Welcome, Baronica!

We are pleased to welcome Baronica Roberson to the GDDF team. Beginning August 30th she will be our Director, Finance and Administration. Baronica brings sound financial management and strong operational experience to GDDF and will serve as strategic business partner, advisor and thought-leader, reporting directly to our Executive Director, David Farren.

Baronica comes to us after serving as Deputy Commissioner/Chief Financial and Operating Officer for Chicago Public Library (CPL). With a budget of $182 million annually, 900 staff, seventy-seven branches, two regional hubs, and a 750,000-square-foot central library, the CPL is one of the largest urban public library systems in the world. Baronica had executive management responsibility for the Finance, Human Resources, Technology, Contracts and Procurement, Corporate and Private Events, and Staff and Organizational Development departments within CPL.

She serves as Chairman of the board of the African American Legacy Fund of the Chicago Community Trust. She also serves on the board of, Bright Promises Foundation, Chicago Dancemakers Forum, Monarch Awards Foundation, and the Chicago Chapter Charities Foundation. She is an active member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. and Links, Inc.

Baronica is an alumna of Spelman College, University of Illinois at Chicago and University of Chicago. She has her professional degrees and certificates in African American Studies and Public Policy and Administration with a concentration in nonprofit management, accounting, and finance. In 2015, she was selected as a part of the inaugural class of the Civic Leadership Academy of the University of Chicago, which is an interdisciplinary leadership development program for emerging and high-potential leaders in non-profit agencies and local government.

Chicago raised, Baronica loves, and frequently visits, the natural and cultural resources of Chicago—the lakefront; the parks; and the many museums and art galleries.  Outside of work Baronica enjoys reading and family research and genealogy. She and her husband John have three children.