Personnel is Policy
The Chicago Financial Future Task Force is an independent group of 24 civic leaders convened by Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson to propose options to strengthen the city’s long-term fiscal health. It was established by Executive Order 2025-1. The Task Force’s mission is to chart “practical, forward-looking options” for dealing with rising costs, budget pressures, and structural deficits — going beyond simply balancing the budget to build a foundation for equitable growth in all neighborhoods. This article will focus on the group's 24 members.
The Task Force is co-chaired by Karen Freeman-Wilson (Chicago Urban League) and Jim Reynolds (Loop Capital). James “Jim” Reynolds, Jr., CFA is the founder, Chairman, and Chief Executive Officer of Loop Capital, which he started in 1997. Under his leadership, Loop Capital has grown from a municipal bond–focused firm to a diversified investment banking and broker-dealer firm with services including corporate finance, equity trading, fixed income, public finance, infrastructure investment, financial consulting, and asset management.
Earlier in his career, he held senior roles at major Wall Street firms: He established and led the Midwest municipal bond sales desk at Paine Webber and later managed municipal securities distribution in Merrill Lynch’s Corporate & Institutional Client Group. His experience in municipal finance stretches back decades. When Chicago selected him to co-chair the Financial Future Task Force, media coverage noted that he “began his muni career as a short-term bond trader in 1981.” Loop Capital has an infrastructure division that accounts for about 10 percent of its business. There doesn’t seem to be any conflict of interest and Reynolds’ career is overwhelmingly in the private sector. In short, he is a solid choice to co-chair the group.
Karen Freeman-Wilson earned a Bachelor of Arts (A.B.) from Harvard University, and later a Juris Doctor (J.D.) from Harvard Law School. Early in her legal career, Freeman-Wilson practiced law with emphasis on municipal finance, government relations, family law, and criminal law. She served as Presiding Judge of Gary City Court (the municipal court in Gary, Indiana). In April 2011, Karen Freeman-Wilson entered the mayoral race for Gary, following the withdrawal of then–Mayor Rudy Clay, who endorsed her. She won the election in May and became Mayor of Gary beginning January 1, 2012. She served two terms.
In January 2020, Freeman-Wilson was named President & CEO of the Chicago Urban League. She remains in that role.
The Urban League is not your typical outdated civil rights group. While a part of its function is advocacy, the gist of its function is to offer practical help for urban blacks to acquire or refine skills. Whitney Young, whose name is immortalized by the very prominent Chicago high school that bears his name, was the head of the Chicago branch in the 1950’s and the national organization in the sixties. Freeman-Wilson has zero private sector experience but at least her non-profit experience is with a reasonable organization.
Ron DeNard is next in line as the head of the Efficiencies Subgroup Lead. He is Chief Financial Officer at United Way of Metro Chicago, where he leads Finance and IT, handles financial planning/analysis, budgeting, forecasting, statements, grants, risk management, etc. Early in his career, DeNard worked at Aluminum Company of America (Alcoa), as Manager of Subsidiary Finance for 11 years. He later served as CFO of the Chicago Park District. At L’Oréal / Softsheen-Carson Division, he was Vice President of Finance & Administration, where he led financial turnaround and handled international finance operations.
DeNard held roles at Exelon, overseeing finance for utilities and nuclear plants in the company. He served as CFO of Johnson Publishing Company, providing leadership across several departments. At the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA), he is reported to have been CFO, managing finances for a major public transit agency. He was Senior Vice President of Finance for the Chicago Board of Education, managing a $7 billion budget and improving the district’s finances, receiving multiple rating agency upgrades within three years. That’s a mix of public and private sector experience at the highest levels. While not as impressive as Reynolds, he is still a solid choice.
Dan Lurie is next in line as the head of the Revenues Subgroup Lead. Dan Lurie is currently President & Chief Executive Officer of the Metropolitan Planning Council (MPC), a prominent Chicago-based policy and planning organization. Before joining MPC, Lurie served as Chief of Policy for the City of Chicago under Mayor Lori Lightfoot. In that role he oversaw policy design and program implementation across areas including democracy reform, housing, transportation land use, environment, care economy, and anti-poverty initiatives. His work spans policy design, urban planning, community & economic development, infrastructure land use, housing, and local government capacity building.
Lurie's experience is all advocacy and no budgeting. This is not what is needed.
Adrienne Alexander is next in line. She is Director of Intergovernmental Affairs at AFSCME Council 31 (the Illinois branch of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees). AFSCME is the worst union in terms of wreaking havoc on municipal budgets, with the possible exceptions of the AFT (American Federation of Teachers) or the NEA (National Education Association). Alexander would be a terrible choice.
Carlos Cabrera Calderon of CCP (Cabrera Capital Partners) is in real estate development and investment. CCP works in both public and private sectors. They use tools and financing structures common in public sector or hybrid projects: public-private partnerships (P3s), tax increment financing (TIF), historic tax credits, etc. Cabrera is a slight improvement over Alexander.
Carlos E. Calderon is Chief Financial Officer (CFO) at Ariel Investments. Earlier in his career he was at BNY Mellon, serving in roles including Regional CFO (Southeast), Regional Controller, and Financial Analyst (Wealth Management). Calderon would be a solid choice along the lines of DeNard and Reynolds.
Tyler Clark is a visual artist, entrepreneur, and founder of Inspire by Tyler. Her educational background: Dual degrees in mathematics and mechanical engineering. She attended Spelman College and Georgia Tech. One should love her degrees and hate her inexperience.
Annie McGowan is Policy & Research Director at the Civic Federation in Chicago. Her policy work focuses heavily on state and local budgets/tax issues, especially relating to the City of Chicago, Cook County, Chicago Public Schools, and the State of Illinois. She also works on criminal justice system issues: e.g. policing, pretrial reform, Cook County courts and jail system. McGowan must be allergic to the private sector.
Ralph Martire is the Executive Director of the Center for Tax and Budget Accountability (CTBA), a bipartisan nonprofit think tank focused on state, local, and federal fiscal, tax, education, and economic policy. He is a former member (or appointee) to various commissions, panels, and transitions, especially around education funding in Illinois. He has plenty of experience. All of it is bad.
Andrea Kluger is Chief of Staff at the Chicago Federation of Labor (CFL). In that role, she oversees daily operations and programming at CFL. Enough said.
Jeffrey Howard is a Managing Partner at Salveo Capital, a Chicago-based institutional venture capital / investment firm. In his role there, he is described as having deep experience in capital markets and financial services. Howard is a solid choice.
Pasquale Gianni works as an attorney and lobbyist for Teamsters Joint Council 25. Once again, enough said.
Rocío Garcia joined United Working Families (UWF) as Membership Director in December 2019. She has been involved in grassroots organizing, membership engagement, and community power building. With Chicago’s finances imploding the last thing that is needed is another community organizer.
Julie Dworkin is the Former Policy Director at Chicago Coalition for the Homeless. She is also Co-Director at the Institute for the Public Good (IPG). I couldn’t find anything that says she’s a fan of Peter, Paul and Mary, but I wouldn’t be surprised.
When a task force like this is put together with union officials, community organizers, and people whose experience is primarily in the public sector, then even the reasonable members will be overwhelmed or at least compromised. You don’t need to look at the details of their report to know what’s in it. They should at least appoint some tokens from the Heartland Institute or the Illinois Policy Institute.
Always remember that personnel is policy.
