Leadership
MPC bridges gaps between government, community and business leaders, enabling them to more powerfully join forces and collectively improve our region. We believe that strong partnerships rooted in respect, listening and trust are critical to creative, effective problem-solving.
In memoriam
Mr. Baird in an undated Chicago Sun-Times photo, wearing his signature bow tie.
MPC marked a sad day on Dec. 27, 2013, when John W. Baird, chairman of Baird & Warner, passed away at the age of 98. In the civic world, some leaders come and go. Chicago, and MPC, are fortunate that was not the case with Mr. Baird, who joined MPC's Board in 1953 and was an active and dedicated member for more than 60 of the organization's 80 years.
At the helm of one of Chicago's largest real estate firms and as a venerable leader in the region's civic community, Mr. Baird altered the course of Chicago's development and, in so doing, shaped the city we know and love today.
During his tenure as MPC president, from 1957 to 1963, Mr. Baird called on the Chicago City Council to enact a fair housing ordinance barring discrimination in real estate sales "against any person because of his race, color, religion, national origin or ancestry." Though the law passed in 1963, neither the city nor its Real Estate Board was ready for true change, prompting Mr. Baird to resign from that board in protest of continued discrimination.
From 1961 to 1973, he served first as a commissioner and then as president of the Northeastern Illinois Planning Commission, the precursor to today's Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning (CMAP). In the early 2000s, when the region was debating CMAP's creation, Mr. Baird greatly informed MPC's strategic advocacy urging us "aim high and do not compromise too soon." In the 1960s and 1970s he led the private development of Willow-Dayton in Lincoln Park; Campus Green on the Near West Side; and South Commons near the Illinois Institute of Technology. In the 1980s he, along with fellow MPC board colleagues Harry Weese and Larry Booth, inaugurated the concept of industrial loft conversions to housing with their precedent-setting Printers Row project.
Long before the real estate market embraced concepts like sustainability and green building, Mr. Baird was a champion for adaptive reuse of buildings and open space. He served many years on the Commission for Chicago Landmarks; co-founded NeighborSpace in 1996; and was a longtime member of the Trust for Public Land's board, bringing an urban parks focus to its work nationally and locally. In Chicago, that work led to open space hallmarks across the city, including Senka Park on the Southwest Side, Ping Tom Park on the Chicago River in Chinatown, and, most recently, The 606, formerly known as the Bloomingdale Trail.
Mr. Baird continued to attend MPC meetings into his late 90s, inspiring staff and volunteers alike. He generously shared stories from MPC's history, including memories of working alongside MPC's longtime executive director Dorothy Rubel, who passed away in 2012 at the age of 108.
Mr. Baird's legacy will long be felt by MPC and is extended by the involvement of both his son-in-law, James Mann, and grandson, Wyllys Mann. Equal parts visionary and "doer," Mr. Baird was a true gift to Chicago who will long set the bar for civic leadership for our region.
Board of Governors
Executive Committee Officers
- Chair
Joseph A. Gregoire
Executive Director of Development
Loyola University Chicago
- Vice Chairs
Ann M. Drake
CEO
DSC Logistics, Inc.
- Jesse H. Ruiz
Partner
Drinker Biddle & Reath, LLP
- Vice Chairs Development
Ellen Carnahan
Principal,
Machrie Enterprises LLC
- James P. Stirling
Chairman, Midwest Advisory Board
UBS Investment Bank
- Secretary
Kathy Hopinkah Hannan
Nat'l Managing Partner, Corp. Resp. & Diversity
KPMG LLP
- Treasurer
Lisa Snow
Principal
Davis & Hosfield Consulting LLC
- General Counsel
John M. McDonough
- Past Chair
King Harris
Chairman
Harris Holdings Inc.
- President
MarySue Barrett
President
Metropolitan Planning Council
Board of Governors Members
*Denotes Executive Committee Members
- J. Tyler Anthony
Senior Vice President, Distribution Operations
ComEd
- Karen M. Atwood
President
BlueCross BlueShield of Illinois
- Kyle Barnett
Senior Vice President
BMO Harris Bank
- George W. Bilicic
Vice Chairman of US Investment Banking
Lazard
- Lawrence T. Borgard
President & COO-Utilities
Integrys Energy Group
- Byron Brazier
Pastor
Apostolic Church of God
- Monique Brinkman-Smith
Senior VP & Managing Director, Wealth Management
Northern Trust
- Carole L. Brown
Managing Director
Barclays Capital
- *Todd C. Brown
- John A. Buck
Chairman & CEO
The John Buck Company
- Christopher B. Burke
President
Christopher B. Burke Engineering, Ltd.
- Olga Camargo
Managing Partner
Toroso Investments, LLC
- *Paul C. Carlisle
Executive Vice President
Wintrust Financial Corporation
- Pedro J. Cevallos-Candau
President & CEO, Transportation & Infrastructure
Primera Engineers, Ltd.
- Chris Conley
Founding Partner
Gravitytank
- Lester Crown
Crown Family Philanthropies
- Jon B. DeVries
Director Marshall Bennett Institute of Real Estate
Roosevelt University
- Sidney R. Dillard
Partner, Investment Banking Division
Loop Capital Markets
- Derek Douglas
Vice President for Civic Engagement
University of Chicago
- *Robert V. Fitzsimmons, II
Co-Founder & Principal
Next Generation Public Affairs, Inc.
- *James C. Franczek, Jr.
President
Franczek Radelet P.C.
- John S. Gates, Jr.
Chairman & CEO
PortaeCo LLC
- Linda Goodman
Principal
Goodman Williams Group
- Alan “Al” Gordon
Chairman & CEO
Richland, Gordon & Company
- *Jacques N. Gordon
Global Investment Strategist
LaSalle Investment Management
- *M. Hill Hammock
Chairman
Chicago Deferred Exchange Company
- David D. Hiller
President & CEO
McCormick Foundation
- Lerry J. Knox
Managing Partner
Unplugged Capital, LLC
- Bernard Loyd
President
Urban Juncture, Inc.
- Mary Katherine Ludgin
Managing Director, Investment Research
Heitman
- Peter C Malecek
Commercial Real Estate Regional Executive
Bank of America
- *James E. Mann
- *Lee M. Mitchell
Managing Partner
Thoma Bravo, Inc.
- Paul E. Nowicki
Assistant V.P. - Government and Public Policy
BNSF Railway Company
- *J. Scot Pepper
Executive Vice President
Pepper Construction Company
- Stephen M. Porras
President
Axia Development, Inc.
- John S. Poth
Partner
PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP
- Quintin E. Primo, III
Chairman & Chief Executive Officer
Capri Capital Advisors LLC
- Howard M. Radzely
Vice President & Assistant General Counsel
The Boeing Company
- Jorge Ramirez
President
Chicago Federation of Labor, AFL-CIO
- *George A. Ranney, Jr.
President & CEO
Metropolis Strategies
- Matthew R. Reilein
Sr. VP, New Markets Tax Credit Group
JPMorgan Chase
- Carol Ross Barney
Founder & President
Ross Barney Architects, Inc.
- Jean Rudd
Principal
JR Strategies
- Smita Shah
President
SPAAN Tech, Inc.
- Martin Stern
Executive Vice President
U.S. Equities Realty, LLC
- Bruce W. Taylor
Chairman
Taylor Capital Group
- Michael A. Thomas
Vice President, Administration & Real Estate
The Allstate Corporation
- Mary White Vasys
President
Vasys Consulting Ltd.
- *Paula Wolff
Senior Executive
Metropolis Strategies
- Zandra Zuno
Exec. Dir., Multicultural Marketing Practice Lead
Golin/Harris International
MPC thanks the following people whose Board terms expired in 2013
- Rita Athas
- Nora Moreno Cargie
- John Baird (deceased)
- Robert O'Brien
- Kevin Richardson
Honorary Board
- Edward K. Banker
Senior Vice President (Retired)
Harris Trust and Savings Bank
- Laurence O. Booth
Design Principal
Booth Hansen Associates
- Clark Burrus
Vice Chairman (Retired)
First Chicago Capital Markets
- Donald Haider
Professor of Public Management
Northwestern University, Kellogg School of Management
- Lawrence Howe
(Retired)
The Chicago Community Trust
- James J. McClure
Drinker Biddle & Reath, LLP
- Walter W. Reed
President (Retired)
Creative Relations International, Ltd.
- Daniel R. Toll
Chairman (Retired)
Corona Corporation
- Priscilla A. Walter
Of Counsel
Drinker Biddle & Reath, LLP
Resource Board
- Mark A. Angelini
Interim President
Mercy Housing Lakefront
- David E. Baker
Vice President of External Affairs
Illinois Institute of Technology
- Erin Lavin Cabonargi
Executive Director
City of Chicago, Public Building Commission
- Gloria Castillo
President
Chicago United Inc.
- Alison L. Chung
President
TeamWerks
- Madeleine K.B. Condit
Founder and CEO
Madeleine Condit & Associates LLC
- Ellen C. Craig
- Paul A. Dillon
President & CEO
Dilllon Consulting Services LLC
- Paul A. Dillon
President & CEO
Dilllon Consulting Services LLC
- Bernard J. Ford
- John F. Hartray
Principal
Nagle Hartray Danker Kagan McKay Penney Architects Ltd.
- Maria P. Hibbs
- Sokoni Karanja
Founder, President & CEO
Centers for New Horizons, Inc.
- Thomas C. Kirschbraun
Managing Director
Jones Lang LaSalle
- Avis LaVelle
President
A. LaVelle Consulting Services
- John G. Markowski
President & CEO
Community Investment Corporation
- Sylvia Puente
Executive Director
Latino Policy Forum
- James M. Ratcliffe
- Robert G. Reiter
Secretary-Treasurer
Chicago Federation of Labor, AFL-CIO
- Christopher FitzHenry Robling
Principal
Jayne Thompson & Associates, Ltd.
- Unmi Song
Executive Director
Lloyd A. Fry Foundation
- A. Gail Sturm
Executive Vice President
ProTen Realty Group
- Karla Olson Teasley
President
Illinois American Water
- Joseph A. Williams
Co-Chairman
Granite Development Corporation
Executive Advisors
- Nicholas W. Alexos
Managing Director
Madison Dearborn Partners, LLC
- Raymond Bachant
President, Division America
Bombardier Transportation
- Carol L. Bernick
CEO
Polished Nickel Capital Management LLC
- Lawrence T. Borgard
President & COO-Utilities
Integrys Energy Group
- Marsha Cruzan
Chicago Market President
U.S. Bank
- John M Dionisio
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
AECOM
- Craig J. Duchossois
Chief Executive Officer
The Duchossois Group, Inc.
- Colin Dyer
President & CEO
Jones Lang LaSalle
- Mitchell Feiger
President & CEO
MB Financial Bank, N.A.
- Joseph A. Gregoire
Executive Director of Development
Loyola University Chicago
- Stephen J. Hagge
President & CEO
AptarGroup, Inc.
- Patricia Hemingway Hall
President & CEO
Health Care Service Corporation
- Edward R. Hamberger
President & CEO
Association of American Railroads
- Kathy Hopinkah Hannan
Nat'l Managing Partner, Corp. Resp. & Diversity
KPMG LLP
- Eric Hirschfield
Managing Director - Investment Banking Division
Goldman, Sachs & Co.
- Raymond J. Lewis
President
Ventas, Inc.
- Jeffrey A. Malehorn
President & CEO
World Business Chicago
- William A. Mynatt
Chairman, CEO and President
Dovenmuehle Mortgage, Inc.
- David J. Neithercut
President & CEO
Equity Residential
- Robert L. Parkinson
Chairman & CEO
Baxter International Inc.
- J. Marshall Peck
Chairman
InterPark Holdings LLC
- Thomas Pontarelli
Executive VP and Chief Administration Officer
CNA
- Larry D. Richman
President & CEO
The PrivateBank
- Martin P. Slark
CEO
Molex Incorporated
- Robert A. Sullivan
President & CEO
Fifth Third Bank
- Frederick H. Waddell
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
Northern Trust
- Edward J. Wehmer
President & CEO
Wintrust Financial Corporation
Executive Advisors who left in 2013
- Laurent Auguste, Veolia Water North America
- Paul S. Fisher, Centerpoint Properties
- Frederick A. Krehbiel, Molex Incorporated
- Matthew C. Levin, Aon Corporation
- Judith C. Rice, BMO Harris Bank
- Jim L. Stanley, NIPSCO
Housing & Community Development Committee
- Mark Angelini
Mercy Housing Lakefront
- Bennett Applegate
Applegate & Thorne-Thomsen, P.C.
- Forrest Bailey
Draper and Kramer
- David Baker
Illinois Institute of Technology
- JeNyce Boolton
Charter One
- Lee Brown
Teska Associates, Inc.
- Karen Butler
Great Harbor Advisors
- Paul Carlisle
Wintrust Financial Corporation
- Pamela Daniels-Halisi
BMO Harris Bank
- Derek Douglas
University of Illinois
- Paul Fischer
- Peter Friedman
Holland & Knight LLP
- Andrew Geer
Enterprise Community Partners
- Joseph Gregoire
Loyola University Chicago
- Kathy Hannan
KPMG LLP
- King Harris
Harris Holdings Inc.
- Maria Hibbs
- Juanita Irizarry
State of Illinois, Office of the Governor
- Sokoni Karanja
Center for New Horizons, Inc.
- Peter Levavi
Brinshore Development LLC
- Bernard Loyd
Urban Juncture, Inc.
- Wyllys Mann
Hispanic Housing Development Corporation
- John Markowski
Community Investment Corporation
- Robert Miller
Applied Real Estate Analysis, Inc.
- Stephen Porras
Axia Development, Inc.
- Sylvia Puente
Latino Policy Forum
- Matthew Reilein
JPMorgan Chase
- Jesse Ruiz
Drinker Biddle & Reath, LLP
- S. Michael Rummel
Rummell Associates Inc.
- Lisa Snow
Davis & Hosfield Consulting LLC
- A. Gail Sturm
ProTen Realty Group
- Bruce Taylor
Taylor Capital Group
- John Tuhey
Illinois Tool Works, Inc.
- Sylvia Van Loveren
Walgreen Co.
- Mary Vasys
Vasys Consulting Ltd.
- Mijo Vodopic
The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation
- Joseph A. Williams
Granite Development Corporation
Sensible Growth Committee
- Karen Atwood
BlueCross BlueShield of Illinois
- Calvert Audrain
- Byron Brazier
Apostolic Church of God
- Todd Brown
- Christopher Burke
Christopher B. Burke Engineering, Ltd.
- Todd Cabanban
Cabanban, Rubin & Mayberry Commercial Realty
- Monica Chadha
IIT Collage of Architecuture
- Robert Clough
Gensler
- Ellen Craig
- Kristina Dalman
Pulte Group
- Mark de la Vergne
Sam Schwartz Engineering
- Joseph Gonzalez
Ghafari Associates
- Linda Goodman
Goodman Williams Group
- John Hartray
Nagle Hartray Danker Kagan McKay Penney Architects Ltd.
- Adolfo Hernandez
City of Chicago
- Lawrence Howe
- Thomas Kirschbraun
Jones Lang LaSalle
- Suzanne Malec-Mckenna
Consultant to The Chicago Community Trust and The Morton Arboretum
- James Mann
- John McDonough
- Nora Moreno Cargie
The Boeing Company
- Pete Mulvaney
Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP
- Heather Parish
Strategies for Community Economic Development and Finance
- Arthur Pearson
Gaylord and Dorothy Donnelley Foundation
- Donovan Pepper
Walgreen Co.
- Thomas Price
Conservation Design Forum
- Douglas Regan
JPMorgan Chase
- Jean Rudd
JR Strategies
- Sabina Shaikh
University of Chicago
- David Siegel
Sidley Austin LLP
- Michael Thomas
The Allstate Corporation
- Michael Toolis
VOA Associates, Inc.
- Lois Vitt Sale
Wight & Company
- William Woodley
The Community Builders, Inc.
- Ferhat Zerin
Ginkgo Planning & Design
Regional Planning & Investments Committee
- J. Tyler Anthony
ComEd
- John Baird
Baird & Warner, Inc.
- Kyle Barnett
BMO Harris Bank
- Mark Bookman
Ernst & Young LLP
- Tony Bouchard
AECOM
- Carole Brown
Barclays Capital
- Ellen Carnahan
Machrie Enterprises LLC
- Pedro Cevallos-Candau
Primera Engineers, Ltd.
- Alison Chung
TeamWerks
- Jon DeVries
Roosevelt University
- Scott Edwards
Veolia
- Anne Edwards-Cotter
Cotter Consulting, Inc.
- Nancy Fishman
Grand Victoria Foundation
- Robert Fitzsimmons
Next Generation Public Affairs, Inc.
- Bernard Ford
- Cassandra Francis
Friends of the Parks
- James Franczek
Franczek Radelet P.C.
- John Gates
PortaeCo LLC
- Jacques Gordon
LaSalle Investment Management
- Mary Ludgin
Heitman
- Wesley Lujan
Union Pacific Corporation
- Peter Malecek
Bank of America
- Thomas Morsch
Public Financial Management Group
- Stephen Newell
IBM Corporation
- Paul Nowicki
BNSF Railway Company
- Robert O'Brien
Deloitte
- Michael Pagano
University of Illinois at Chicago, CUPPA
- J. Scot Pepper
Pepper Construction Company
- Paula Pienton
T.Y. Lin International, Inc.
- George Ranney
Metropolis Strategies
- Robert Reiter
Chicago Federation of Labor, AFL-CIO
- Christopher Robling
Jayne Thompson & Associates, Ltd.
- Maria Saldaña
Oak Park Residence Corporation
- Stephen Schlickman
University of Illinois at Chicago, CUPPA
- Paul Shadle
DLA Piper
- Smita Shah
SPAAN Tech, Inc.
- Michael Smyth
Illinois American Water
- Martin Stern
U.S. Equities Realty, LLC
- James Stirling
UBS Investment Bank
- John Tuhey
Illinois Tolls Works Inc.
- Paula Wolff
Metropolis Strategies
- Paula Worthington
University of Chicago
For a current listing of MPC's leadership, please visit the Our people page on the website.