Donald G. Lubin, Chairman

Donald G. Lubin is a partner and former Chairman of Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal LLP, a law firm based in Chicago with offices in nine U.S. cities.  He is a Senior Director of McDonald’s Corporation, having served on its Executive Committee, its Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee and as Secretary of its Audit Committee.  He is also a member of the Board of Directors of Molex, Inc.

A graduate of the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and of Harvard Law School, Mr. Lubin is active in a wide variety of civic, cultural and charitable organizations.  He is Chairman of New Schools for Chicago; a former Chairman and Life Trustee of Ravinia Festival Association; a former Chairman and Life Trustee of Highland Park Hospital; a life Trustee of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra; Vice President and Trustee of Ronald McDonald’s House Charities; and a Trustee and member of the Executive Committee of Rush University Medical Center.  He previously served on the Board of the Smithsonian Institution and the National Museum of American History, the Board of Overseers of the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Pennsylvania and as a member of the Special Commission on Administration of Justice in Cook County, the Navy Pier Redevelopment Authority and the Highland Park Cultural Arts Commission.

Lubin and his wife Amy live in Highland Park and have four married children. 

George Ranney, President and CEO

George Ranney also serves as chair and chief executive of Prairie Holdings Corporation, the firm developing Prairie Crossing, a nationally recognized conservation community in north suburban Grayslake. He served in various capacities over many years for Inland Steel Industries, including vice president for raw materials and general counsel.   He was deputy budget director for the State of Illinois under Governor Richard Ogilvie.  He chaired the task force that recommended the creation of the Regional Transportation Authority and led the successful referendum campaign to create the RTA.  Mr. Ranney is also senior counsel to the Chicago law firm of Mayer Brown LLP and serves as a trustee of many civic and non-profit organizations including the University of Chicago and Chicago Public Television (WTTW).  Ranney is a former trustee of the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.

Frank H. Beal, Executive Director

Frank Beal previously served as president of Ryerson International Inc., an operating unit of the former Inland Steel Industries.  He worked in many other capacities at Inland Steel for two decades, including president and CEO of Ryerson/West.  Prior to joining Inland Steel, he served as director of the Illinois Department of Energy and Natural Resources under Governor James Thompson, and, as the state’s first deputy director of the Institute for Environmental Quality under Governor Richard Ogilvie.

Jack Davis, Senior Advisor

Jack Davis joined Chicago Metropolis 2020 in January, 2007, to help advance the regional planning organization’s recommendations for enhancing Chicago’s economic growth and quality of life. Most recently the publisher, president and CEO of Tribune’s Hartford Courant, Davis has also been an editor or publisher at newspapers in New Orleans, Chicago and Virginia.

Previously, Davis worked for Tribune Company for 23 years, working in the 1980s as metropolitan editor of the Chicago Tribune. In 1987, he moved to Newport News, Va., where he was editor of Tribune’s Daily Press until his promotion to be that paper’s president, publisher and CEO in 1994. He returned to Chicago in 1998 as president of Tribune Interactive and in 1999 became vice president for planning of Tribune Publishing Company.

In August 2000, Davis was named president, publisher and CEO of The Hartford Courant, whose news and editorial coverage gave special attention to economic growth, regional planning, land use and urban design.

King W. Harris, Senior Executive

King Harris leads the effort to improve the availability of affordable housing throughout the six-county region. For 13 years, Mr. Harris was President & CEO of Pittway Corporation, a Chicago firm and worldwide leader in the manufacture and distribution of alarm systems.

During his tenure, Mr. Harris began a program to help employees purchase homes near Pittway’s System Sensor factory in St. Charles.  Mr. Harris currently serves on the boards of the University of Chicago, the Museum of Contemporary Art, the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago, and the Metropolitan Planning Council.

James C. LaBelle, Vice President

James LaBelle leads policy development in the areas of freight, land use, growth, and  transportation.  He has served as executive director of Business Leaders for Transportation, a regional coalition led by Chicago Metropolis 2020; the Metropolitan Planning Council; and the Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce. Prior to joining Chicago Metropolis 2020, Mr. LaBelle was an elected member of the Lake County Board for 20 years, including three terms as chair. He was also president of the Lake County Forest Preserve District.  Under Governor James Thompson, Mr. LaBelle was assistant to the governor for local government, transportation, and economic development.

Adele S. Simmons, Ph.D., Vice Chair and Senior Executive

Adele Simmons is Vice-Chair of Chicago Metropolis 2020 where she focuses on early childhood education. At Metropolis 2020 she is also providing leadership in the planning of the 2009 Burnham Plan Centennial, and serving as Vice Chair of the Burnham Centennial Committee. She is co-chair of the Task Force that is developing a Climate Action Plan for the city of Chicago, at the request of the Mayor. She served as a co-chair of the Council on Global Affairs study group on Chicago’s global future. The Study Group’s Report, Global Edge was released in the fall of 2007.

Mrs. Simmons was President of the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation for a decade, overseeing grants of over $1.5 billion, including an annual $25 million program for Chicago. The foundation’s international programs focus on the environment, population, international peace and security, understanding inequality within and among nations and climate change.

Mrs. Simmons is currently on the Board of Marsh and McLennan Companies, ShoreBank Corporation, ShoreBank International Ltd., and a number of non-profit organizations, including The Field Museum, The National Museum of Mexican Art, The Chicago Council on Global Affairs, Winning Workplaces, the American Prospect, the Synergos Institute, the Environmental Defense Fund, and the Union of Concerned Scientists. She is on the Advisory Committee to the World Bank Institute Global Equity Initiative.

She served on President Carter’s Commission on World Hunger and President Bush’s Commission on Sustainable Development and was a member of the Commission on Global Governance as well as the UN High Level Advisory Board on Sustainable Development. Before joining the MacArthur Foundation, Simmons was President of Hampshire College and taught at Princeton University.

Paula Wolff, Senior Executive

Paula Wolff is Senior Executive at Chicago Metropolis 2020, a business and civic organization implementing policy initiatives and programs for regional action on issues including land use, transportation, childhood development and education. Her policy emphasis is on justice and violence, examining issues of crime, violence, incarceration and rehabilitation.

Wolff served between 1992-2000 as President of Governors State University, the only upper-division university in Illinois. Governors State University (GSU), located in Chicago’s south suburbs, served over 9,000 undergraduate transfer or returning students and those seeking master’s degrees.

From 1977 to 1991, Wolff served as Director of Policy and Planning for Governor James R. Thompson. In 1990-1991, she directed Governor Jim Edgar's Transition Team as she had participated in Governor James R. Thompson's in 1976-1977. Prior to her appointment as GSU President, she was a Visiting Fellow at the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, where she helped to establish a not-for-profit collaborative serving four pilot sites in the Chicago public schools.

Wolff has a B.A. from Smith College and an M.A. and Ph.D. from the University of Chicago in political science.

In August 2009, Wolff was named Chairman of the Illinois State Toll Highway Authority. She also serves on numerous other boards including the Joyce Foundation, the Ariel Investments Board, the Metropolitan Planning Council, the Johnson Foundation, the Safer Foundation, the Chicago Foundation for Women, the University of Chicago Medical Center (Chair 1996 – 2006) and the University of Chicago Board of Trustees.

She is married to Wayne W. Whalen, a lawyer, and has five children.