 on Advertising Age’s Best Place to Work in Media & Advertising in 2014, #8 on Fortune’s Best Medium-Size Workplace in 2014, and #6 on Crain’s Best Places to Work in New York Shawn is a member of the Young Presidents’ Organization (YPO) and The Economic Club of Chicago (ECC). He serves on the advisory board for Techweek, the Directors’ Invitational Ski Classic (DISC) and is a founding board member of the Centrist Project, a political party dedicated to creating a home for moderate Americans. Locally, Shawn is a member of the selection committee for 1871, a community of Chicago designers, coders and entrepreneurs working together to grow business. He is also an angel investor in the FireStarter Fund, a group of Chicago founders supporting the next generation of entrepreneurs. Prior to founding Centro, Shawn held leadership positions at Real Media, Everstream and Cleveland.com. He graduated from Bowling Green State University with a B.S. in Business Administration.

Headquartered in Chicago, with offices in Detroit and Denver, Rightpoint is an award-winning, technology and creative agency specializing in areas including, customer experience, employee engagement, custom application development, cloud strategy, CRM and mobile. Spanning a broad range of industries, Rightpoint’s clients include marquee brands such as Aon, New Belgium Brewing, Exelon, Kellogg, and Jones Lang LaSalle. Rightpoint has received several awards, including most recently, Forbes’ “Most Promising Companies in America”. Crain’s Chicago Business “Top 20 Best Places to Work”, Consulting Magazine’s “Seven Small Jewels”, “101 Best & Brightest Companies to Work for”, Inc 500’s “Fastest Growing Companies”, and Microsoft’s Central Region “Compete to Win” award. Co-founders Ross Freedman and Brad Schneider of Rightpoint, a technology and creative agency, received the EY Entrepreneur Of The Year® 2015 Award in the Business Services category in the Midwest program.

As the Director of Community for WeWork in the Midwest, Megan Dodds oversees WeWork locations across Chicago and Detroit. Megan joins the Midwest team from Amsterdam where she most recently led a cross-functional team helping to shape WeWork’s expansion in Europe. Megan joined WeWork in 2012 and has been actively involved in multiple aspects of the business from community management, to brand strategy, and market entry throughout the US and Europe. A Minnesota native, Megan now lives in Chicago.

Dan Lyne is a Senior Vice President within the Global Technology & Media Practice at CBRE, Inc. A recognized leader in the Chicago business community, Dan represents tech, biotech and media companies, both large and small, on complex real estate transactions. His roster of clients includes: Spotify USA, Horizon Pharma, General Assembly, Modest LLC, Belly, Managed by Q, and Cards Against Humanity to name a few. Dan also represents some of Chicago’s premier owner/developers in bringing unique buildings and creative campuses to the market. As it is his passion, Dan has focused much of his career on addressing talent attraction via the need for transformational and world-class creative space. Dan was a co-founder on the team that launched "1871" - a 75,000 square foot co-working center for digital startups located in Chicago’s famed Merchandise Mart. Two years later, Dan helped guide the initial formation of MATTER, a 25,000 square foot co-working venture dedicated to entrepreneurs focused on healthcare innovation. For nearly a decade with Chicago’s business development arm, World Business Chicago (WBC), Dan led the targeting and management of corporate relocation and expansion projects for domestic and globally based technology firms. During his tenure, WBC was repeatedly recognized and awarded as one of the top international organizations in its field. Dan was recently appointed by Governor Bruce Rauner to his Innovate Illinois Advisory Council, a key group of executives focused on advancing the economic growth strategy for the State of Illinois. Dan was also the founding Executive Director of ChicagoNEXT. Formed by WBC Chairman, Mayor Rahm Emanuel, and Founding Co-Chairman, J.B. Pritzker, ChicagoNEXT’s primary mission is to further Chicago’s commitment to its innovation, entrepreneurship and tech industries. PROFESSIONAL ACHIEVEMENTS Dan was named to the “Tech 50” list by Crain’s Chicago Business, recognizing leadership across Chicago’s landscape of tech entrepreneurs, hackers, investors and visionaries (2013). The Illinois Technology Association awarded Dan the 13th Annual “CityLIGHTS” Award in recognition for his collaborative support of the Illinois technology community (2012).

Max Chopovsky is the founder of Chicago Creative Space, a video production company and content publisher. CCS videos help companies like Google, Groupon, LinkedIn and Motorola recruit and retain talent by telling the story of their culture and space; CCS events like the Ethos series and the Space Tours help CCS clients share their stories of culture and space with everyone from entrepreneurs to job seekers, and the CCS Awards celebrate the innovation of creative workplaces and cultures. Chicago Creative Space also publishes original content around culture, workplace, and brand. Max has written for the Harvard Business Review, Entrepreneur, and more.

Michael is a Partner at Condor Partners, LLC. He is responsible for overseeing all of the firm’s Real Estate development activity. Prior to joining Condor, Michael was a Development Partner at Centrum Partners LLC in Chicago. He was responsible for sourcing and developing “out of the box” and institutional level projects for Centrum. He developed over $200 million of real estate for the firm, including Hospitality, Industrial, Flex Office, and Residential. Prior to joining Centrum in early 2007, Michael founded and ran his family real estate development company in New York from 2000-2007. McLean Development, LLC focused on suburban master planned communities entitling over 2,000 residential units and 500,000sf of commercial space on Long Island and Rochester, NY. From 1998-2000 Michael and his brother Sean McLean founded and ran one of the first firms focused on Hospitality in Healthcare, helping hospitals convert vacant space to hotel and special service wards. Michael holds a Master’s of Science from New York University with a focus on International Development and Finance and a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology from Princeton University.

As vice president of strategic accounts, Dan is responsible for managing top-tier client relationships and maintaining continuous proactive dialogue with clients to ensure their construction needs are being met by Leopardo’s services. As a trusted advisor, thought leader and resource, Dan frequently lends his expertise to help corporations learn how to build quicker and more economically.

Tom Polucci, AIA, IIDA, LEED GA, is director of interiors for HOK in New York. As a firm-wide interiorsleader, he is a member of HOK’s board of directors. Tom has more than 20 years of experience managing the design of projects for organizations worldwide. Educated, trained and licensed as an architect, his focus is on creating exceptional environments for clients. He has served as principal designer for hundreds of projects. Tom has special expertise in workplace design. He has been quoted in recent workplace stories in The New York Times, Entrepreneur, The Wall Street Journal, Inc. Magazine, American Public Media’s Marketplace, Metropolis, Interiors & Sources, Contract and The Chicago Tribune. He is a frequent speaker on workplace design at CoreNet Global’s New York City Chapter events and NeoCon. In 2009, Tom helped establish HOK Product Design, LLC. In addition to designing several new products, he sits on HOK Product Design’s advisory board. What is the ideal design process? “The ideal process is for everyone to understand the design progression and make sure that we’re all moving in sync. We want to work through the design process together with clients so the design becomes a reflection of who they are as an organization. A clear process and direct communication ensure a really fabulous design.” What workplace design trends are you seeing? “Collaboration is still key. Everyone is focused on being able to work in a team environment. We see flexibility—the ability to work wherever, whenever—as a continuing trend. Health and wellness in the workplace is much more prominent.”

Developing a strong design concept is highest priority of design for Theresa when she engages projects as Principal and Design Director. She provides oversight and lead programming, project visioning, client goal definition and design conceptualization using her experience to help guide and direct the team on all design-related issues. If given the opportunity to work on only one project for the next year it would be creating a space for a young and inspiring firm in innovation and idea incubation. Collaborating with those clients inspires and challenges her into new ways of thinking. Insights from her most recent project: “Voicing your professional opinion is key but knowing when to listen is more important. Spending the upfront time to get the concept and design to blend is the key to success. That’s ‘big picture’…BUT the details are what make the project a success…”

Tony Iannessa is president of Builtech Interiors Group, a division of Builtech Services company dedicated to corporate interiors construction. Mr. Iannessa is an industry veteran who has managed hundreds of large-scale projects accounting for more than two million square feet of interior office construction throughout the Chicago area, including significant projects for GrubHub, Twitter, ContextMedia, Vivid Seats, Motorola Mobility, Credit Suisse, Stats, Amazon, VelocityEHS, Edelman, Canon, Fidelity, Houlihan Lokey, Draper & Kramer, Donlen Corp, Option Care, Thermos and others. Mr. Iannessa is a graduate of Indiana University and serves as a board member on Chicago’s Greater Food Depository and Big Shoulders Fund.

Jon Runquist’s commitment to quality construction runs in his blood. He’s the fourth generation in his family to pursue a career in the construction industry. Jon received his degree in Construction Management from Michigan State University and has a range of experience managing industrial, commercial, retail and multi-unit residential projects. At Sonoma Construction, Jon is personally involved in each and every project, starting with the initial executive management overview of all project costs, construction methods and financial controls. He and his staff work together to hand select a team of subcontractors that will best meet a project’s individual needs. Once a project has begun, Jon will follow it every step of the way, delivering regular cost reports and updates until all deadlines are met to the client’s satisfaction.

With 21 years of experience in office Landlord representation in downtown Chicago Eric joins Avison Young after 7 years with New York based Tishman Speyer. While at Tishman Speyer Eric leased over 2,000,000 sq ft of office space with notable transactions such as CME (406,000 sq. ft.), Dykema Gossett (80,500 sq. ft.) (Wells Fargo (300,000 sq. ft.), and BP (240,000 sq. ft.) all at the CME Center in Chicago. His efforts leasing the CME Center provided him the landlord office broker of the year in 2009. In 2012 Eric spent considerable time pitching the development of a 1,200,000 sq. ft. office tower in the West Loop with Tishman Speyer and architects Krueck & Sexton. Prior to Tishman Speyer Eric leased the iconic Rookery Building from nearly 90 percent vacancy to 90% leased with ING Clarion Real Estate. Other notable buildings Eric has leased are 333 West Wacker, 190 South LaSalle, 200 South Wacker, Illinois Center(s) 1 & 2, and 300 South Wacker all with The John Buck Company.