John Harris '86

2024 Distinguished Alumni Award for Community Service

John Harris ’86 is passionate about the intersection of economic growth, environmental stewardship and social equity. This triple bottom line of sustainability is a common thread in his professional and personal life. Harris studied communication and business at Carroll University and graduated in 1986. He met his wife, Clarice Osiecki Harris ’88, at Carroll. They have two children, Emerson and Anna, and live in Chicago’s Little Italy neighborhood.

After graduation, Harris became an editor of the Rockford Magazine (where he learned to foster community) and then a reporter for Forbes Magazine (where he wrote the first national story on Starbucks).

He went on to be director of communications for The Marmon Group, a $6 billion industrial conglomerate before moving into the branding and advertising agency business at VSA Partners in Chicago. Harris co-founded a5 Branding & Digital in 2001 with his wife, Clarice, and business partner, Fletcher Martin. a5 specializes in branding, marketing and communications to help create healthy, sustainable communities.

Clients include the State of Illinois (running a campaign to help people with gambling issues) and Illinois Park and Recreation Association (leading a campaign to encourage people to unplug from technology), as well as a number of communities, libraries, parks and recreation agencies, architecture and design firms, affordable housing developers and non-profits.

Harris has utilized his professional skills to be of service and encourage others to find ways to support people, their communities and the planet. In 2017, Harris helped launch the Oak Park Homelessness Coalition, a 50-plus member working group whose goal is to end homelessness in Oak Park. The coalition provides critical housing and wraparound services to the Oak Park area’s most vulnerable residents to ensure that a homelessness episode is rare, brief and one-time.

His commitment to the environment is evident in his work with GreenTown: The Future of Community, a sustainability experience he co-founded in 2007 with the nonprofit Seven Generations Ahead. More than two dozen GreenTown events have been held in four Midwestern states in the cities of Rockford, Aurora, Lake County, Grand Rapids, Terre Haute, South Bend, Toledo-Lucas County, and Chicago, to name a few, since 2007. GreenTown connects the public and private sectors to develop healthy, sustainable communities.

Harris’ vision recognizes that the citizens of tomorrow must be equipped to face the challenges of an evolving world. Therefore, he and Clarice have established a scholarship for first-generation college students at Triton Community College, where John Harris has served as a board member for the Triton College Foundation since 2010. Harris is a coach and mentor for high school business incubators and entrepreneurship programs. He co-founded Entrepreneur Leaders in Philanthropy, served as longtime board chair for Wonder Works Children's Museum, and serves as a board member for the Friends of the Village of Richton Park, Takeout 25 and as board chair of Garfield Park Conservatory Alliance.

He has received numerous recognitions, such as Philanthropist of the Year from the Oak Park River Forest Community Foundation. He has also developed award-winning marketing campaigns through a5

Inc. The “Are You Really Winning?” campaign won the Multicultural Marketing Award to help people with gambling addiction.

Harris is a proud Carroll graduate who continues to support the university in a variety of ways. He attends alumni events, provides financial support, and most recently hosted a Chicago area alumni event with Clarice at their a5 Inc. offices in downtown Chicago.

Harris has built a successful branding and digital communications firm focused on creating healthy, sustainable communities. He is a highly successful entrepreneur and communications leader who utilizes his professional and interpersonal skills toward projects and causes that benefit people and the planet.