Meet Our
Board Of Directors

Bob Bernstein

Chairman & Treasurer

Sr. Managing Partner - Envestnet Retirement Solutions (ret.)

CEO & Founder - Prism Partners LLC (ret.)

Bob is an accomplished investment advisor in Chicago and has served as the Board’s Chairman since inception. As Chad’s father and mentor, Bob helped Chad turn his passion for service through music into a true channel for social impact as a co-founder of Guitars Over Guns.

Chad Bernstein

Chad Bernstein

President & CEO

Dr. Chad Bernstein is a celebrated musician and the founder of Guitars Over Guns. The organization is built out of his vision that music provides the bridge toward creating the relationships that are necessary to empower youth living in challenging circumstances. Chad has dedicated his life to the pursuit of unlocking potential in youth from vulnerable communities through mentorship and the arts.

Lisa Anastos

General Counsel, Acoustic

Lisa Anastos has devoted her life to making art accessible to young people, creating the Whitney Museum “Contemporaries” program in the name of “championing emerging voices and artistic innovation.” She has since gone on to create ARThood, an online marketplace for emerging artists, and created her own consulting firm, Anastos Advisors LLC. Lisa sits on the boards of many other philanthropic organizations, such as The Watermill Center and Doctors of the World USA, where she is founder and Chairman of the Board.

Ebony Howard

Program Officer, The ELMA Philanthropies Services

Ebony supports the management of the grants portfolio of The ELMA Music Foundation, and in particular supports investments in the U.S., which use music programming to advance youth development. She sits on the Leadership Council of Arts Ed Newark, an alliance advocating for equity in high-quality arts education for all youth in Newark, NJ. Ebony is also a 2020-2021 ABFE Connecting Leaders Fellow, a program designed to increase leadership capacity of foundation staff, donors, and trustees who are committed to assisting Black communities.

Scott Jacobson

Governance & Compliance Committee Chair

Director, Institutionl Retirement / Sales Manager (Central Region), Bank of America Merrill Lynch

Scott is a CPA with a Law degree, currently at Bank of America Merrill Lynch managing retirement in sales. Scott is also an elected official (commissioner) of Buffalo Grove and has been an avid fundraiser for the Parks, the Jewish community, and United Way.

Kellie O'Connell

Human Assets Committee Chair

CEO, NOURISHING HOPE

Kellie O’Connell is the CEO of Nourishing Hope, formerly Lakeview Pantry, a dynamic social service organization providing food, mental wellness counseling and other social services to anyone in need. She led the growing organization, which was founded in 1970, through the immense challenges of the pandemic and economic recession. A native South Sider, Kellie firmly believes that no one should go hungry. For more than 20 years in nonprofit and governmental roles, she’s worked toward equitable access to resources and opportunities for all people.

Since joining the organization in 2016, she’s expanded the strategic vision of the organization to serve more people in communities across the city. Under her leadership, the organization has expanded its food storage and distribution capacities, launched a new online market program, grown its mental health and social service programs, and collaborated with a growing number of partners all across the city. In May 2022, Kellie also led the rebrand of the organization to Nourishing Hope and the grand opening of a new 21,600-square-foot headquarters in order to serve more people throughout Chicago.
Kellie believes in civic duty and collaboration. She’s been a Leadership Greater Chicago Fellow since 2020. She’s also a member of the Economic Club of Chicago, a board member for Guitars Over Guns, and a member of the Chicago Food Equity Council’s food and nutrition programs work group.
Kellie holds a bachelor’s degree in Sociology from Northern Illinois University and a master’s degree in Sociology from Loyola University Chicago. In 2019, she graduated from Harvard Business School’s Strategic Perspectives in Nonprofit Management Executive Education Program

Under her leadership, Nourishing Hope has received numerous social impact awards, most recently, the Mayor’s Medal of Honor, as well as the Chicago Health Magazine’s Food Hero Award, LISC Chicago Neighborhood Development Award, and the Chicago Innovation Award. To Kellie, these honors reflect her team’s hard work, innovation, and dedication in challenging times.

A single mom, Kellie loves spending her spare time in the city she grew up in, exploring everything it has to offer with her teen daughter, Brennan. They share a passion for giving back and helping others.

Jacquie O'Malley

Assistant Vice President, Baptist Health Foundation

Jacquie O’Malley serves as Assistant Vice President of the Baptist Health Foundation, actively fundraising as well as overseeing and identifying a variety of philanthropic initiatives and growth strategies, with a special focus on the new Miami Cancer Institute. Prior to joining Baptist Health, she served in a series of progressive roles at United Way of Miami-Dade since 1995.

Gabriel Pierre

Guitars Over Guns Alumnus

A proud alumnus of Guitars Over Guns’ flagship after-school mentorship program at North Miami Middle School, Gabriel Pierre is an accomplished bassist and emerging community leader. He performs regularly throughout Miami as a member of Unistiq and as the co-founder of Kingdom Vybez, a faith-based performing arts nonprofit.

Andrew Stroth

Managing Director, Action Injury Law Group Of Counsel, Handler Thayer LLP

As a sports and entertainment law attorney, Andrew Stroth has negotiated business partnerships and endorsements for professional athletes and celebrities. Mr. Stroth served as an Adjunct Professor of Law at Northwestern University School of Law in the Negotiations Program from 2002 to 2008. He founded Action Injury Law Group out of his vision to protect communities of color and end police brutality in America. Mr. Stroth earned his law degree from Northwestern University School of Law and his undergraduate degree (Magna Cum Laude) from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Chad Turner

President, Turner Investment Management

Chad formerly served as a financial advisor for Wells Fargo Advisors in Miami and the former President of Friends of New World Symphony – one of the premier young professional groups in Miami. He brought the group to 500 members raising $500,000 annually. He has come on as an advisor to help establish RISE Miami as a more impactful fundraising and community engagement machine.

Dave Walsh

Development Committee Chair

Managing Director, FON Capital, Founding Partner, SVP Miami

Dave Walsh serves as the managing partner of FON Capital and is a founding partner of Social Venture Partners Miami. Prior to FON and SVP, he was the CEO of Prescient Edge Holdings. A graduate of the United States Naval Academy, Mr. Walsh was previously engaged in sensitive counterterrorism operations in the U.S., Middle East, Africa, and Latin America.

H Jordan Weitz, CIA, CFE

Finance Committee Chair

Director, Risk Advisory & Assurance Services, Carnival Corporation

H Jordan Weitz has spent the past twenty years helping companies manage risks. Currently, H is the Senior Director of Compliance Risk Intelligence at Carnival Corporation & plc.  H has been a part of the Carnival team for the past 20+ years, spending the majority of his time in Carnival’s internal audit department, known as the Risk Advisory & Assurance Services department. In this function, he evaluated the risks facing cruise line operations as well as corporate administrative functions, before spending the 5 years building and leading a dedicated forensic investigations, digital forensics, and proactive analytics fraud detection unit.  In October 2018, H joined the Ethics, Risk & Compliance organization where his focus has been on the identification, prevention, detection, response, and mitigation of risks facing the organization and its large fleet of vessels and shoreside locations operating around the world.  Prior to Carnival, H worked at Arthur Andersen LLC in the Business Process Risk Consulting division. H is deeply involved in the South Florida philanthropic community and serves on the boards of Guitars Over Guns and Miami Waterkeeper. H holds Accounting, Finance, and a Master of Jurisprudence degrees, all from The Florida State University and holds CIA and CFE professional designations.  H has presented at several professional conferences including the International Audit Practice Consortium, IIA-Environmental Health Safety Exchange, University of Cambridge Risk Roundtable, and the South Florida Chapter of the Association of Certified Fraud Examiner’s.