Pritzker Announces Appointments to ALPLM, Workers Compensation Boards
Ray LaHood and Kathryn Harris appointed to Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum Board of Directors

 

[September 27, 2019] 

Building on a strong team of diverse experts in their fields, Governor JB Pritzker announced the following individuals have agreed to serve in his administration:

ABRAHAM LINCOLN PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Ray LaHood will serve as Chairman of the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum Board of Directors.*

With a 36-year career in public service, former U..S Department of Transportation Secretary LaHood has extensive experience in policy areas such as transportation and infrastructure. LaHood oversaw 55,000 employees and a $7o billion budget in charge of air, maritime and surface transportation. Before serving as head of DOT, he represented the 18th District of Illinois in the United States House of Representatives for 19 years, where he served on the House Appropriations and House Intelligence Committees. In addition, LaHood served as Chief of Staff to the U.S. House Minority Leader Robert Michel for 12 years. In his community, LaHood served as the Director of Rock Island County Youth Services Bureau, Chief Planner of the Bi-States Metropolitan Planning Commission and District Administrative Assistant for US Congressman Tom Railsback. He earned his Bachelor of Science from Bradley University.

Joan Brodsky will serve as the Historic Preservation Expert on the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum Board of Directors.*

Brodsky is a current member of the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library Foundation, Newberry Library in Chicago, the Board of Visitors of the Syracuse University Library and the Board of Overseers of the Library of The Jewish Theological Seminary in New York City. A lifelong librarian and conservator, she is the founder and sponsor of an annual endowed lecture series and workshop on book and paper conservation and a sponsor of the Brodsky Lecture Series in support of the JD – MBA Program at Northwestern University. She earned her Master of Science in Library Science and her Bachelor of Arts in Latin and Education from Syracuse University.

Kathryn Harris will serve as a Library and Museum Expert on the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum Board of Directors.*

Harris brings 25 years of ALPLM experience as the former Library Services Director of the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Illinois State Historical Library. In her 43 years of service, Harris has also been the Head of Reference for the Illinois State Library and Public Services Librarian for the Southern Illinois University School of Medicine. In addition, she has been a Librarian at Florida International University Library, Miami Florida and the Lincoln Library, Springfield’s public library. Harris has earned a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Illinois State Historical Society, was named a Rail-Splitter Honoree by the American Society of Public Service Administrators and won Woman of Excellence Award from the Springfield YWCA. Harris serves on the Springfield and Central Illinois African American Arts History Museum Board, Sangamon County Historical Society Board as President, and the Abraham Lincoln Association. She earned her Master of Science from the University of Illinois and her Bachelor of Science from Southern Illinois University.

Gary Johnson will serve on the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum Board of Directors.*

Johnson became the President of the Chicago History Museum after 28 years as a lawyer and partner in international law at Mayer Brown and Jones Day. Under his leadership, the Chicago History Museum has received the National Medal from the Institute for Museum and Library Service, the nation’s highest award for museums and libraries. Johnson also served for 10 years as President of Museums in the Park. Additionally, he worked as Vice Chair on the Special Commission on the Administration of Justice in Cook County. Johnson is a member of the American Law Institute and a Life Fellow of the American Bar Foundation and the Illinois State Bar Association Foundation, and he served as president of the Chicago Council of Lawyers. Johnson earned his Juris Doctor from Harvard Law School, his Master of Arts from Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar and his Bachelor of Arts from Yale College. He also holds an honorary doctorate from Lake Forest College.

Eunice Santos will serve on the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum Board of Directors.*

Santos is a Professor and Dean of the School of Information Sciences at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, specializing in the areas of distributed processing, cybersecurity, complex adaptive systems and human modeling. She previously served as a professor at Illinois Institute of Technology, Leigh University in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Virginia Tech in the Department of Computer Science and the Genetics, Bioinformatics and Computational Biology Program. Santos was also the founding director of the Institute of Defense & Security and department chair of Computer Science at the University of Texas, El Paso. Santos has received numerous awards, including a National Science Foundation Career Award, the Spira Award for Excellence in Teaching and the Robinson Faculty Award. She earned her PhD in computer science from the University of California, Berkeley.

ILLINOIS WORKERS’ COMPENSATION COMMISSION

Kathryn Doerries will serve as Commissioner on the Illinois Workers’ Compensation Commission.*

Doerries currently serves as a Disciplinary Officer for the Cook County Sheriff’s Office. Previously, she worked for the Illinois Attorney General’s Office in the Industrial Commission Bureau, initially as an Assistant Attorney General and rose to the rank of Bureau Chief. In her time at the Attorney General’s Office, Doerries defended state agencies before the IWCC and represented the IWCC in insurance non-compliance matters before the Circuit Court of Cook County. She is a current member of the Wheaton Group Care Home Commission and the Wheaton Mosquito Abatement Board. Doerries received her undergraduate degree from the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana and her law degree from UIC John Marshall Law School.

ILLINOIS WORKERS’ COMPENSATION ADVISORY BOARD

Mitchell Horwitz will serve on the Illinois Workers’ Compensation Advisory Board.*

Horwitz is the current head of the Workers’ Compensation practice at Horwitz, Horwitz & Associates where he has practiced law for 40 years. He is a member of the Illinois Trial Lawyers Association, the Illinois Workers’ Compensation Lawyer Association and the Workers’ Injury Law and Advocacy Group. Horowitz has been recognized as one of the top 10 workers compensation lawyers in Illinois by his peers and was included in the 2019 edition of The Best Lawyers in America. He is a graduate of Northern Illinois University and received his law degree from John Marshall Law School.

Rob Karr will serve on the Illinois Workers’ Compensation Advisory Board.*

Karr is President and CEO of the Illinois Retail Merchants Association (IRMA). In his 25 years in the association, Karr has served coordinating the IRMA’s governmental relations efforts as Legislative Coordinator for the Illinois Food and Retailers Association, and the Midwest Hardware Association. Thereafter, he became Executive Vice-President of the association. Karr currently serves on the Employment Security Advisory Board to the Illinois Department of Employment Security, the Illinois Workers’ Compensation Advisory Board to the Illinois Workers’ Compensation Commission, the Illinois Attorney General’s Franchise Advisory Board, the Illinois Department of Public Health’s Food Safety Advisory Committee and the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity’s Low-Income Energy Assistance Program Policy Advisory Council. He earned his undergraduate degree from Illinois State University.

* Appointments pending confirmation by the Illinois Senate.

[Office of the Governor JB Pritzker]