CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) — People at City Hall have been wondering whether Mayor-elect Brandon Johnson might be persuaded to talk the well-regarded Rich Guidice into staying on as the head of the Office of Emergency Management and Communications.
Well, the mayor-elect gave him a big promotion: Johnson named Guidice as his chief of staff.
He’s built a reputation as an emergency operations specialist, and he’s taking what can be a really high-pressure job. Former Mayor Richard M. Daley was known for burning out a number of people in that position.
Jason Lee, a senior adviser to Johnson’s mayoral campaign and transition team, said what impressed him most about Guidice is his humility, his “deep commitment and passion to service” and his vast experience “managing systems to get things done and deliver results.”
“How do you survive City Hall after multiple administrations? By building relationships across departments,” Lee said. “By learning how to use soft influence to get things done. At different points in his career, he didn’t have full authority. But he was able to build relationships, understand systems and move things even before he was in that commissioner position.
Johnson also named Illinois Sen. Christina Pacione-Zayas as his first deputy chief of staff.
Before becoming a lawmaker, Pacione-Zayas was best known as an education advocate. She filled the seat that was vacated when Iris Martinez left to become clerk of the Cook County Circuit Court. Pacione-Zayas has been a strong progressive voice in the legislature. Her Senate seat will be filled by party leaders in her district.
(The Sun-Times Media Wire contributed to this report.)
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