Rosa Escareño
Rosa Escareño is an accomplished executive with more than 20 years of experience leading large, complex public organizations through transformation, operational stabilization, and strategic growth. She has delivered major reforms across Chicago city government under four Mayors and worked on three mayoral transitions, bringing deep expertise in governance, financial oversight, regulatory modernization, and cross-sector collaboration.
Escareño most recently served as General Superintendent and CEO of the Chicago Park District. Appointed during a period of organizational crisis, she led a comprehensive turnaround that strengthened governance structures, rebuilt public trust, and elevated operational integrity. She managed a $600 million budget without raising new taxes, brought back a workforce of 6,000, and $100 million in annual capital investments across 77 neighborhoods. She returned the agency to operational stability reinstating 400,000 program registrations, securing major multi-year contracts expanding events and experiences across Park District assets contributing nearly $1.8 billion to Chicago’s economy.
Previously, as Commissioner of the Chicago Department of Business Affairs and Consumer Protection, she led a 200-person agency, managed a $20 million budget generating $90 million in revenue, guided businesses through the COVID-19 pandemic and its recovery, championed a pro-small business legislative package to uplift businesses and launched the Office of Labor Standards to advance income equity and strengthen worker protections. She led new policy and regulatory frameworks for emerging industries, modernized licensing and compliance systems to enhance transparency, efficiency, and consumer protection.
Escareño, a Chicagoan, holds a Master of Science in Communications from Northwestern University and a Bachelor of Arts from Loyola University Chicago. She has served on multiple civic boards and is a 2013 Leadership Greater Chicago Fellow.
