Gov. Pritzker Announces Four Appointments

Building on a strong team of diverse experts in their fields, Governor JB Pritzker announced the following appointment in his administration:

 
CHICAGO TRANSIT BOARD

 
Bernard Jakes will serve on the Chicago Transit Board.* Rev. Dr. L. Bernard Jakes serves as Senior Pastor of the Faith Family of West Point Baptist Church in Chicago. As senior pastor, Dr. Jakes established a food and clothing pantry that feeds over 15,000 families yearly, developed West Point Village—seven townhomes in the Bronzeville community, as well as established the West Point Community Development Corporation, and Dare to Care Community and Music Festival and Resource Fair. Dr. Jakes is a Trustee for Elmhurst College and an inductee into the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Board of International Preachers of Morehouse College. He received the Bachelor of Arts degree from Elmhurst College, Master of Arts degree from Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary at Northwestern University, and earned a Doctor of Ministry degree from United Theological Seminary.

        
DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE AND ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITY

 
Michael Negron will serve as the Assistant Director of Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity.* Negron spent the last six years serving as a policy adviser to Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel. He joined the mayor's office in 2011 as the Director of the Innovation Delivery Team, then served as Deputy Chief of Policy and Strategic Planning and finally as Chief of Policy between 2013 and 2018. During his tenure in the Mayor's Office, Negron worked on initiatives to raise Chicago's minimum wage, revamped housing laws to expand affordability and developed the Mayor's Mentoring Initiative to serve 7,000 youth in Chicago Public Schools. Prior, Negron worked in the Obama administration in Washington, D.C., serving as Special Counsel to the General Counsel at the U.S. Department of Defense and Special Assistant to the General Counsel within the Office of Management and Budget. He also served as counsel to Elizabeth Warren during her tenure as Chair of the Congressional Oversight Panel for the Troubled Asset Relief Program and worked on new media on President Obama's 2008 campaign. Negron also served as an officer in the U.S. Navy. He received his J.D. from Harvard Law School, M.A. in History from the University of Memphis and B.S. in Foreign Service in International History from Georgetown University.

 
ILLINOIS MEDICAL DISCIPLINARY BOARD

 
Peter Hofmann will serve on the Illinois Medical Disciplinary Board.* Since 2005, Dr. Hoffman has practiced as a colorectal surgeon at the Springfield Clinic, where he has served on the quality management, operations/building and finance committees. His career in medicine began in 1999, when he graduated with his Medical Degree from the Southern Illinois University School of Medicine in Springfield, where he also completed four years of residency. Dr. Hofmann received his general surgery training at Rush Hospital in Chicago for one year before his time in Springfield, and he also completed his fellowship in colorectal surgery in Buffalo, New York. Dr. Hoffman has also lectured at Southern Illinois University.

 
TEACHERS' RETIREMENT SYSTEM
 

David Miller will serve on the Board of Trustees of the Teachers' Retirement System.* Miller is the Director of Government Relations with Tenet Healthcare where he serves as a liaison between local, state and federal governments, forming bipartisan relationships to advance health care. Before joining Tenet, he was the Chief of the Division of Oral Health with the Illinois Department of Public Health from 2011 to 2014. For a decade prior, Miller served the 29th district in the Illinois House of Representatives, where he was recognized for his work in a range of areas from the Legislative Rule Making Committee to higher education accessibility. Dr. Miller received his Doctor of Dental Surgery from the University of Illinois College of Dentistry and his B.S. in Biomedical University from Boston University.
 
* Appointments pending confirmation by the Illinois Senate.