Gov. Bruce Rauner nominates Ramon Cepeda and Jill Smart for openings on the University of Illinois’ Board of Trustees. Read their bios.

Name: Ramon Cepeda
Position: Board of Trustees - University of Illinois

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Governor Bruce Rauner has selected Ramon Cepeda to the Board of Trustees at the University of Illinois. Cepeda is a graduate of UIC and is currently a senior vice president at Northern Trust.
Cepeda has worked at Northern Trust since 2007. Currently, he oversees the commercial real estate group, which he created in 2010. He also works as the managing director of the wealth management division.

Prior to his work at Northern Trust, Cepeda worked for LaSalle Bank (now Bank of America) as the first vice president in the commercial real estate group. He was responsible for construction and acquisition loans throughout the Midwest. Cepeda also worked for Second Federal Savings and Loan and Source One Mortgage.

Cepeda graduated from the University of Illinois in 1990 with a degree in criminal justice. He was also selected as a Leadership Greater Chicago fellow in 2011.

Name: Jill Smart
Position: Board of Trustees - University of Illinois

Governor Bruce Rauner has selected Jill Smart to serve on the University of Illinois’ Board of Trustees. She is a graduate of U of I and worked as an adjunct professor, and she was a guest lecturer at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. Smart also has nearly 35 years of experience in human resources.

Smart worked for Accenture for most of her professional career. She retired from the company in 2014 as Chief Human Resources Officer. She was responsible for the full employee lifecycle at the global company. She was also a member of Accenture’s Global Management Committee.

Currently, Smart is the president of the National Academy of Human Resources (NAHR), a non-profit organization that recognizes individuals and institutions for their work in human resources.

Smart holds an M.B.A from the University of Chicago. She earned her bachelor’s degree from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.