Who We Are

Community Lawyers for Democracy

The CAC advances its mission through a free community lawyer model that focuses on two broad concepts:

The first concept is empowering community members to take action.
CAC builds the skills, knowledge, and confidence of community members to be active participants in the democratic life of their community, on self-identified issues of public concern.

The second concept is pushing public institutions toward greater accountability, transparency, and accessibility. CAC removes undemocratic barriers that may be rooted in local or state laws that prevent meaningful participation in the democratic process (such as access to those related to public participation, open government, government-held information, the ballot, the airwaves, and the courts).

Theresa Amato founded the Illinois-based Citizen Advocacy Center (CAC) in late 1993, opened the CAC publicly in 1994, and served as its first executive director for eight years.
Theresa has spent more than three decades as a litigator, advisor, counsel, of counsel, in-house counsel, general counsel, or executive director in various nonprofit, for profit and political entities.
She is currently writing a book and has appeared in media outlets around the world, and speaks to audiences about building democracy, transparency, human rights, corporate power, professional responsibility, electoral reform, and advancing justice.
A Chicagoland native, Amato graduated from Lake Park High School (Roselle, IL), Harvard University with honors in government and economics, and NYU School of Law, where she was a Root-Tilden Scholar and the recipient of the Orison S. Marden and Vanderbilt Medals; Amato is an elected member of the American Law Institute, a member of the Economic Club of Chicago, and a Fellow of the American Bar Foundation. Amato is the first woman in history to run two high-profile, U.S. presidential campaigns outside of the two major parties.
In 1998, Amato was named a Wasserstein Fellow at Harvard Law School, and in 2002, she was selected as a Fellow at Harvard’s Institute of Politics at the John F. Kennedy School of Government, where she led a seminar entitled “Mobilizing for Justice: How to Take on the System and Make a Difference.”
The Citizen Advocacy Center's Board of Directors is comprised of individuals dedicated to advancing our mission. While the board's primary responsibility is to set policy for the organization, members have also been tremendously involved in the activities of the Citizen Advocacy Center. Most board members have served on our Advisory Council and are active community participants in their own right!
Myrrha Guzman, Esq., President
Brian Conlon, Treasurer
Gordon Goodman, Secretary
Theresa Amato, Esq.
Cheryl Cross
Constance Mixon
Claire Nader
Terry Pastika, Esq.
Josh Silverstein, Esq.
MaryLynn Zajdel
The Citizen Advisory Council provides community representation to the CAC on issues of public concern and promotes our mission in the communities we serve. The Council meets twice a year to develop recommendations for the CAC.
Council members make suggestions to the CAC regarding activities that will assist citizen participation in community affairs as well as ways to systemically strengthen the public's capacities, resources, and institutions for self-governance.   
Advisory council members act as ambassadors to the community for CAC activities. As the "eyes and ears" of CAC in the community, they look for ways to promote CAC's mission. Council members serve in an advisory and volunteer capacity for a term of two years with an option to renew service for an additional two years. The Council's role has grown with CAC.
The role of the advisory counsel is to help CAC stay connected to and continue to meet the needs of the communities it serves. Advisory counsel members represent various western suburbs of Chicago.
Jack Bentley, Executive Director
Jack is expanding the reach of CAC, promoting it’s successes, identifying new stakeholders, and creating an expansive team environment throughout CAC's service area.
He has a deep appreciation for CAC's innovative and catalytic "Community Lawyer" model through which CAC delivers its services and brings enthusiasm and a spirit of innovation to his work in advancing CAC’s mission and goals.  
Jack sees his role as a lawyer not only through the lens of being an experienced litigator and practitioner of law, but also through the lens of community leadership, building relationships, and proactively engaging others in addressing causes and being philanthropically active.    
Jack first joined the CAC in 2011 as a legal intern from Chicago-Kent College of Law. After graduating from law school, Jack worked in the Cook County States Attorney's Office and, more recently, at Johnson & Bell, Ltd. Jack has also held board leadership positions in a variety of Bar Associations and nonprofit organizations about which he is passionate, including A Just Harvest and Grey Ghost Theater.
Cathi Koch, Director of Internal Operations, Office Manager
Cathi’s professional journey has been an exciting adventure, navigating from Office Administration in the legal, finance, government, and pharma industries through Quality Management and Account Executive roles in the Medical Device space. She thrives on driving improvement initiatives and forging strong client relationships.
With a relentless thirst for knowledge and a passion for challenging the status quo, Cathi approaches every challenge with curiosity and determination. She constantly seeks innovative solutions to propel herself and those around her forward. These skills and attributes have naturally aligned her path with CAC.
Beyond her professional endeavors, Cathi has always been a staunch advocate for democracy, maintaining a healthy skepticism towards politics. Her activism began early, writing to her Congressman in elementary school to advocate for racehorse welfare. Since then, she has volunteered for political campaigns, organized voter registration drives, served as a deputy registrar, and acted as a precinct committeeperson. Cathi firmly believes in the power of people coming together towards a common goal to effect change, emphasizing the importance of active participation and community engagement. She is dedicated to helping others find their place and voice in making a difference.