Caitlyn Brennan

A Class of 2002 Sandburg High School graduate, Caitlyn Brennan has a passion for serving others. Cailyn was a senior on 9/11 and vividly remembers sitting in English class when the word spread about the tragedy in New York. She contributes her drive to find a career in service from this event.

She received her bachelor’s degree from Miami University with a triple major in History, Sociology, and Religion. After graduation, she began her public service career, serving as an intern and then contractor for multiple international agencies focusing on public health disasters. Returning stateside, Caitlyn obtained her master’s degree in Public Service Management and spent much of her time traveling the world implementing emergency management and sustainability measures.

In 2013, she came upon The 100 Club of Chicago, a nonprofit that provided support to families of first responders who were killed in the line of duty in Cook County. She stayed with this mission, taking on various titles, until 2020 when she became the Chief Executive Officer. She broadened the mission of the Club to include every county of the State. She now runs the 100 Club of Illinois serving all 102 counties and roughly 80,000 first responders.

She serves as the on-call emergency response liaison to families and departments who suffer the tragic loss of a first responder in the line of duty. She also trains active-duty first responders on the path to resiliency to offset their dangerous jobs.

This thread of service, nurtured through her time at Sandburg and world events, has led Caitlyn to make a significant difference in the lives of first responders in Illinois.