Who We Are

Sandy Matthews has returned to Illinois Action for Children in a new role as Vice President of Organization Advancement after serving as Chief of Staff to the Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights in the U.S. Department of Education. In this new role she is responsible for organizational relationship development, building strategic partnerships, and generating revenue through foundations and corporate donors. Prior to her position in the Obama administration, she was vice President of External Relations at Illinois Action for Children from 2007 - 2010. 

Sandy possesses more than 20 years of public affairs and communications experience with a variety of organizations including the Chicago Sun-Times, the Michael & Juanita Jordan Foundation, and the City Colleges of Chicago. A graduate of North Central College with a B.A. in English and French, Sandy earned a Masters of Jurisprudence in Child and Family Law from Loyola Law School in Chicago.

Mark Barrett serves as the Vice President, Early Learning Programs, for Illinois Action for Children. He is responsible for the oversight of the department’s early learning programs providing leadership and operational direction. In his previous role as the Director, Early Learning Quality Improvement, Mark successfully led IAFC through its first monitoring review by the Office of Head Start and was instrumental in helping the program earn NAEYC Accreditation and a Gold designation in the Illinois ExceleRate Circles of Quality.

Before joining the Early Learning program, he served as the Director of Compliance and Outreach for IAFC’s Family Resources Department. In this role, he provided oversight of compliance, ensured completion of contract deliverables, provided outreach, and customer service support. Before his work with IAFC, Barrett was the Director of Child Development programs at Ada. S. McKinley Community Service, where he managed a $5.5 million budget, managed a team of nine staff and ensured services complied with licensing and accrediting requirement

Mark has over 20 years of experience working with children and families in early childhood education and holds a master’s degree in social work.

Choua Vue is the Senior Vice President of Policy, Research, and Community Impact. In this new role, she is responsible for advancing the organization's mission, vision, and values by developing programs, research, and policy innovation by strengthening and improving early care and educational ​opportunities locally and nationally. Choua oversees programs that develop effective family engagement, community partnerships, and community systems building locally. She also advances the organization's advocacy, policy, and research priorities to ensure racial equity and improved systems and policies for communities, families, and children in Illinois.

Prior to Illinois Action for Children, Choua advocated for policy changes on education and child welfare for Asian American and Pacific islanders in New York City and immigrant and refugee rights with the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights.

Choua earned her Masters of Public Affairs from Princeton University and a Bachelors degree in American Studies from Carleton College.

Jeffrey Gawel joined Illinois Action for Children in 2016 as its Chief Information Officer, bringing nearly 20 years of technology leadership and project management experience in the government, higher education, and non-profit sectors. As CIO, he is responsible for directing all technology and data management operations for the organization. Jeffrey previously served as Director of Information Technology at Chapin Hall Center for Children at the University of Chicago and also served in various technology leadership positions over a 10 year period at the Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority. He has also served as a consultant on technology and data projects for various non-profit and higher education organizations. 

Jeffrey earned his Master of Public Administration degree from the University of Illinois at Chicago and is a PMP-certified project manager. He has served on the faculty of the UIC Department of Public Administration since 2003, teaching courses on technology and data management. 

Jacqueline (Jackie) Zanders serves as Illinois Action for Children's Chief Financial Officer, bringing more than 25 years of experience in both corporate and non-profit financial management to the organization. Jackie joined Illinois Action for Children in 2002 as the Director of Finance and continues to lead the finance function and ensure alignment with the organization's strategic goals. She joined IAFC after spending 10 years as Division Controller for the Food Products Division of Dean Foods and worked as a Financial Analyst for Ford Motor Company. 

Jackie earned her Master of Science in Public Policy and Management with a concentration in financial management from Carnegie Mellon University's Heinz School of Public Policy. She also holds a Bachelor of Business Administration from Mississippi State University with a concentration in Business Information Systems and Quantitative Analysis. 

Chris Tokarski has been with Illinois Action for Children for nearly 21 years. He started his career as a Family Resources Specialist and has held a variety of roles within the Family Resources and Quality Assurance teams. His goal is to make IAFCs state-contracted programs simple, streamlined, and accessible to the families, child care providers, and communities we serve.  

Chris sits on multiple state-wide committees working to improve Child Care Assistance Program policy. He is a proud graduate of University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, has completed graduate work at North Park University, and is an alumni of the Barbara Bowman Leadership Fellowship.  

Maria Whelan had served as Illinois Action for Children's President and CEO since 2001. She led the organization's mission to support strong families and powerful communities where children matter most, through the advancement of innovative human services programs and responsive public policies that improve conditions for children and families in Illinois. 

Read about Maria Whelan’s Life and Legacy »

An authority in the early care and education field, Maria possessed over 30 years of experience in human services. Prior to joining Illinois Action for Children, she served as the founding Executive Director of the Carole Robertson Center for Learning, a multicultural non-profit partnership among parents, youth and communities on Chicago's West Side. Her leadership has been recognized through special awards and fellowships, including the Community Service Fellowship from the Chicago Community Trust, and Leadership Greater Chicago. She served on several boards, including the Illinois Early Learning Council, Illinois Network of Child Care Resource and Referral Agencies, Early Childhood Advisory Committee - Chicago Public Schools and Illinois Child Care Adviosry Council - Illinois Department of Human Services. 

Maria held a master's degree in Social Services from the University of Chicago, and a Bachelor's degree in History from Clarke College. She lived in Chicago with her husband and three daughters.