Speakers

Erin Aleman has served as the executive director of the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning (CMAP) since 2019. Aleman oversees more than 100 staff members who develop and implement recommendations in ON TO 2050, the long-range plan for northeastern Illinois.

Aleman has more than 15 years of experience developing transportation and land-use policies. Prior to joining CMAP, Aleman served as vice president of Metro Strategies, a policy and advocacy consulting firm. From 2015 to 2018, she held leadership positions at the Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT), first as a bureau chief and then as director of the Office of Planning and Programming. During her IDOT tenure, she provided strategic guidance, implemented performance-based tools, developed the state’s first asset management plan, and developed multimodal policy initiatives.

Aleman has come full circle by rejoining CMAP, where she began her remarkable ascent fresh out of graduate school in 2007 as the agency’s Phillip D. Peters Regional Planning fellow and rose through the ranks to become principal planner in 2011. In that first stint at CMAP, Aleman helped create the highly successful technical assistance program, led regional outreach for GO TO 2040 — the agency’s first long-term comprehensive plan — and completed more than 20 local planning projects.

Aleman’s master’s degree in urban planning emphasized design and development. She is a certified mediator, a strategist for the Obama Foundation Scholars Program, a member of the American Planning Association, Lambda Alpha, and the Women’s Transportation Seminar, as well as current vice chair — and former treasurer and secretary — for the Coalition for America’s Gateways and Trade Corridors. She has also been recognized with several awards for her contributions to planning and transportation policy, including the Walter Scheiber Leadership Award from the National Association of Regional Councils, as well as the Leadership in the Public Sector award from the March of Dimes.