Public Policy Analysis Challenge

Leslie Shad is focused on a sustainable future for people and wild things.  

Ms. Shad serves as Chair of the board of Climate Action Evanston, founded and leads Natural Habitat Evanston, is Conservation Chair of Evanston North Shore Bird Club, volunteers in various local restoration efforts, and is actively engaged with local groups including Bird-Friendly Evanston, and Chicago Bird Alliance.  

Climate Action Evanston is an all-volunteer effort to encourage action on climate and biodiversity, including topics of environmental justice, waste, energy, habitat restoration, local food access and mobility. Natural Habitat Evanston aims to change the culture of lawns, and it plants native trees at schools, parks and homes in underserved neighborhoods. Ms. Shad was a beekeeper for about seven years, and formerly served on boards including National Wildlife Federation. Ms. Shad and her husband, Joe Brennan, are working to restore forested wetlands in Northwest Indiana.  

Ms. Shad is retired from a 25-year legal career. She worked for CARE USA for 20 years, including six as General Counsel. Supporting CARE operations in more than 60 countries, with a focus on Sudan, Somalia, and other African countries, Ms. Shad provided legal advice on topics including nonprofit governance, government and private contracts, trusts and donations, US regulatory compliance, advocacy, intellectual property, employment, and tax/nonprofit issues. Before CARE, Ms. Shad worked for White & Case and Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz law firms in New York City and Loeff, Claeys, Verbeke (now Allen & Overy) in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Earlier, she was a newspaper reporter at The Kansas City Star (1979-82), notably covering prisons and inmates at Leavenworth (federal and military prisons) and Lansing (state prison), and a series on child kidnapping and murder in a rural community. Ms. Shad was a member of the staff awarded a Pulitzer Prize for covering the 1981 Hyatt skywalks collapse.  

Ms. Shad graduated from the University of Chicago Law School, JD, 1985, and Wellesley College, BA, 1979 and spent her junior year at the University of London: London School of Economics and Westfield College (1977/8). She is admitted to the bars of the states of Illinois, Georgia, and New York and the District of Columbia. She and her husband have three adult children, and live in Evanston, IL with two dogs, two rabbits and a 35-year-old ornate box turtle.