As Chicago prepared for an historical mayoral runoff election on April 2, we invited Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle to discuss the key issues facing Chicago. President Preckwinkle’s career has included a number of public sector positions, beginning as a high school history teacher and serving as Alderman of the 4 th Ward for 20 years and as Cook County Board President since 2010.
SPEAKERS
Chief Financial Officer | City of Chicago
Former Deputy Mayor | City of Chicago
Corporation Counsel | City of Chicago
As Chicago awaited the outcome of its mayoral election, we heard from three members of Mayor Emanuel’s senior team. They discussed what they saw as the key accomplishments of the Emanuel Administration as well as issues to monitor in the coming administration.
February 26, 2018 brought a record-breaking mayoral election in Chicago with 14 candidates on the ballot, resulting in a runoff election. This luncheon featured a conversation with mayoral candidate Lori Lightfoot, a lawyer who most recently served as a senior equity partner at Mayer Brown LLP and has held numerous public section positions, on the key issues and policies outlined in her platform.
CEO | Chicago Consulting Alliance
SPEAKERS
Chicago Police Department
Chicago Police Department
Deputy Chief of Staff for Public Safety
Former Attorney General | State of Illinois
Attorney General | State of Illinois
Despite meaningful progress, Chicago continues to have more annual homicides than New York and Los Angeles combined. Reforming the Chicago Police Department is an important part of a long-term solution to Chicago’s gun violence epidemic. Our panel of leaders in the critical efforts to reduce violence discussed the provisions, negotiations, and expected impact of the police consent decree that was approved by a federal judge in January 2019.
During his tenure, Mayor Emanuel led major initiatives to improve education, youth programming, neighborhood development, transportation, infrastructure, public health, and public safety in Chicago, and made significant improvements in the financial stability of the City. Shortly after his announcement that he would not seek a third term, Mayor Emanuel reflected on his time as Mayor and discussed his thoughts about the City’s biggest challenges and opportunities that lay ahead.
Doris Kearns Goodwin is a world-renowned presidential historian, public speaker, and Pulitzer Prize-winning, New York Times #1 best-selling author. Ms. Goodwin joined us following the September 2018 publication of her seventh book, Leadership in Turbulent Times, a culmination of her five-decade career of studying the American presidents focusing on Presidents Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, Franklin Roosevelt and Lyndon B. Johnson, which became an instant New York Times bestseller.
The November luncheon celebrated the service of America’s veterans and active service members. Our guest speaker was Illinois’ U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth, an Iraq War Veteran, Purple Heart recipient, and former Assistant Secretary of the Department of Veterans Affairs who served in the Reserve Forces for 23 years. Representatives of the member organizations spearheading our Veterans Working Group (VWG) joined the meeting and were available to answer questions. The mission of the VWG is to make Chicagoland one of the best places in the nation for returning veterans to enter the civilian workforce and build a career.
SPEAKERS
Senior Political Commentator, CNN, and Host, The Axe Files | Director, University of Chicago Institute of Politics | Senior Advisor to President Barack Obama (2009-2011)
White House Chief of Staff (2017) | Chairman of the Republican National Committee (2011–2017)
In advance of the November 2018 mid-term election, we invited leading political strategists from each party to discuss their thoughts on the political climate in our country and share their views on the expected election outcome and its implications for the future. We welcomed David Axelrod, a 35-year veteran of politics and journalism and former Senior Advisor to President Barack Obama, and Reince Priebus, former Chairman of the Republic National Committee and Chief of Staff to Donald Trump, for a fireside chat three weeks before the election.
Steve Easterbrook has been President and CEO of the world’s largest restaurant company since 2015. Easterbrook is recognized for leading McDonald’s turnaround by sparking the evolution of its company culture with McDonald’s global system of franchisees, suppliers, and employees moving with greater speed, efficiency, and purpose to satisfy the rising expectations of today’s customers in their 37,000 restaurants in more than 110 countries. As part of this process, McDonald’s moved their headquarters to downtown Chicago from Oak Brook in June 2018.