About Us
Get to know the co-founders of the Cognitive Empowerment Consulting Group, LLC.
Tara Adams, Ed.M., JD
Tara Adams has spent her professional career dedicated to education, serving in roles within higher education administration at the Northwestern Pritzker School of Law, University of Illinois College of Law at Urbana-Champaign, and North Carolina State University. She also worked in the Judicial Education division at the Administrative Office of the Illinois Courts, assisting in the development and execution of continuing legal education for the state judiciary. In addition to working for half a decade in higher education fundraising, Tara also spent years raising funds as a member of the Auxiliary Board for the Lincoln Park Zoo in Chicago, Illinois.
Tara received her B.S. in finance and international business from Illinois State University. She received her Ed.M. and JD from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where Tara is also a current Ph.D. student focusing on Education Policy, Organization & Leadership. She is the co-founder of the Cognitive Empowerment Consulting Group, LLC and is dedicated to helping other professionals navigate ethical and legal issues in the development community.
Anthony Pomonis, CFRE
As an experienced entrepreneur and Certified Fund Raising Executive, Anthony has spent the last two-plus decades helping individuals and organizations achieve their goals. He has served as a major gift officer for the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences at the University of Illinois, a generalist at the University of Illinois Foundation, and team lead at the University of Central Florida. In his roles, Anthony developed strategies and initiatives that resulted in philanthropic support of the largest land-grant in the Big 10, the three Universities of the Illinois System, and the largest college at UCF, the second-largest university in the country.
Anthony graduated with his B.A. in English from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 2002, and began a 15-year journey as an entrepreneur, opening and running no fewer than 5 regional restaurants. He served on the Regional Executive Board of Big Brothers Big Sisters (2010–2015), the executive board of his local Greek Orthodox Church (2014-2022), and the Kirby Medical Foundation Board (2020-2022); he currently sits on the Orthodox Christian Fellowship National Board and is an at-large board member for the Charitable Gift Planners of Central Florida. Anthony considers himself to be a lifelong learner, and has finished his College for Financial Planning coursework to sit for the CFP exam. He is the co-founder of the Cognitive Empowerment Consulting Group, LLC.