Todd H. Stroger was elected Cook County Board's 34th President in winter of
2006. As President, he has sponsored and supported a series of important
reforms and innovations that have improved accountability, transparency and
efficiency in Cook County government.
President Stroger brings more than twenty years of experience in the public
sector and public and private finance to his job as chief executive of Cook
County. He began his career in public service in the Office of the Chief
Judge of Cook County where he served as Jury Supervisor to the Cook County
Jury Commissioners. Later, he worked as an administrator for the Chicago
Park District, where his responsibilities included budget oversight. Stroger
left the Park District to work in the private sector as an investment banker
at SBK-Brooks Investment Corporation for seven years, where his clients
included both private investors and public agencies.
In 1992, Stroger was elected Illinois State Representative for the 31st
Legislative District on Chicago's South Side. His legislative focus included
initiatives to control taxes, reduce spending, provide state residents with
access to affordable health care, reform state government, improve the
quality of life in Illinois, and foster social justice for all residents. In
2001, Chicago Mayor Richard Daley appointed Stroger to fill the office of
the late 8th Ward Alderman Lorraine Dixon, an office to which Stroger won
re-election in February 2003. As the 8th Ward Alderman, Stroger was
instrumental in bringing mixed income and affordable housing initiatives to
the community, along with much-needed commercial development projects and
beautification efforts.
President Stroger is a product of a long tradition of public service. His
father, John H. Stroger, Jr., served as President of the Cook County Board
of Commissioners for three terms, and for more than three decades as a
County Commissioner. John H. Stroger, Jr. suffered a stroke in March of
2006 on the eve of his primary bid for re-election for the office of the
President of the County Board. He won that primary handily, but due to
health complications the Cook County Democratic Central Committee asked his
son to run for the President's seat in the fall election. Todd H. Stroger
was elected President of the Cook County Board of Commissioners on a
platform grounded in the commitment to reinventing Cook County government
through the use of new technology, fiscal reform, and transparency in
government.
President Stroger graduated in 1988 from New Orleans' Xavier University with
a Bachelor of Arts Degree in history. He resides in the Chicago's South Side
Chatham-Avalon community where he was born and raised, with his devoted
wife, Jeanine, and their son, Hans Eric, and daughter, Claire. The Stroger
family attends St. Felicitas Catholic Church.