Daley Chooses Chicago Native to Head the CHA

Mayor Richard M. Daley on Saturday appointed James Reynolds, Jr., to the board of the Chicago Housing Authority; his first step in making Reynolds the new CHA chairman.

Reynolds, 56, is the chief executive officer of Loop Capital Markets, a Chicago-based global investment firm.

Jim Reynolds

Daley appointed Reynolds as a member of the board of the CHA and said that if the City Council approves, Reynolds will be named chairman of the Chicago Housing Authority and will lead improvements in Chicago’s public housing.

“One of my highest priorities as Mayor has been to lead the transformation of our old, isolated public housing into vital communities where residents of mixed incomes live together in neighborhoods with good schools, jobs, shopping and housing,” said Daley.

In 1999, the CHA launched The Plan for Transformation with the intention of demolishing uninhabitable Chicago housing and replacing it with 25,000 new or rehabbed units.

Daley said the city has since invested more than $3 billion in public and private resources to the cause and has accomplished more than 70 percent of its goal, though there is still a lot of work to do.

“Jim Reynolds understands the challenges we face to complete the Plan for Transformation and he possesses the leadership qualities to take us to our goal,” Daley said.

Reynolds, who grew up in the Englewood neighborhood, is no stranger to community involvement. He is a board member for the Chicago Alliance to End Homelessness, Chicago United, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, The Lyric Opera of Chicago, The University of Chicago Hospitals and The University of Chicago Laboratory Schools.

In addition, he serves as Chairman of the board for the Chicago Urban League, as a member of the Advisory Board of the Levy Institute/Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University and as a member of the CFA Institute.

“Jim Reynolds embodies the spirit of collaboration that has made the Plan for Transformation work, and it’s why he is the right person for this job,” Daley said.