Brad McConnell

Chief Executive Officer

Allies for Community Business

Brad McConnell is Chief Executive Officer of Allies for Community Business, a nonprofit that provides the capital, coaching, and connections entrepreneurs need to grow great businesses in their communities. In 2020 and 2021, Allies provided nearly $600,000,000 in emergency funding to over 40,000 community businesses, and also provided one-on-one and group coaching to approximately 25,000 community business owners struggling to survive the pandemic. A4CB is based on Chicago’s West Side at The Hatchery, which is the largest nonprofit food and beverage incubator in the country and which it co-owns.

McConnell brings more than two decades of financial and economic development experience to his role. For five years he was Deputy Commissioner and Chief Operating Officer at the City of Chicago’s Department of Planning and Development. Prior, he served as Economic Policy Advisor to Illinois Senator Dick Durbin in Washington during the onset of the Great Recession. Previous assignments included supporting small business bankers as Vice President at LaSalle Bank (now Bank of America), and leading strategy, process, and technology projects in the US and Europe at Accenture.

McConnell holds a bachelor’s in business administration / Finance from the University of Notre Dame and a Masters in Public Policy from Georgetown University.