IWIL Monthly Luncheon
Speaker: Director Raven DeVaugh, CMS, Director
Topic: Finding Your Flow: Navigating Progress, Peace, and Power
Thursday, February 19, 2026
11:30 a.m. - 1:00 p.m.

Please Note Lunch Meeting Location Change!
Mariah's Steakhouse & Pasta, 3317 Robbins Road in Springfield

REGISTER NOW

Finding Your Flow: Navigating Progress, Peace, and Power

This conversation will center on the delicate dance that must be perfected while using your power to pursue meaningful progress within systems while maintaining both internal and external peace.

Key Concepts:

• When to ebb, while finding your flow.
• With great power comes great responsibility.
• Re-defining peace—what peace means to me?
• Using the right measuring cup when assessing progress.
• Now what?

Speaker Information:

Raven A. DeVaughn was appointed Director of the Illinois Department of Central Management Services (CMS) in January 2023 by Governor JB Pritzker and unanimously confirmed by the Illinois Senate. Raven oversees the Agency’s $8B annual budget and a staff of nearly 800 responsible for managing the State’s administrative functions: including human resources, facilities management, procurement, benefits for employees/retirees, fleet management, administrative hearings, communications, operational excellence, and other critical operational roles.

Prior to the appointment as Director, Raven served as Assistant Director at CMS where she provided executive leadership to the procurement bureau (promoting minority, women, and veteran owned-business participation in CMS contracts), the Bureau of Administrative Hearings, and the Illinois Office of Communications and Information.

Before joining the State, Raven served as Director of Economic Development Initiatives within the Office of Civic Engagement at the University of Chicago where she designed and advanced policies surrounding the University’s community-based economic inclusion efforts on the mid-South Side of Chicago. Under the umbrella of UChicago Local, Raven identified strategies to leverage the University’s resources to implement intentional efforts to buy local, hire local, live local, and partner local.

An experienced economic inclusion strategist, Raven has public and private sector experience specializing in procurement and supplier diversity compliance. Raven’s career has focused on lowering barriers to access to critical opportunities small businesses across Illinois. Raven has held director-level positions at several organizations, including World Business Chicago, the Public Building Commission of Chicago, and the Housing Authority of Cook County.

In 2024, Raven won the National Ray Walton Leadership Award from the National Association of State Chief Administrators (NASCA), which recognizes State leaders for their outstanding service, passion, and commitment to State government. A believer in the power of professional development, Raven is a 2021 Fellow of the Chicago Urban League’s IMPACT Program and a member of the Leadership Greater Chicago’s 2025 Signature Fellows Program.

Maintaining a strong commitment to civic engagement, Raven serves on the board of the Black Ensemble Theater in Chicago, Vice-President of the IMPACT Alumni Association, and is an active peer-mentor to professionals.

Raven earned a Bachelor of Arts in English from Howard University and a Juris Doctor degree from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. 

Please Note Lunch Meeting Location Change!
Mariah's Steakhouse & Pasta, 3317 Robbins Road in Springfield

REGISTER NOW

Our luncheons are open to all IWIL members and their guests. Registration is $25 for members and guests through February 13; $30 on or after February 14. Registration will close on February 16.

*IWIL is unable to provide refunds.  If you cannot attend an event for which you have registered, we encourage you to send someone in your place. Simply have your guest indicate at the check-in table that she is your substitute.  We appreciate your understanding.