Biography
Margaret is Managing Director and Chief Growth Officer at Tilia Holdings, a private equity firm focused on building distinctive middle-market service companies that make the food supply chain healthier, safer, and more sustainable. In this role, she leads strategies to drive profitable revenue growth and maximize value creation across the firm and its portfolio companies. She is also the Director of the Tilia Innovation Collaboratory, whose mission is to promote collaborative innovation and shared solutions across the food system to address complex issues that no single company can tackle alone.
Previously, Margaret served as President and Chief Executive Officer of The Executives’ Club of Chicago, the region’s premier business forum. There, she oversaw strategic direction and operations for more than 100 programs annually, serving a network of over 16,000 executives.
After earning her Ph.D. in Sociology, Margaret transitioned from academia to pursue a career in market research and brand strategy. In 2012, she launched CarbonSix, growing it into one of the most successful strategic research firms in the Health and Wellness space. Following the company’s sale, she led the roll-up of four firms into a single brand, Shapiro+Raj, and became its President in 2016. Under her leadership, the firm underwent a significant transformation, becoming the sixth-largest independent insights company in North America.
Margaret is the past President of the University of Chicago Alumni Board and currently serves on the boards of World Business Chicago, the Lurie Children’s Hospital Foundation, and the Chicago Vibrant Neighborhoods Collective. She also serves on the Advisory Boards of First Women’s Bank and NEXT Integrative Minds Life Sciences.
She is an active member of the National Association of Corporate Directors (NACD), Private Directors Association, Young Presidents’ Organization (YPO), The Chicago Network, Commercial Club of Chicago, Economic Club of Chicago, and the International Women’s Forum. Recognized as one of “Who’s Who in Chicago,” Margaret lives in Chicago with her husband and twin sons.