Juan Carlos Linares is a nonprofit executive and human rights attorney in Chicago. He is currently the President and CEO of Association House of Chicago, founded as an original settlement house in 1899 and today one of the region's largest social service agencies with a mission to advance each person’s full participation in the life of their families, communities and society. Juan Carlos previously served as the City of Chicago's first Chief Engagement Officer and as Executive Director of LUCHA, a Chicago-based affordable housing development agency.

Juan Carlos has also served as Chair of the Illinois Advisory Committee to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, which published reports to the U.S. Congress on Environmental Justice, Voting Rights and Fair Housing in Illinois. He has had mayoral appointments to the Chicago Low-Income Housing Trust Fund, the Chicago Plan Commission, and the Chicago Commission on Human Relations. For his work, Juan Carlos has been awarded the Friends of the Parks “Lakefront Protection Award” and the Opportunity Finance Network's “National Justice Award" among other recognitions, and he has participated as a Fellow with the Aspen Institute, The Chicago Community Trust, the Latino Policy Forum and Leadership Greater Chicago.