Background
MarySue has been president of the Metropolitan Planning Council since 1996. During her tenure, MPC has strengthened its relationships with regional decision-makers, and is increasingly called upon to untangle local development and regional policy challenges.
Prior to joining MPC, MarySue served in former Mayor Richard M. Daley's first administrations, holding positions of increasing responsibility over seven years. She began her municipal government work in 1989, in the Mayor's Office of Intergovernmental Affairs, and was promoted in 1993 to chief of policy, coordinating initiatives on public safety, economic and community development, and lifelong education. In 1995, Mayor Daley recruited MarySue to serve as chief of staff to the Chicago School Reform Board of Trustees, a new management team charged with bringing revolutionary change to the Chicago Public Schools. MarySue counts Chicago's successful implementation of community policing and the city's successful bid to host the 1996 Democratic National Convention among her top accomplishments.
MarySue serves on the Advisory Boards of Metropolis Strategies, the Harris School’s Visiting Committee at the University of Chicago, and Illinois Issues magazine. She is on the nonprofit board of Leadership Greater Chicago and active with The Chicago Network and Economic Club of Chicago.
MarySue has a bachelor's degree from Northwestern University. She has been selected to participate in leadership exchanges sponsored by the International Women's Forum (1996), American Council on Germany (1996), Chicago Council on Foreign Relations (1997), British American Project (2003), Rockefeller Foundation (2009), and Brookings Institution (2008 and 2011). She completed a Leadership Greater Chicago fellowship in 1994, and was honored that same year as one of Crain's Chicago Business "40 Under 40."