Cherita Ellens is the President and CEO of Women Employed. She is a native Chicagoan, longtime advocate for Chicago women, youth, and families, and a working Mom and caregiver. As President and CEO of Women Employed, Cherita leads an organization that, for nearly five decades, has been dedicated to establishing equity for women in the workforce. Before joining Women Employed, Cherita led business operations and communications as the Executive Vice President for Skills for Chicagoland’s Future, a public-private partnership working to close the access gap by matching businesses that have unmet hiring needs with qualified, unemployed and underemployed job seekers. She has also served as the VP of Marketing and Membership for the YMCA of Metropolitan Chicago, and later as the Executive Director of the South Side and Wabash YMCAs.

Cherita currently serves on the Illinois Governor's Commission on Workforce Access and Equity, the Illinois Board of Higher Education Commission and Equitable Public University Funding, Chicago Mayor Lightfoot's Women's Advisory Council, the Community Advisory Review Council for the University of Chicago Institute for Translational Medicine, and as a Board member for Family Values at Work. Cherita holds an executive MBA from The University of Notre Dame and a Bachelor of Science degree in Speech Communications from Illinois State University.