Staff
Robert Weissbourd – President
Robert Weissbourd founded RW Ventures, LLC in 2000. Bob had previously served for ten years in executive positions at Shorebank Corporation, including most recently as Executive Vice President of Shorebank Chicago Companies. Bob has been a frequent public speaker and guest lecturer, as well as author, on a broad range of urban markets, poverty, race, education, housing, and economic development issues. He has also testified on these issues before federal, state and local legislatures.
Bob has been active for over twentyfive years in community and civic organizations, including service as President or Vice-President of the Boards of City Colleges of Chicago, Crossroads Fund, Businesspeople in the Public Interest, the Center for Neighborhood Technology and PROCAN, as well as on the Visiting Committee of the University of Chicago Law School, and the Advisory Committees for the (Chicago) Mayor’s Technology Advisory Committee, Brookings Metropolitan Economy Project and Brookings Urban Markets Initiative. Before joining Shorebank, Bob was a partner at Hartunian, Futterman & Howard, specializing in federal constitutional and class action litigation, school desegregation and representation of government and non-profit agencies. Bob clerked for federal Judge George Leighton, after receiving a J.D. from University of Chicago Law School and a B.A. from Yale University.
Riccardo Bodini – Senior Associate
At RW Ventures, Riccardo has worked closely with businesses, foundations, think tanks, local governments and community-based organizations on a variety of economic development issues. He has been the leading researcher on projects ranging from the assessment of market potential in particular neighborhoods to the analysis of regional economies. He also worked on the design of the Urban Markets Initiative and is currently managing the Dynamic Neighborhood Taxonomy, a project developing a new set of diagnostic tools for the community and economic development field.
Riccardo has presented at national and local conferences on urban policy, commercial development, and market-based economic development. He received his B.A. and M.A in Communications from the University of Bologna, Italy, and a Master’s in Public Policy from the University of Chicago.
Michael He – Associate
Michael joined RW Ventures in January 2007, and brings exceptional skills and experience in the application of sophisticated quantitative and analytic methods to a broad range of economic development issues. Currently, he is designing statistical models and innovative analytical tools to inform neighborhood development interventions. Prior to joining RW Ventures, Michael worked as a Statistical Analyst for Sears Holdings Corporation, where he applied data mining techniques to market analysis and customer segmentation. Michael graduated from Stanford University with a B.S. in mathematics, a minor in computer science, and an M.S. in statistics.
© 2005 RW Ventures, LLC