Marcia Lipetz was a leader in the nonprofit community of Chicago. She helped set up the Center on Halsted and in the 1980s, was the first full time executive director at the AIDS Foundation of Chicago as well as what was to become the Alphawood Foundation. She served on the board of the Illinois chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union. After spending 11 years at Alphawood, Lipetz became president and CEO of the Executive Services Corps of Chicago. She also did consulting at her own firm.