Shelley Stern Grach, Board Chair
Director, Civic Engagement, Microsoft
Shelley Stern Grach is the Director – Civic Engagement for the Technology and Civic Engagement (TCE) group at Microsoft Corporation. Based in Chicago, Shelley focuses on supporting long term economic development and STEM and STEAM programs that accelerate the Mayor’s Plan for Chicago. Stern Grach focuses on the intersection between community awareness and utilization of MS Philanthropies, YouthSpark’s digital literacy curriculum, and creating the pipeline for STEM skills and careers for students and entrepreneurs. She leads local policy and thought leadership programs on innovation, responsible business leadership and helps civic leaders and communities harness new technologies to enhance public discussion and improve economic mobility.
Stern Grach is a past chair/board member of nonprofits Lumity, Women’s Business Development Center, Skills for Chicagoland’s Future/Chicago Career Tech, the Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce and Year Up Chicago. She is a current board member of Forefront, ThriveChicago, the Illinois Science and Technology Coalition (ISTC/I) and LISC Chicago. She is a past Commissioner for the State of Illinois Workforce Board and currently serves on Governor Rauner’s Advisory Board on Workforce and Talent. Shelley’s civic participation includes the Economic Club of Chicago, service on the Mayor’s Council to Bridge the Digital Divide, serving on State of Illinois’ Task Forces and as a past Commissioner on the State of Illinois Economic Recovery Commission for Education. In Michigan, she is on the Board of the Acorn Center for the Performing Arts in Three Oaks, and supports the Friends of the New Buffalo Library.
Stern earned a double B.A. at Oakland University in Rochester, Michigan and an M.A. in business from Central Michigan University. She resides in New Buffalo, Michigan and in Chicago, Illinois with her husband, a Health Care consultant. Her daughter is a graduate of the University of Chicago, received her Master’s in Physiology at Georgetown and is a medical student at the University Of Illinois College Of Medicine.
