Who We Are
Everyone who is part of the Sage Collective ecosystem — from our residents to our network of community partners to our neighbors and staff — earnestly leverages their individual experiences and perspectives to imbue the lives and work of others with meaning.
Board of Directors
Loren Faith Buford
Read More ›Loren Faith Buford is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker and the clinical program Supervisor of Senior Services at Metropolitan Family Services in DuPage County. She supervises the Senior Counseling and Family Caregiver Programs, which include a Grandparents Raising Grandchildren support group, in-home and in-office counseling services, and support groups for adults ages 60 and over, and for unpaid family caregivers. Loren is a Certified Dementia Practitioner and licensed to provide the Dementia Live experience to help others gain greater awareness and understanding of the struggles affecting persons with dementia.
Loren’s experience includes counseling people of all ages with dual mental health diseases and chronic medical illnesses, complicated by trauma. As part of the training team at HRDI, she provided supervision, training and developed psychodrama groups for clients with mental health issues and HIV. Loren was project coordinator for Chicago State University’s HIV Youth Prevention Education (HYPE) Program, where she supervised a student and teaching artist collaboration to promote public awareness through student performances, educational outreach and community partnerships. She was also program coordinator for a Illinois Department of Children & Family Services (DCFS) funded program servicing DCFS youth and their families, where she identified, researched and wrote grant proposals to fund these services. In addition, Loren has provided in-home mental health care services for older adults as a therapist with the In-Home Counseling for Seniors Agency, covering Chicago and the Western Suburbs.
Her ardent belief is that elder adults and children are our most vulnerable populations and deserve our advocacy, protection and the best care possible. “The innocence of our babies and the wisdom of our elders is priceless and must be preserved and protected at all costs.”
Donna M. Gaines
Read More ›Donna M. Gaines is the President of Sage Collective, a not-for-profit organization formed in 1978 to provide safe and affordable rental housing centered on older adults with low and moderate incomes. The organization has expanded its mission to provide ancillary support services with an emphasis on initiatives that enhance the quality of life for older adults and help them achieve greater vitality, fulfillment, and dignity.
In addition to operating ongoing business enterprises, Donna previously served as the President & CEO of the Alliance of Business Leaders and Entrepreneurs (ABLE), an organization of nationally-recognized businesses, where she was responsible for cultivating business relationships and partnerships with Fortune 500 companies. She represented ABLE in discussions on small business development with members of the Public Liaison’s Office of President-elect Obama’s Transition Team, and participated in monthly briefings hosted by the Presidential Personnel Office for African-American leaders.
As the former National Director of the Rainbow PUSH Coalition’s International Trade Bureau, Donna coordinated the business development activities for its members under the leadership of Reverend Jesse L. Jackson, Sr., providing business coaching services for over 300 business owners. In addition to her responsibilities domestically, Donna served as the business development liaison with embassy officials and designees from Venezuela, Mexico, Ghana and London.
Recognizing that education, social entrepreneurship and economic empowerment are critical to the quality of life and the future of our families and communities, Donna has dedicated much of her professional and personal life to social impact programs and projects that advance these goals. Her board involvement includes Chicago TREND and Sunshine Enterprises, and previously, the YWCA Metropolitan Chicago, The Primo Center for Women and Children, Roosevelt University’s Heller College of Business, Moneythink, and Village Leadership Academy. Donna also speaks nationally on ageism and advocacy, social entrepreneurship, as well as community engagement and empowerment strategies, and has received several awards and citations for her work.
Dwain J. Kyles
Read More ›Dwain J. Kyles is an attorney and entrepreneur who has dedicated his life to serving others and advocating for their civil rights. His commitment to public service began while at Georgetown University Law School, working for the Department of Health, Education and Welfare, Civil Rights Division as an intern, and also as an intern for Congressman Harold Ford, Sr. That experience,and others, helped shape Dwain’s world view and with a determination to advance the interests of the most vulnerable members of our community, Dwain went to work with the corporate Law Department of Johnson Products Company, Inc. in Chicago, Illinois after graduation.
Dwain’s varied public sector experience includes his appointment as Special Counsel for Minority Business Development by Mayor Harold Washington, the City of Chicago’s first African American mayor. In that role, he worked as Special Counsel to the Commissioner of the Department of Economic Development. Dwain later established the first in-house law department at McCormick Place, then the nation’s largest tradeshow and exhibition center.
Most recently, Dwain has been focused on the transition of the Tabernacle Senior Citizen’s Project, an organization that has managed a 123-unit senior’s building for over forty years, to one that is designing a national model for creating living environments where vulnerable older adults can enjoy an affordable, secure and desirable quality of life.
Dwain’s involvement in other legal and entrepreneurial enterprises has included urban community development projects, hospitality, healthcare delivery and management companies and a logistics project in Northwest Indiana designed to bring tens of millions of dollars and thousands of jobs to surrounding communities.
Dwain considers philanthropic endeavors one of his core values and has donated thousands of hours to meet the needs of underserved people through his law practice, as well as his healthcare, public service, secondary education, political and social services activities.
Camille D. Love
Read More ›Camille D. Love, NP is known for being a dynamic, inspiring, and forward-thinking Nurse Practitioner, who’s service within the health industry continues to spark positive inroads and create change. Camille’s core values of faith, service, growth and commitment to establishing trust have been a consistent thread woven throughout the fabric of her career. Camille’s model for healthcare has always been rooted in developing strong relationships with transparency in the interest of her patients, colleagues, and providers. Camille’s personal mantra follows a clear point of view that, in healthcare, service, growth and trust are pillars for providing excellent healthcare.
Camille completed her Bachelor and Master of Science degrees in Nursing, at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. The earliest years of Camille’s career were not full of rainbows and gumdrops. She quickly became aware of the prevalence of health disparities in Black and Brown communities, and that overall health literacy was poor. The lack of cultural awareness perpetuated those disparities and health illiteracy. Given this harsh entry into the field of Nursing, Camille was more committed than ever to increase her cultural awareness to help mitigate the disparities and create generational change that would impact the masses.
In the last several years, Camille found her stride within her career, and has been a major contributor to the healthcare industry. In addition to patient care, Camille broadened her impact and engagement, serving as a mentor for future Nurse Practitioners via various training programs. She has become increasingly sought after for her professional prowess, and jovial personality. One of her greatest points of pride and accomplishments, was becoming bilingual while building her career as a newly minted nurse practitioner. With no prior experience or linguistic acumen, Camille immersed herself into her role in a clinic with a 90% Spanish speaking patient population. Learning a new language, and ways of working, proved to be a formidable task that was equal to that of managing patient care. Camille remains one of the most beloved practitioners of this community, which is a testament to not only her skill but the human connections she makes each day.
Camille’s goals for healthcare have only pricked the surface of the industry. Her future endeavors are far more than merely wellness checks and disease maintenance. Camille’s vision for healthcare is an interdimensional field that encompasses spiritual, mental and physical wellness, that includes strategic collaborations with organizations that have similar goals and objectives to restructure the framework of true wellness. In Camille’s own words, “True healthcare doesn’t merely fix or prevent a disease; it educates and empowers patients about their health.”
Laurel A. Royer, Ph.D.
Read More ›Laurel A. Royer, Ph.D. is an environmental and human health scientist and founder of Carinalis Consulting and Research. Carinalis is a firm principled in building bridges and creating spaces that engage industry, academia, and community to address pressing global environmental and health challenges.
Dr. Royer has more than 15 years combined research, scientific, technical advising expertise. She has developed, built, and sharpened an inter- and trans- disciplinary consultancy focused on evaluating the balance between innovation and detrimental impact. Dr. Royer applies fundamentals of the chemical and related sciences to evaluate manufacturing/production and application, disposal, contamination, and exposure issues via the use cycle to support stakeholders in achieving an overall positive impact. To that cause, she supports clients and partners across a myriad of sectors addressing both proactive and reactive responses at the intersection of the built and natural environment.
Dr. Royer is an active and vocal advocate for broadening participation through lens of equity and inclusion in deriving environmental and health solutions that advance sustainable and economic development frameworks. Her work with community-based organizations involves technical advising that supports capacity building, grant execution, research, and implementation strategies.
She holds a Master of Science degree in Medicinal Chemistry and Molecular Pharmacology, and Doctoral degree in Environmental Chemistry from Purdue University. She is also an alum of the University of the Virgin Islands.
Leadership Team
Rear Admiral (ret) James M. Galloway, MD, FACP, FACC
Read More ›Rear Admiral (ret) James M. Galloway, MD, FACP, FACC is a United States medical doctor and Public Health physician who provides leadership and expertise to health care systems, nonprofit service organizations and innovative social enterprises in the health and public health arenas. Dr. Galloway served as the Assistant US Surgeon General, Rear Admiral in the United States Public Health Service and the Regional Health Administrator for the United States Department of Health and Human Services for the six eastern states that comprise Region V under Presidents Bush and Obama. He also served as the Senior Federal Official for Health for Pandemic Influenza and Bioterrorism for the Department of Homeland Security’s Region C, which includes an additional six states. Subsequently, Dr. Galloway was the lead for one of CDC’s lead efforts as the Director of the Office of Health System Collaboration, integrating clinical care and public health at a national level.
Dr. Galloway is also an author, having published over 170 articles, abstracts, book chapters and one book, Primary Care of Native American Patients: Diagnosis, Therapy and Epidemiology. He has received numerous awards, including being named to Best Doctors in America, and receiving the Surgeon General’s Exemplary Service Medal, USPHS Clinical Physician of the Year, Outstanding Clinician for the Indian Health Service nationally in 1997 and has been twice awarded the Secretary of Health and Human Services’ Award for Distinguished Service as well as recognitions from the Governor of Arizona and the Mayor of Chicago.
Dr. James Galloway Curriculum Vitae
John K. Holton, PHD
Read More ›John K. Holton, PhD., is an educator and public servant trained in understanding the life course of human development. He is currently the Director of Strategic Initiatives for Social Policy and Research at the Jane Addams School of Social Work at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Prior to this position, Dr. Holton served as the Director for the Center on Gerontology at Concordia University Chicago, which is the second of its kind in the Midwest. Before assuming his role at Concordia-Chicago, Dr. Holton was appointed as Director of the Illinois Department on Aging, a cabinet member for Governors Patrick Quinn and Bruce Rauner. Under his leadership, the Department on Aging grew to become the state’s third largest human services department with resource capacities exceeding $1 billion to support a network of private organizations and faith-based institutions providing home and community-based services, protective services, housing, meals, transportation, and counseling services for more than 400,000 Illinoisans over age 60 and their caregivers.
Dr. Holton began his career in public education in Hartford, Connecticut, opening the first alternative high school for adolescents characterized as being high-risk, living in group homes. Later, in Chicago, he was the founding Site Director of the Project on Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods conducted by the Harvard T.A. Chan School of Public Health. This large-scale groundbreaking longitudinal study found that collective efficacy, a type of social capital in which neighbors build reciprocity, trust, and cohesiveness, is an impactful buffer against crime, violence, child maltreatment, and school failure. Dr. Holton provided testimony in Congressional hearings on these findings.
A social psychologist who earned a PhD from Pennsylvania State University, Dr. Holton holds a Master of Urban Education from the University of Hartford and Bachelor in Political Science from Howard University. His research has been published by Child and Family Policy and Practice Review, Journal of Ethnic and Cultural Diversity in Social Work, Journal of Prevention and Intervention in the Community and Journal of Health Care for the Poor and Underserved, among others.
Marc J. Lane
Read More ›Marc J. Lane, a nationally recognized business and tax attorney, Master Registered Financial Planner, Registered Financial Counselor, and Certified Investment Specialist, is the President of The Law Offices of Marc J. Lane and the Founder of Marc J. Lane Wealth Group (www.MarcJLane.com).
He is an expert on entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial finance, and an influential advocate of best corporate governance practices. Twice a recipient of the Illinois State Bar Association’s Lincoln Award, Marc, a “Leading Illinois Attorney” and “Illinois Super Lawyer,” has consistently earned an “AV® Preeminent™” rating in the Martindale-Hubbell Legal Directory, the highest ranking awarded. Martindale-Hubbell also includes him in its Bar Registry of Preeminent Attorneys. By appointment of Gov. Pat Quinn, he served as Chairman of the State of Illinois’ Task Force on Social Innovation, Entrepreneurship, and Enterprise; and by appointment of Commissioner Jesus “Chuy” Garcia, serves as Vice Chairman of the Cook County Commission on Social Innovation.
Marc, who has taught Entrepreneurial Finance and the nation’s first law school course on Social Enterprise at Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law, is an innovator in helping social impact stakeholders leverage capital to maximize financial results while driving positive social change. He is also the pioneer behind the Advocacy Investing® approach to socially responsible and mission-related investing(www.AdvocacyInvesting.com).
Marc has successfully championed Low-profit Limited Liability Company (L3C) laws throughout the nation, authorizing the new hybrid business form which can leverage foundations’ program-related investments to access trillions of dollars of market-driven capital for ventures with modest financial prospects, but the possibility of major social impact. A past Director of Social Enterprise Alliance (SEA), he spearheaded the launch of its Chicago chapter, which he continues to serve as its Chairman.
He is the author of 36 books including Social Enterprise: Empowering Mission-Driven Entrepreneurs (American Bar Association), The Mission-Driven Venture: Business Solutions to the World’s Most Vexing Social Problems(John Wiley and Sons), and Representing Corporate Officers and Directors and LLC Managers(Aspen Publishers).
Dr. Joseph West
Read More ›Dr. Joseph West is an epidemiologist, population health and data analytics leader with over 15 years of experience in healthcare, research, and enterprise consulting. He’s received approximately $7 million as a Principal Investigator from NIH, CDC, WKKF, Blue Cross and Blue Shield and others. Dr. West is published in dozens of academic and industry journals and received several public health awards and is a recognized leader in the development of outcomes-based healthcare, value-based models and LEAN processes.
Dr. West is a co-founder and former Chief Population Health Officer for NextLevel Health Illinois, a full-risk Medicaid HMO. Prior to launching the HMO, he served as the lead-population health consultant to Altus Accountable Care Entity (ACE). He began his career as the lead epidemiologist and Co-Director for Mount Sinai Hospital -Sinai Urban Health Institute in Chicago. Dr. West has defined population health metrics for value-based contracts and HMO-contracting with the State of Illinois and has Co-Chaired Governor’s Office of Health Innovation and Transformation (GoHIT) and Population Health Subject Matter expert for 1115 Waiver.
He currently lectures on Epidemiology, Public Health, and Research Methodology. His research focus is Research Initiative on Community Trauma and Responsive Care.
Dr. West received his epidemiology training at the Harvard School of Public Health (Masters of Science and Doctorate of Science). He earned his undergraduate degree in Sociology (Medical Sociology; Methods) from University of Illinois – Urbana. He has received several awards and media recognition for his work.
Dr. Joseph West Curriculum Vitae