Stuart Taylor
Stuart A. Taylor II is the founder and CEO of The Taylor Group. He launched the firm in 2001 following a 19-year career on Wall Street, where he most recently served as a senior managing director and head of Bear Sterns’ investment banking activities in the Midwest. Through his work with entrepreneurial companies and major corporations, he has developed unique insight into some of today’s most pressing business challenges.

A graduate of Yale with an MBA from Harvard, Mr. Taylor has received a number of awards and recognition for his work including being named as one of Crain's Chicago Business' Top Forty under Forty business leaders in Chicago, as well as being selected as one of the 50 Most Influential Blacks on Wall Street by Black Enterprise.

Ivy Walker

Ivy Walker is a managing director at The Taylor Group.  Prior to joining The Taylor Group, she served as Executive Director of The Runners’ Club, a non-profit business accelerator whose goal is to help African-American entrepreneurs build large-scale businesses.  Ms. Walker also has a strong financial background having worked as an investment banker servicing Fortune 500 corporations.

Ms. Walker holds a B.S. from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University.  She serves on the boards of Kaleidoscope, Inc. and Golden Apple Foundation.  She is also a member of the Economic Club of Chicago and an Adjunct Professor of Entrepreneurship at Northwestern University.