LFA News

Greg Greenwell joined the Lake Forest Academy staff in July as the Director of Marketing and Communications after spending the previous 22 years at DePaul University. While at DePaul he was the associate athletics director of communications and digital strategy leading the publicity efforts for the 15 sports teams in the athletics department. Prior to DePaul, he made stops at Texas Tech University, Indiana University and with the Chicago White Sox. The Palmetto, Fla., native played baseball and graduated from Flagler College in 1997 before earning his graduate degree from DePaul in 2017. Greg and his family live off campus in Mundelein, and he will be helping to coach boys volleyball in the spring season.

One of the newest additions to the LFA staff is Tamara Robinson. Having left the corporate environment in South Africa to travel the world with her family, Tamara arrived in Lake Forest three years ago from Amsterdam. Since arriving she has taken to working alongside the Lake County Coalition against Human Trafficking and serves as an Educator and Public Appearance Coordinator for SSN. Adding to this, she has served as an Art Therapy Advocate in various public schools and rehabilitation facilities in Illinois. Tamara seeks to use the insight of cultures and communities she has experienced in more than 20 countries as a foundation to being the LFA Campus Store Associate.

Emmy Schwerdt is the Digital Engagement Specialist at LFA and joined the staff in November. She is from Lake Zurich, Ill. and graduated from Carthage College in 2019. While at Carthage she worked as a student in the college’s Office of Communications while earning a Communications degree with a Spanish minor. Prior to LFA, she worked at Kieffer | Starlite as a project manager. 

Filipp Velgach joined LFA's History and Social Sciences Department after eight years of teaching and coaching in Chicago. He is originally from Vladikavkaz, North Ossetia, having moved to the United States in the 1990s. After high school, Fil attended Purdue University before moving on to Carnegie Mellon University where he earned an MA in History. He took a two-year detour while in Pittsburgh after finishing his studies, and adjuncted and worked in the film industry there. Upon returning to Chicago, he taught Social Sciences and Language while coaching football and track and field. He lives off-campus in Northbrook with his family and teaches World History I and World History II while also coaching boys soccer, coed squash and track.