Graduates' luncheon honors the accomplishments of Mercy Home’s student graduates.

Presented By The Leader Council of Mercy Home

About the Event

Date: June 2025 – Stay tuned for our 2025 date!
Time: 11:00AM
Place: Hilton Chicago, 720 S Michigan Ave, Chicago, IL

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For 23 years, the Leader Council has worked to improve educational opportunities for young people at Mercy Home for Boys & Girls. The Graduates’ Luncheon is the Leader Council’s signature annual fundraising event. Join us as we celebrate this year’s graduates and help us ensure brighter futures for even more of Mercy Home’s kids.

All dollars raised through the Graduates’ Luncheon will support educational programs at Mercy Home, assuring that kids have the resources they need to overcome achievement gaps, such as math and reading workshops, job readiness programs, after-school coursework, tutoring, and more.

For more information, email ritmcg@mercyhome.org

Stay Tuned For More Details About Our 2025 Graduates’ Luncheon!

Our 2024 Keynote Speaker

NATASHA PERSSICO ESCOBEDO, CPA, MBA, ASA-BV, ASA-ARM

Natasha Perssico Escobedo is a partner in the business valuation and forensic accounting practice at Epstein Nach Escobedo.

Natasha brings over nineteen years of professional experience from private industry, public accounting, consulting firms, and municipal government organizations. Over the course of her career, she has developed expertise in key areas such as accounting, financial reporting, business valuation, litigation support, and financial analysis. In her current practice, she provides business valuation, forensic accounting, and litigation consulting services.

Natasha grew up in Chicago in a difficult home environment. As a young child, she had responsibilities to help care for her mother, who struggled with both physical and mental health. Natasha was introduced to Mercy Home through our Friends First mentoring program and moved into the Home during her freshman year of high school. At Mercy Home, she was given the support and stability she needed to address childhood traumas and to catch up in school. She also received high school and college scholarships through Mercy Home.

She attended the University of Tampa where she earned a Bachelor of Science, with honors with an accounting major. During school breaks, she continued to reside at Mercy Home. She later earned a Master of Business Administration, with honors, with a forensic accounting emphasis, from DePaul University’s Kellstadt Graduate School of Business.

In addition to her career in consultancy, Natasha has served as an adjunct accounting faculty member at Roosevelt University and DePaul University. She has presented educational programs to the Illinois CPA Society, the Women’s Bar Association, and the Northwest Suburban Bar Association and served as a panelist for the Forensic Expert Witness Association at their 2023 National Conference and currently serves as a faculty member for Financial Poise: Business & Finance Education. She has extensive testifying and litigation experience and has coauthored numerous articles in accounting and business valuation publications.

Natasha is a member of the Illinois Certified Public Accountant Society and an Accredited Senior Appraiser in Business Valuation (ASA-BV) and Accredited in Appraisal Review and Management (ARM) with the American Society of Appraisers. Natasha is the current Chair of the Business Valuation Committee for the Chicago Chapter of the American Society of Appraisers.

In 2018, she was named partner at the consulting firm Epstein + Nach LLC, in 2024 the firm changed its name to Epstein Nach Escobedo.

Natasha and her husband have two daughters, ages 7 and 3.

Here are photos from our past Graduates’ Luncheon. Check out more photos from our 2024 Graduates’ Luncheon.