From the Breaking News Center:
After more than a year
without an official executive director, the Illinois Tollway’s board today named a key aide to Gov. Pat Quinn as the agency’s top
administrator.
Kristi Lafleur, Quinn’s deputy chief of staff for economic
development, was named to the $189,000-a-year post.
The top job at the tollway has been filled on an acting basis since
soon after former Gov. Rod Blagojevich was arrested by federal officials
in December 2008.
Lafleur is also Quinn’s point person for development of high-speed
rail. Her selection came from a group of five finalists by a search
committee of tollway directors. Her appointment becomes official after a
vote at the April tollway board meeting.
The other candidates included Richard Kwasneski, Pace’s chairman and
director of the Joliet Arsenal Development Authority; Leanne Redden, deputy executive director
for the Regional Transportation Authority and former planner for the
tollway; and Jerry Hurckes, a grant manager for Metra, and former aide
to U.S. Rep. Dan Lipinski, D-Ill.
Matthew Amorello was the only nonlocal candidate. He is former
chairman of the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority, but was ousted amid
controversy over Boston’s "Big Dig" program.
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