ESG Workshop: Storytelling Strategies

Tom Corfman is a senior consultant with 30+ years of experience in journalism, media relations and the law. He began his career as a civil rights litigator and criminal defense lawyer specializing in white-collar cases. He then became managing editor at The Chicago Reporter, an investigative monthly on race and poverty. Later, he was a reporter and editor at the Chicago Tribune and Crain’s Chicago Business, where he wrote or edited many high-pressure investigative stories on defense contractors, pharmaceutical executives, real estate developers and Medicaid providers. Before joining RCG in 2021, he served for four years as director of communications for Cook County Treasurer Maria Pappas.

Jim Ylisela is Co-founder and Senior Partner of Ragan Consulting Group. He is an award-winning veteran Chicago journalist and a former publisher of Ragan.com. He brings more than 30 years of experience in writing, editing, communications research and consulting. Ylisela has designed and organized newsrooms for many companies and organizations, including Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism, where he served as a faculty member and co-director of Medill News Service from 1988 to 2001. He works with communicators to create brand journalism news sites, organize and train writers and editors and restore reporting (and creative storytelling) to internal and external communications.