When Valencia Koker first met Bears President & CEO Kevin Warren in 2019, she felt it was a divine encounter.
Warren, who had recently been appointed Big Ten commissioner, his wife, Greta, and their two kids, Peri and Powers, had launched the Warren Family Foundation, which focuses on embracing, educating and empowering youth through ready-access opportunities that expand their worldview. As new members of the Chicagoland community, the family wanted to make an immediate impact on the city's youth, starting with Chicago Public Schools. Peri found a connection to Dewey Elementary Academy of Fine Arts, where Koker was serving as principal at the time.
What started out as the Warrens donating school uniforms turned into volunteering at the school, empowering students to remain curious through focused preparation, and later that year, taking the 8th grade class on a shopping spree for their upcoming transition to high school and purchasing Chrome laptops for the 8th grade students.
"I had never seen that," Koker said. "I had especially never seen that from a Black man or a Black family. I am from Racine, Wisconsin. I have never seen a person of that stature care so much.
"I am just always raving about him, especially now, because I met him before he was at the Chicago Bears. Now, his name is out there for everything, but I feel really privileged to have known him, and I have always wanted to elevate the values behind the man."
That relationship culminated April 16 when Koker, now the senior vice president and executive director of City Year Chicago, honored Warren at City Year's annual Ripples of Hope Gala. City Year Chicago is a nonprofit organization and AmeriCorps program that aims to help students in under-resourced Chicago Public Schools reach their potential through the deployment of more than 250 young adult mentors and tutors. The annual gala helps financially support the organization as well as raise awareness about its work, placing an emphasis on the idea that every member serving in schools is a ripple of hope for the students, schools and future of the city.
Koker and City Year Chicago recognized Warren for his continuous empowerment and support of the community's youth, whether it be personally through the Warren Family Foundation or professionally through his role as Bears President & CEO.
"What I want to say publicly is this — you may not have known it at the time, but that investment and the investment you and your entire family made, which included your time, talent and treasure, did something to me personally," Koker said at the gala. "It expanded what I thought was possible, not just for that specific community and those young people, but what it looks like when someone leads from the inside out. You showed me what it looks like when someone with influence and access chooses to show up for young people who need it most.
"Those moments have stayed with me, and tonight it is truly a privilege to stand here in this role and celebrate you and to elevate the alignment between you and City Year Chicago as it relates to the belief and the power in young people."
City Year honored Warren as well as global law firm Kirkland & Ellis and Christine O'Reilly-Riordan, senior vice president of community relations at the Chicago White Sox and executive director of Chicago White Sox Charities.
"That was a really special night," Warren shared, "especially to celebrate the impact that City Year has had on the Chicagoland community, and really around the world, the number of people who have been impacted. They are transformative and have really incredible people. What President Michael Alter has done and then obviously, as I call her, principal Koker, what she has been doing, and everyone, the board — it is really special."
Since joining the Bears, Warren has been an instrumental force in pushing girls flag football forward, helping provide opportunities and access to Illinois' youth athletes, high schoolers and now, collegiate student-athletes. As proud members of the Chicagoland community, the Warrens pledged $1 million in 2024 to Lurie's Children Hospital, where Greta now volunteers weekly and Kevin supported during the NFL's 2025 My Cause My Cleats campaign.
"Supporting our young people in Chicago or anywhere in the world is the key," Warren said. "I mean, that is our future. I am the beneficiary of people being a ripple in my life. I think that is what we have to do, especially with our young people and the way the world is right now. We have to really lean into them and help them because they are our future and they are so talented."
More than a dozen family members and Bears front office staff accompanied Warren to the gala, including his wife, Greta, daughter, Peri, Mai Davis, his former executive assistant, and her husband, Saul, strategic executive partner - office of the President & CEO Noor Davis, executive vice president of people and culture & chief human resources officer Liz Geist, executive vice president of diversity, equity and inclusion & chief impact officer Tanesha Wade, executive vice president of legal and business affairs & chief legal officer Krista Whitaker, executive vice president of revenue & chief business officer Meka White Morris, senior vice president of administration & chief financial officer Laura Anderson and senior vice president of strategy and global affairs & chief of staff Tanya Dreesen.
"Kevin is the kind of leader who backs his values with action, not just words," Anderson said. "He and Greta have invested personally in this community in ways that do not make the press releases, and that is what makes it real. His dedication to Chicago's youth is personal, consistent and longstanding. It was an honor to be there to celebrate that, and to support an organization doing critical work around educational equity in our city."
"Serving under Kevin's leadership is truly inspiring, especially as part of a team that genuinely values and prioritizes serving our communities," Wade said. "Celebrating Kevin's well-deserved recognition at City Year's Ripples of Hope Gala alongside our executive team was a proud moment and a reflection of our shared commitment to making a positive impact both personally and professionally."
During Warren's speech, he discussed his own interpretation of "Ripples of Hope," expressing gratitude for family and mentors who went out of their way to create positivity and opportunity in his life. Warren urged attendees to both reflect on the ripples in their own lives as well as find ways to become a ripple in a young person's life.
That message, of course, resonated with Koker, who believes Warren is one of the ripples not only in her life, but for the entire city of Chicago.
"Honestly, he is an amazing blueprint for this city," Koker said, "of what it means to live out your values personally and professionally. To actually take those values into whatever role you have and to actually allow your leadership to consistently be shaped by your values and not letting any position change that. I met him when he was at the Big Ten, and now at the Bears, he is the same man, same leadership style. And I just love watching him bring other people along on that journey. So at the end of the day, Kevin Warren is needed in this city. For every reason that I just said, and for people like me, who are not as far in our careers yet.
"I am looking to him. I am looking at how he leads his family, how he is showing up every day. And even tonight, he just poured into this room. So no matter where he is going, where he is at, he is leaving something behind, and I think that is his legacy."
