Ianna Kachoris

Ianna Kachoris is the associate vice president of Community Impact at The Chicago Community Trust.

In this role, Ianna leads the People, Power and Policy team which includes the Trust’s efforts to build collective power, address critical needs and to advocate for policy change. Ianna also oversees the Trust’s government engagement and local, state and federal public policy strategy. Ianna brings to this role more than 20 years of experience in the government, nonprofit and philanthropic sector. She has substantial policy expertise in the areas of housing, economic mobility and economic development. 

Prior to joining the Trust, Ianna was director of strategy, research initiatives and philanthropic partnerships for the University of Chicago Office of Civic Engagement. Before that, she served as a senior program officer with the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation leading the Foundation’s multi-year, $25 million How Housing Matters to Families and Communities housing policy and research initiative. Ianna also led The Pew Charitable Trusts’ Economic Mobility Project, guiding the project’s research agenda, publications, and communications strategy. Ianna also served as senior policy advisory to U.S. Senator Edward M. Kennedy on economic development and economic policy and has held positions with the Fannie Mae Foundation, the Metropolitan Planning Council, and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Ianna has a master’s degree in public policy from the University of Chicago Harris School of Public Policy and a bachelor of arts degree in sociology from Emory University. Ianna is a proud third generation Chicagoan and lives in the Bucktown neighborhood with her husband Sam and their two boys.