Alex Shibicky

My wife, Monika, and I have been downtown Chicago city dwellers since 1981. Although being transplants, we are proud to call Chicago home. 

While being a self-described sports enthusiast, my wife, however, has had a profound influence on my other interests that have evolved from caring for our own dogs and cats to our volunteer efforts with a number of Chicago area animal shelters in rescuing, socializing and training distressed animals and helping them find new homes. My parents always taught me it's not how you find things, it's how you leave them, and my wife and I continue to build on that philosophy through animal and environmental related causes. 

I have been active with the Court Case Dogs through a program at Safe Humane Chicago where we have successfully lobbied the judicial system to allow select and skilled volunteers to work with the dogs owned by people that have been arrested for cruelty and/or abuse charges and where their impounded dogs have been “doing time for a crime they didn’t commit” at Chicago Animal Care & Control. Through the Manners Classes, our objective is to keep the dogs socialized so that we can rehabilitate them with the hope of getting them confiscated from their owners and rehomed through rescue shelter partners.

Safe Humane Chicago has 3 other programs that form the cornerstone of their mission:

The court advocacy group that has a SHC member at each court appearance advocating for the rights of the dog.

The community outreach program that takes our dogs into the schools in targeted ZIP codes,  where there tends to be a general fear of dogs, and  teaching young students about compassion, empathy and understanding.

The VALOR program that pairs up dogs with returning military veterans, many of whom are suffering from PTSD, and allows both dogs and vets to continue the healing process.

As part of Northwestern Mutual, I'm proud to help accelerate the search for better childhood cancer treatments while supporting families undergoing treatment, and survivors from late effects. Here are some of the organizations we partner with and, no, it's NOT my lemonade stand:

When people feel better about their money, good things happen—they become more confident and feel more secure. For more than 160 years, Northwestern Mutual has helped people achieve the financial flexibility they need to live more and worry less.

Being a mutual company means Northwestern Mutual reports to its clients, not Wall Street. They don't believe in chasing fads or taking undue risk for short-term gains. Instead, they take a long-term approach—both in the way we help people plan to reach their goals, and in the way they do business. This has served their clients (and mine) well through all kinds of economic ups and downs, including wars, recessions, even the recent pandemic.

It's why I'm happy to be part of a company that's in it for the long-haul and prioritizes clients over profit.