History

i.c.stars was founded in 1998 by Sandee Kastrul and Leslie Beller in the apartment of founding board member, Brigid McGrath. For the first 18 months, they conducted research and studied programs nationwide and built a strong base of financial support among the technology industry in Chicago with the help of Nathan Paige, another founding board member. Dave Ormesher and closerlook donated space, internet, phone system, and volunteers which enabled the program to launch in 2000, survive the recession with low fixed costs, and build reserves for growth through the present day. The unprecedented multi-year donation from a firm the size of closerlook goes beyond words and speaks to Dave’s visionary ideals and fondness for big ideas.

The first two training cycles were completed in 2000. By the end of that year, it was clear the dotcom industry was collapsing, and already, graduates from the first cycle were losing their jobs as employers closed down. Leslie built a strategic partnership with the Society for Information Management and focused heavily on Public Relations. The two strategies helped the organization make the leap from dotcom financial and employment support to Fortune 500 financial and employment support. Eric Lannert transitioned from a volunteer to staff in January of 2001 to help build out the business and technology aspects of the program and organization.

Additionally, Leslie developed a relationship with Steve Miller and his father, Harvey L. Miller, who founded Quill. Steve and the Harvey L. Miller Family foundation began a multi-year $100K grant that enabled the organization to survive the depth of the 2002-2003 recession.

After cycle 3 graduated in the summer of 2001, i.c.stars entered a period of strategic planning to revisit the mission and vision as it became clear that alums would require ongoing support for several years after graduating. Additionally, the assessment process and training were revised to focus on identifying and developing resilient participants with the attitude and aptitude to become community leaders. The organization threw its first ever CIO event called Capitalize on Illinois in conjunction with SIM. In addition, the Greg Gerber of John Buck and an i.c.stars board member decided the commercial real estate industry should throw an annual benefit for i.c.stars. The two events raised almost $250K and further aided in the organization's base for growth.

Since 2005, i.c.stars has been pursuing a growth strategy to expand the number of participants in Chicago from 20 per year in the early years, to a target of 150 per year by 2013.