As CEO and Board Chair of The Cleveland Avenue Foundation for Education Group (The CAFE Group), Liz Thompson brings uncommon fluency across business, education, philanthropy, and civic leadership. An engineer by training and a builder by instinct, Liz has spent her career helping institutions move from good intentions to durable impact. Her leadership is grounded in the belief that love is a strategy for how resources move, how relationships are built, and how systems change.
Founded by Liz and Don Thompson, The CAFE Group is a philanthropic nonprofit redefining how resources move in service of transformative leadership and lasting community change. Through The 1954 Project, the LEAD Internship Program, and a growing network of education leaders, early-career talent, funders, and civic partners, The CAFE Group invests in catalytic capital, social capital, and leadership infrastructure that help powerful work endure across generations.
Liz began working with nonprofits in 1993 as founding Executive Director of City Year Chicago, a national service organization that was the template for the AmeriCorps Program. In 1995, Liz served as Executive Director of Family Star Montessori School in Denver, where she led a multi-million-dollar expansion of its Early Head Start program. In 1998, she became active with nonprofit boards in the San Diego area, which further fueled her interest in philanthropy and education.
Before following her passion in the nonprofit sector, Liz had a successful ten-year career with Ameritech Corporation after receiving an Electrical Engineering degree from Purdue University.
In addition to her commitment to serving students, professionals, and communities, Liz and her husband, Don Thompson, are co-founders of the investment firm Cleveland Avenue, LLC. Cleveland Avenue provides financial resources, expertise, and individual support to entrepreneurs to grow and scale their businesses. Their collective work has been highlighted by World Business Chicago through its Corporate Ambassador Award, by Loyola University Chicago’s Baumhart Center with its Innovator Award for Social Impact, and by the Chicago History Museum with its Jane Addams Award for Distinction in Social Service.
Liz is currently a Director of the Lamar Advertising Corporation and a Director for Chicago Public
Media/WBEZ. She is a National Director for Braven and Chair of Braven’s Chicago Board. She serves on the board of the Partnership for College Completion and as Special Advisor to OneGoal.
Liz is an alumna of the Nonprofit Leadership Program of Denver and Leadership Greater Chicago, where she served on the Board for ten years. Liz is a past Trustee of the University of Chicago, the Museum of Science and Industry, and the Chicago School of Professional Psychology.
Liz received an Honorary Doctorate of Engineering from the Illinois Institute of Technology, where she was the commencement speaker for the graduating class of 2023, and an honorary doctorate from Erikson Institute in 2026. She was recognized by The Chicago Urban League as the Lester H. McKeever Jr. Individual Service Award Recipient, by Chicago State University with the 2023 Cougar Servant Leadership Award in Education Equity, as an IU Lilly Family School of Philanthropy 2023 Black Women Give Back Honoree, and as an inaugural Crain’s Chicago Business Woman of Note. She is also a member of the distinguished Aspen Institute’s Pahara Fellowship.
Liz has received Chicago Public Media’s Amplifier Award, YWCA Chicago’s Community Leadership Award, the Outstanding Community Leader Award from the Association of Fundraising Professionals, the Dream Builders Award from the Chicago Child Care Society, and the John J. Dugan Award from OneGoal. She was featured in Make It Better magazine as one of Chicago’s Top Black Women of Impact. She has appeared as a keynote speaker for the Grantmakers for Education Conference, the Walton Family Foundation, the National Center on Family Philanthropy, the Forefront Annual Luncheon, the Rustandy Center for Social Sector Innovation, and the Chicago Venture Summit.
Liz has been married to Don for more than 30 years. They have two adult children, and Liz is a proud grandmother. They live in the southwest area of metropolitan Chicago.