Chancellor Salgado Receives Distinguished Fellow Award From Leadership Greater Chicago

On Thursday, April 10, 2025, City Colleges of Chicago Chancellor Juan Salgado was presented with the 2025 Distinguished Fellow Award from Leadership Greater Chicago (LGC) at the organization’s annual Celebrate Leaders benefit.

LGC established the annual Distinguished Fellow Award in 1999 to honor a fellow who has made a significant leadership contribution to the community. Since then, prominent leaders from across the city’s government, non-profit, business, and other sectors have been honored with the award. Chancellor Salgado was named an LGC fellow in 2005 and has since remained an active part of the community.

Andrea Sáenz, President & CEO of The Chicago Community Trust and 2024 recipient of the Distinguished Fellow Award (featured in the photo above), introduced Salgado. As part of the honor, LGC played a video montage celebrating his leadership and vision. Partners from Aon and the Greater Chicago Food Depository highlighted the partnerships their organizations have created with City Colleges under Chancellor’s Salgado’s leadership.

“As I’ve gotten to know Juan, he’s a very strong leader. He has a vision of what he wants to accomplish at City Colleges,” said Lester Knight, non-executive Chairman of the Board of Directors of Aon, who spoke about the apprenticeship program offered by Aon and City Colleges.

Kate Maehr, Executive Director and CEO of the Greater Chicago Food Depository, also spoke about Chancellor Salgado’s support in investing in food security resources for City Colleges students. Currently, each of the seven City Colleges has a free food pantry for students on campus.

“Our students’ commitment to their education will be met with our commitment to the wellbeing of their lives…” said Chancellor Salgado.

To learn more about the award and view a list of past recipients, click here.