Janie Urbanic, MA, LPC 

Founding Director, South Loop Village

Janie Urbanic combines the experience from her first career in business with her second career spent at Rush University Medical Center researching issues of aging, to start the South Loop Village. Janie’s commitment to helping older adults age comfortably in community, enjoying a quality of life they deserve has been the guiding principal in her efforts to join the Village movement. Janie has made her residence in the South Loop for 20 years and as she says, “What better place to start a village”!

Sylvia Bridges, MA

Director, South Loop Village

Bridges is the Retired Special Assistant to the Provost of DePaul University. She earned a degree in Religious Studies and Social Work, with Graduate Studies in Relational Communications. Prior to her career at DePaul she was the Executive Assistant to the Executive Director of the ACLU of Illinois. She is a member of Progress Baptist Church of Chicago and the mother of two wonderful children and grandmother of 8 year old Declan.

Kevin Hall, AIA, LEED AP BD + C

Director, South Loop Village

Kevin Hall is a licensed architect in the State of Illinois, with 30 years of experience focusing on the development of capital improvement projects for governmental and institutional clients. Areas of expertise including education, healthcare, housing, public safety and transit. Mr. Hall, a LEED Building Design + Construction Accredited Professional, focuses on the development of projects that are designed in an environmentally and economically sustainable manner. Through his involvement in government agencies such as the Public Building Commission of Chicago, The Chicago Transit Authority and the Chicago Housing Authority, he has focused on developing projects that build community by creating jobs and sparking further development. Mr. Hall, as Director of Planning, Design and Engineering for the Chicago Housing Authority, is currently leading a team of fifteen professionals working on the development of designs supporting the Authority’s Capital Improvement Program.

Martin J. Gorbien, MD, FACP, AGSF 

Director, South Loop Village, Associate Chief of Staff Geriatrics & Extended Care 

Dr. Gorbien joined Edward Hines Jr. VA Hospital as the Director of Hospice and Palliative Care Services in October of 2013 and was then promoted to the position of Associate Chief of Staff for Geriatrics & Extended Care. Most recently he was at RUSH University Medical Center where he served as Director of the Division of Geriatrics & Palliative Medicine for 15 years. The program that he directed was ranked 12th in the United States by U.S. News & World Report.  He completed fellowship training at The UCLA Multi-Campus Division of Geriatrics and Gerontology. He has held positions at The Cleveland Clinic Foundation and The University of Chicago where he directed fellowship training. Dr. Gorbien is an author and sought-after lecturer who has enjoyed community outreach since he began working in nursing homes while in high school. He has a special interest in elder abuse and neglect, quality of life, dementia, and end of life decision making. He edited Clinics in Geriatric Medicine on Elder Mistreatment. In his community, he has volunteered on a multi-disciplinary board devoted to the prevention of elder abuse and neglect. Currently, he is a past-chair of the American Geriatrics Society’s Clinical Practice Committee. Dr. Gorbien is a fellow of The American Geriatrics Society, The American College of Physicians and the Institute of Medicine of Chicago and has consistently been named one of Chicago Magazine’s Top Doctors as well as America’s Top Doctors. In 2020, he earned a Master’s program in Healthcare Leadership at Brown University.

Sharon Hill, CSP

Director, South Loop Village

Sharon Hill is a Certified Safety Professional, CSP, who has been an advocate for protecting the health and safety of people in the workplace. She has over 40 years of work experience in the chemical industry in various technical positions ranging from analytical chemist, industrial hygienist and compliance manager for federal, state and local regulations in the health, safety and environmental arenas of OSHA and EPA. She worked closely with employees, company managers and regulators to ensure procedures were developed and followed to protect people from harmful equipment and agents in the workplace.

She was employed by the same company for her entire career. Throughout her employment, she was able to travel stateside and internationally and had the opportunity to relocate and work in different plant locations. She retired in June 2018. 

Outside of work, in addition to her love for cooking, quilting, sewing and spending time with family, she is interested in reconnecting with her passion to help people; especially supporting older adults and their caregivers as they age in community.

Irene Soble, RN, MS

Director, South Loop Village

Irene Soble RN, MS is a retired nurse practitioner. Her clinical work included addiction, pain management, chronic illness and geriatrics. Since retiring, Irene has volunteered with the American Red Cross as a disaster nurse and has participated in almost twenty disaster responses around the country. In addition, Irene currently volunteers for the Illinois Prison Project, a non-profit that seeks clemency for older and ill state prisoners. Irene lives in the South Loop and suburban Detroit.

Phyllis Timpo, MA

Director, South Loop Village

Timpo is a dedicated advocate with over 15 years of experience in fostering health equity within communities. Currently serving as the Director of Community Engagement at The Healthy Aging and Alzheimer’s Research Care (HAARC) Center at the University of Chicago, she spearheads initiatives to diversify research cohorts in National Institute of Aging funded programs and clinical trials. Phyllis specializes in cultivating partnerships between historically marginalized communities and academic research institutions, with the aim of mitigating health disparities among Black older adults. Her efforts concentrate on increasing awareness and research opportunities related to brain health, healthy aging, and Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias within minoritized populations. Her primary objective is to address social determinants of health through community engagement.

Nancy Berman , LCSW 

Emeritus and Co-Founder, South Loop Village

Isn’t it interesting – life often seems to come full circle. Well, at least the way it seems to be for Nancy Zitkovich Berman.

Born a few miles west of the South Loop, Nancy was raised in a working-class family. After graduating from high school, she went on to work as a secretary.   It wasn’t until a several years later, when her dear grandmother was hospitalized, that she came in contact with a social worker. It was that experience that inspired Nancy to become a social worker, with a focus on aging and health care.  Since then Nancy has worked in many areas of healthcare, always with a special interest in the elderly. Time does fly, and now Nancy is a senior herself, ready to retire from the workforce, but still with a passion for helping elders to attain the highest of quality of life possible through the South Loop Village!