The top financial official in Mayor Brandon Johnson’s administration, Jill Jaworski, is leaving the mayor’s administration.
Jaworski, the city’s chief financial officer, plans to take a job with the nonprofit corporation that runs Navy Pier.
Her exit comes just weeks after a City Council majority broke from the mayor to pass a budget she and other top administration finance leaders warned was unbalanced.
“It’s a great opportunity but I will miss working at the City,” Jaworski told the Tribune Tuesday evening. “I will be still at the City for a while transitioning.”
Her departure leaves a key role in Johnson’s administration vacant as an emboldened block of aldermen seeks to maintain control over the city’s budgeting process. The ongoing battle over potential changes to this year’s budget and the difficult 2027 spending plan will unfold as they and the mayor get closer to 2027 re-election campaigns, a political reality sure to complicate efforts to pass new taxes and cuts alike.
Jaworski, whose departure was first reported by Crain’s Chicago Business, played a key role in Johnson’s efforts to pitch his budget plans the past few years and try to gain aldermanic support for them.
She took part in an array of private meetings, public City Council appearances and even an early December letter coauthored with Budget Director Annette Guzman and Comptroller Michael Belsky that aimed to undercut an initial version of the counterproposal the council ultimately passed.
In the letter, Jaworski and the finance leaders warned aldermen their proposals to cut and add revenue were based on unreliable numbers. They also shot back at criticism that Johnson’s proposed corporate head tax would harm economic growth as “not substantiated by any data.”
The frank tone of the letter that carefully picked apart the plan proved a common feature of Jaworski’s time at City Hall.
In July, her straightforwardness caught attention when she noted it would be “likely” that a property tax hike would “be part of the package” for Johnson’s latest budget. The mayor backed off the apparent plan and instead strongly opposed such a hike when he proposed his budget.
Jaworski is a “natural and invaluable addition to The People’s Pier,” said Marilynn Gardner, President and CEO of Navy Pier.
“Jill brings a rare combination of deep financial acumen, trusted relationships across Chicago’s business and civic communities, and proven, steady leadership,” Gardner wrote in a statement.
Johnson appointed Jaworski as chief financial officer when he took office in May 2023. She had previously worked as managing director and partner at PFM Financial Advisors since 2010.
She is the second key finance leader to leave Johnson’s administration. Johnson appointee Chasse Rehwinkel resigned his post as the city’s comptroller in December 2024 to become Devon Bank’s chief financial officer, days after Johnson successfully steered a spending plan to passage after a first grueling budget fight.