Executive Director, Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning
Randy Blankenhorn is executive director of CMAP, the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning, which is responsible for comprehensive planning across the seven-county region. Under his leadership, CMAP takes an integrated approach to the region's challenges, with an emphasis on changing how development and infrastructure investment decisions are made. In addition to core competencies in data and analysis related to land use, the environment, and transportation, CMAP addresses interrelated issues such as jobs, housing, and economic development. Randy and his staff developed GO TO 2040, metropolitan Chicago's first truly comprehensive regional plan. Prior to joining CMAP in 2006, he was Bureau Chief of Urban Program Planning for the Illinois Department of Transportation, coordinating activities of the 14 metropolitan planning organizations across Illinois.

Mayor of Palos Hills Chairman, Board of the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning
Serving his seventh term as Mayor of the City of Palos Hills, Gerald Bennett has been an outspoken advocate for uniting cities and villages. He founded and continues to serve as the President of the Southwest Conference of Mayors. He was a co-founder and serves as Chairman of the Board of the Southwest Central Dispatch (an intergovernmental police and fire 911 service). Bennett has served as past Chair of the Metropolitan Mayors Caucus and is currently a member of the Mayors Caucus Executive Committee. He has also served as the President of the Illinois Municipal League and was the co-chair of the Mayors Caucus 2016 Olympic Regional Coordinating Committee. As the representative from Southwest Cook County, Bennett holds the position of Chair of the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning and its Executive Committee. A businessman for 40 years, Bennett is President of Bennett Dental Labs, Inc., in Palos Hills. He attended Lewis University and the University of Illinois at Chicago.