Vice President, Marketing & Communications
Ann Morris
Ann Morris is Vice President of Marketing & Communications for Little City. In this role, Ann serves on the Executive Team and oversees strategic marketing direction, external marketing, and internal communications. She and her team bring ongoing news and uplifting stories to Little City’s constituencies and surrounding communities while supporting the organization’s growth and development goals. They manage the website, marketing materials, digital content strategy, email marketing, social media, PR/media relations, thought leadership, special events marketing, and employee communications. Ann is also responsible for ensuring a professional and high-impact brand image for the organization. She joined Little City in 2023 as Director of Marketing & Communications.
Prior to joining Little City, Ann was managing director of marketing for Bravanti, a leading global consultancy in executive coaching, leadership development, and career transition, serving C-suite and senior business leaders around the world. Ann was a member of the executive leadership team at Bravanti and oversaw all marketing and sales support strategies and materials. She led a complete digital marketing transformation for the organization, creating an all-new digital footprint and a performance-focused marketing operation that drove business development. She also pioneered original thought leadership and spearheaded a name change and new brand for the organization that achieved double- and triple-digit increases in brand visibility and marketing impact.
Prior to joining Bravanti, Ann was partner and head of the Midwest professional services practice for worldwide marketing agency Finn Partners. There, she created and drove comprehensive marketing communications and branding programs for clients in the B2B, association, and professional services sectors, including law, accounting, architecture, retail, consulting, and financial services. Prior to that, Ann was a PR executive and C-suite speechwriter for Spiegel, Inc. Her career also includes several years in executive recruiting, as well as entrepreneurial experience owning and running a family business.
Ann is the recipient of two Your Honor Awards from the Legal Marketing Association, Midwest Chapter and International, and also served as Communications Chair for the Midwest Chapter. She also served as Co-Chair of the Editorial Committee for HR Leader, the trade publication of the former Human Resources Management Association of Chicago.
Ann received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Lawrence University in Appleton, Wisconsin.
Connect with Ann
[email protected]
(847) 221-7883 
WHY LITTLE CITY
“After selling my environmental remediation companies, I was looking for an organization where I could make a meaningful difference in people’s lives. After two years of searching for the right fit, I was lucky enough to find Little City in 2014. The mission, the staff who you can immediately tell really care about our clients, the school, the campus, and the thought that my skillset would benefit both adults and children with disabilities was more than enough to know this is where I was meant to be at this time in my life.”
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
Before coming to Little City in 2014, Bill had extensive experience in engineering, facilities management and real estate.
As President of Brennan’s PEB & Associates, Inc., Bill successfully transformed a nearly bankrupt environmental remediation company into a business with the highest profit margins in the environmental industry. Ultimately, he independently sold the company to the largest regional environmental competitor.
Following that sale, Bill became President of Brennan’s Environmental Remediation, Inc. where he regulated operations for the City of Chicago municipal facilities environmental contract, provided emergency response services for 400+ municipal facilities, and coordinated environmental work with OSHA, EPA, IDPH, Engineering & Public Works Departments and the Laborers’ International Union for 15 years.
Bill went on to preside as President of Fifth Star Properties where his management of facilities, construction and real estate included oversight on 40+ single and multi-tenant facilities. At Fifth Star Properties, he also performed market research, property analysis, and price negotiations on commercial, industrial, and retail facilities.
As Director of Facilities at Little City since 2014, Bill’s vast experience and knowledge in facilities, maintenance and real estate has benefitted the organization exponentially. There is no task too small or too large that Bill isn’t involved in at Little City’s vast properties. Bill provides facilities management for 49 LCF-owned buildings, a 56-acre campus, a leased space in Chicago, and LCF-owned scattered sites in Chicago’s northwest suburbs and Waukegan. One of his first major undertakings at Little City was locating and renovating a new 30,000 square foot day-program facility within the mandated 12-month timeframe during the Countryside Association merger.
Additionally, Bill continues to oversee the complete construction of the six state-of-the-art children’s group homes in the Duffey Family Children’s Village, which is scheduled for completion in 2023.
Most recently, Bill is actively looking to acquire and renovate adult residential group homes and a day services building in order to provide Little City residents and clients with the high-quality environments that they deserve.
Bill graduated from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, with a Bachelor of Science in Industrial Engineering.
PERSONAL LIFE
I have three teenagers and an amazing wife. I set a goal of staying in all 50 states with my family before the eldest went off to college – it took just under ten years, but we did it. After that, we even made it to Ireland and Scotland. When the pandemic changed travel in 2020, we rented a thirty-foot RV and drove to the east coast; we body-surfed in the ocean, ate seafood and ice cream, and made memories that I will forever cherish. Family and friends … it’s what keeps me going.
If you weren’t Chief Facilities & Environmental Quality Officer at Little City, what would you most likely be doing?
I would make a run at being mayor of Schaumburg. Start a blog about traveling with kids to all 50 states (this has been requested many times by friends). Spend more time on real estate. Golf more with family and friends. Look for another organization where I can do some good. Improve my culinary and mixology skills. Start planning our travels for when we become empty nesters.
Connect with Bill
[email protected]
(847) 221-7141
