Our team

Meet the team
behind Alta Futures.

Jessica Sieja

Jessica is Founder + Chair of Alta Futures.

Her role is to define the long-term strategy, work with peer philanthropists to accelerate investment and growth in our priority areas, and be hands-on in Alta’s learning journey. Her approach to philanthropy is an extension of her grounded optimism, curiosity, and willingness to take risks. Jessica serves on the board of Chicago Public Media. Along with her husband and two children, she shares her time between her hometown of Las Vegas and Chicago.

Andrew Sieja

Andrew is Co-Founder of Alta Futures.

He is a husband, father, technologist, entrepreneur, and avid motorcycle enthusiast. Growing up as a child of Polish immigrants, he had a nomadic childhood, attending 11 different grade schools and high schools in Detroit and Chicago while also spending a considerable time in communist Poland, which has greatly shaped his worldview. As a software company entrepreneur, he successfully launched and scaled Relativity into a thriving multinational software company. For the past 25 years, Andrew has primarily resided in the Chicago Wicker Park and West Town neighborhoods, where he is dedicated to the local community. He devotes the majority of his philanthropic efforts to our community initiatives.

Sarah Berghorst

Sarah is Alta Futures’ team leader, as well as head of our community work.

Her career has spanned a variety of sectors, where she has focused on building teams and bringing high-impact ideas to life. Sarah’s experience includes advising philanthropists, launching organizations, scaling an education nonprofit, driving strategic change at Fortune 500s, managing international microfinance projects, and leading community development initiatives as a Peace Corps volunteer. Kellogg School of Management named her a Young Impact Scholar due to her contributions to the social impact field. She serves on the board of Near North Montessori and Braven and is a Leadership Greater Chicago Fellow. Sarah is fluent in Spanish and has lived in four countries, but her favorite place is Chicago, where she resides with her husband and two children.

Aaron Koch

Aaron is Alta Futures' lead for our climate and democracy work.

Throughout his career, Aaron has strived to improve communities and our environment through leadership roles in local governments, non-profit organizations, and philanthropy. Aaron has developed and implemented plans and policies in the Mayor’s Offices of Michael Bloomberg and Rahm Emanuel, with a focus on climate change, resilience, public space, and water. He has served in leadership roles with the Mayors’ Institute on City Design and the Trust for Public Land. He has also taught environmental policy courses at Columbia University and Pratt Institute in New York City. Most recently, he led environmental grantmaking for Crown Family Philanthropies. Aaron resides in Chicago with his wife and two children.