Helee Lev

In the male-dominated commercial real estate industry, Helee Lev is leaning in. She is the executive vice president and part owner of Goby Inc ., a Chicago tech company focused on energy and sustainability in the commercial real estate space. She helped grow the company from fewer than 10 people to 65 plus and is proud to have lead sales the past three years.

Helee earned her bachelor's in architecture at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and her MBA at Northwestern's Kellogg School of Management. She is helping repair the world -- literally -- by making a career out of her passion for sustainability. She has moved LEED/sustainability from a trendy best practice to a viable business model in the places she's worked.

An Israeli Jew from Glenview, Helee gives back to all kinds of organizations from JUF to the Anti-Cruelty Society to AIPAC and more.

Age:

33

Primary gig:

Executive Vice President at Goby Inc.

On the side:

I maintain my real estate brokers’ license and did many transactions for family and friends in my “spare time” last year … could be considered a lucrative hobby but I am passionate about home design and love helping/coaching people through emotional experiences (like buying a home).

Relationship status:

Married to a nice Jewish boy from Deerfield – we met in Hebrew class freshman year of college at U of I … our mothers are still kvelling!

Something most people don’t know about me:

I was the seventh grade spelling bee champion at Maple Middle School.

How do you Jew in Chicago?

jBaby play group on Friday afternoons, Chabad of Gold Coast on holidays that we don’t want to schlep up to Deerfield or Glenview, our amazing group of Jewish friends (who now have tiny Jewish babies – so fun), siblings Shabbat at our place on Friday nights (they all live in Chicago!), currently planning a work Shabbat for the 5 Jews that work at Goby.

Chicago's Jewish community in 10 years:

Kanye West said it well: harder, better, faster, stronger…Chicago is a proud city of Jews and a tight-knit community of business leaders — we will continue to kill it as those grounded Jews with Midwest values.