Board Members
A look at the people who are deciding the fate of the schools on the CPS closing list:

DAVID VITALE
President, appointed May 2011.The former president and CEO of the Chicago Board of Trade, Vitale currently chairs the Urban Partnership Bank in Chicago, Cleveland and Detroit and has a long banking resume. He has worked for CPS and also as chair for the Academy for Urban School Leadership, the organization that operates most of the turnaround schools. He lives in Hyde Park.

JESSE RUIZ
Vice President, appointed May 2011Partner at the law firm Drinker Biddle & Reath, Ruiz chaired the Illinois State Board of Education from September 2004 to May 2011. He serves as legal counsel to the Illinois Legislative Latino Caucus and the Illinois Legislative Latino Caucus Foundation.

CARLOS M. AZCOITIA
Appointed November 2012A Distinguished Professor at National Louis University, Azcoitia once supervised CPS' Midway Network of 36 schools and worked as CPS' deputy chief of Education. Azcoitia founded the John Spry Elementary Community Links High School in the Little Village community, Chicago's first school to include a pre-kindergarten through high school program in one building.

HENRY S. BIENEN
Appointed May 2011The former president of Northwestern University, Bienen also taught at Princeton University's Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs. He and his wife have three daughters, five grandsons and a granddaughter.

MAHALIA HINES
Appointed May 2011A veteran educator of more than 35 years, Hines was a teacher, principal and mentor of young principals. She currently is CEO of Think COMMON Entertainment, management company for her son, rapper and actor Common.

ANDREA ZOPP
Appointed May 2011President of the Chicago Urban League, Zopp is a former prosecutor and executive at the Exelon Corporation, Sears Holdings Corporation and Sara Lee Corporation. Zopp lives in Morgan Park.