Arabel Alva Rosales, a renowned entrepreneur dubbed a “Renaissance Woman” by Chicago Magazine, leads AAR Tech and founded Pivoting in Heels, NFP, and Runway Latinx, a global social enterprise. She hosts Chic Innovator and has held key leadership roles, including on the Chicago Transit Authority Board and Illinois Human Rights Commission.

A DePaul law graduate, she has served on gubernatorial transition teams and earned 30+ national awards, including 50 Most Influential Latinos by Negocios Now.

She currently serves on the boards of the Illinois Hispanic Chamber of Commerce Foundation and Women’s Business Development Center.

Most people know Chef Rick Bayless from winning the inaugural season of Bravo’s Top Chef Masters. Others know him from the twelve seasons of his highly-rated Public Television series, Mexico–One Plate at a Time or his nine award-winning cookbooks. And for a few restaurant regulars, he is simply Chef Rick, the Chef and owner of Frontera Grill, Topolobampo, Xoco, and Bar Sótano on Clark Street in Chicago, where he has spread the joys of authentic Mexican cuisine since 1987.

Frontera Grill received the James Beard Foundation’s highest award, Outstanding Restaurant, in 2007. The 4-star Toplobampo, which served its first meals in 1991, earned the Beard Foundation’s award for Outstanding Restaurant in 2017 — an unprecedented accomplishment for side-by-side restaurants. At Topolobampo, Rick has also achieved a different feat: earning and maintaining a Michelin star since the guide first came to Chicago.

Rick has received a great number of James Beard Award nominations in many categories, and he has won seven: Midwest Chef of the Year, National Chef of the Year, Humanitarian of the Year, Who’s Who of American Food and Drink, Best Podcast, plus two for his cookbooks. The Government of Mexico has bestowed on Rick the Mexican Order of the Aztec Eagle–the highest decoration bestowed on foreigners whose work has benefitted Mexico and its people.

And in 2016, he earned the Julia Child Foundation Award, a prestigious honor given to “an individual who has made a profound and significant impact on the way America cooks, eats and drinks.”

Bruce Siegel, MD, MPH, brings deep expertise in health care management, policy, and public health to his role as president and CEO of America’s Essential Hospitals, the only national organization representing hospitals dedicated to serving people facing financial and social barriers to care. Since joining in 2010, he has significantly expanded the association’s advocacy, research, and education efforts.

Siegel’s insights are shaped by previous leadership roles as president and CEO of two member systems—New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation and Tampa General Healthcare—as well as serving as New Jersey’s commissioner of health. He was also director of the Center for Health Care Quality and professor of health policy at The George Washington University.

He has led pioneering work on quality and equity, funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and chaired both the National Quality Forum board and the National Advisory Council for Healthcare Research and Quality. His leadership has earned him repeated recognition from Modern Healthcare, including “100 Most Influential People in Healthcare” (2011–2019, 2022–2024), “50 Most Influential Clinical Executives” (2022–2024), and “Top 25 Diversity Leaders” (2021), among others. Becker’s Hospital Review named him one of the “50 Most Powerful People in Healthcare” in 2013 and 2014.

Siegel holds a bachelor’s degree from Princeton University, an MD from Cornell University Medical College, and an MPH from Johns Hopkins University School of Hygiene and Public Health.