First Deputy Commissioner
Chicago Public Library
Mary Ellen Messner has improved outcomes for children, youth, and families in Chicago for the past two decades. She
has successfully designed large-scale public programs and led policy initiatives to help young people achieve their full
potential through library programs and services, education, workforce opportunities, afterschool and recreation
initiatives, and fine arts programs for more than two decades in Chicago’s not-for-profit and public sectors.
She currently serves as the first deputy commissioner of the Chicago Public Library (CPL),
with 81 branches and a workforce of over 1,000 serving 9 million patrons annually. She most recently led the
organization in the development of its five-year strategy (2020-2024). She oversees program design and delivery, with
over 35,000 programs offered annually and performance management and strategic partnerships. Mary Ellen
collaborates with the Chicago Public Library Foundation to leverage Chicago’s philanthropic and business community
resources to support innovation.
Before joining CPL, Mary Ellen served as deputy commissioner of youth services, leading the City’s vision around
youth summer employment, violence reduction initiatives, and out-of-school time. She directed a $48 million
annual grant portfolio funding over 230 community-based organizations impacting over 100,000 youth annually.
Mary Ellen previously served as assistant commissioner, coordinating youth workforce initiatives, including the City’s
signature summer jobs program employing thousands of youth each summer. She developed effective and engaging
employment models that promoted job readiness, academic achievement, and talent exploration for disadvantaged
youth. Mary Ellen began her public sector career at the Chicago Park District. She was responsible for the quality of
13 miles of Chicago’s north lakefront visited annually by millions of tourists and Chicagoans alike and oversaw six
park facilities that offered children’s recreation, education, and arts programs.
Through her work at Ingenuity Incorporated, Mary Ellen was also responsible for co-designing the CPS Arts
Education Plan. The most significant policy improvement for CPS arts education developed to date. She created
sector-wide strategies to strengthen student learning through arts partnerships with the Chicago Public Schools. She
directed initiatives for Chicago’s arts and cultural community, focusing on building capacity, strengthening leadership,
and improving outcomes for the City’s youth.
Mary Ellen currently serves as an advisory committee member for the Chicago Children’s Museum and Dominican
University, and a board member for The Chicago Learning Exchange. She served as an adjunct professor at
Dominican University’s School of Information Studies, teaching a graduate-level course in evidence-based planning,
management, and decision-making in 2021. Her past board experience includes Generation All, a citywide initiative to
revitalize neighborhood public high schools, and Emerald City Theater, where she helped bring arts programming to
Chicago Head Start programs.
Mary Ellen is a graduate of the Community Arts Education Leadership Institute and Menttium 100, a leadership and
cross-company mentoring program. She earned a master’s in library and information science from Dominican
University, a master’s degree in business administration from Lake Forest Graduate School of Management, and a
bachelor of arts in Journalism from Marquette University.
She lives with her husband and twin sons, who are her life’s inspiration, in the Lincoln Square neighborhood.
Culture in My Neighborhood: Bringing the Arts To Every Community and Every Library
Saturday, June 24, 2023
11:00 AM - 12:00 PM CT