Carmen Vergara is Vice President of Community Partnerships

In this role, she administers the financial, operational, and strategic efforts of our Windy City Harvest division.  She comes to the Garden with 20 years of extensive experience as a public health practitioner.  

Prior to joining us, Carmen served as Chief Operating Officer at Esperanza Health Centers, a community health center serving 50K patients a year across seven locations.  Prior to her time at Esperanza, Carmen worked as a research nurse at the UIC School of Public Health where she managed multiple federally funded community based research grants.  

Carmen currently serves on several advisory and governing boards including the City of Chicago’s Board of Health, Firebird Community Arts in Garfield Park and Open Center for the Arts in Little Village.  She received her Bachelors in Nursing and Masters of Public Health from the University of Illinois at Chicago and is an alumna of the University of Chicago’s Civic Leadership Academy.  

Carmen was born and raised on the southwest side of Chicago and is fluent in Spanish. In her spare time, she loves to create floral arrangements, listen to fun music and is always in search of a good hiking trail.