Stephanie D. Neely is an American finance professional and politician. She served as the City Treasurer of Chicago from December 2006 to December 2014. As of 2025, she is a member of the Illinois Sports Facilities Authority.

Early life and career

Stephanie Neely is a native Chicagoan. Neely's father owned and operated a successful chain of gas stations located on the southside of Chicago. Neely attended

Smith College Smith College is a Private university, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts Women's colleges in the United States, women's college in Northampton, Massachusetts, United States. It was chartered in 1871 by Sophia Smit ...

and graduated with a bachelor's in economics in 1985. She later earned a M.B.A. from

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, or UChi) is a Private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Its main campus is in the Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood on Chicago's South Side, Chic ...

. Prior to serving as City Treasurer, Neely served as Vice President at Northern Trust Global Investments. Neely accumulated more than 20 years of

private-sector The private sector is the part of the economy which is owned by private groups, usually as a means of establishment for profit or non profit, rather than being owned by the government. Employment The private sector employs most of the workforce ...

financial experience before being appointed City Treasurer. In 2004, Mayor Daley chose Stephanie Neely to serve on the Illinois Sports Facilities Authority.

Treasurer

On November 8, 2006, Mayor

Richard M. Daley Richard Michael Daley (born April 24, 1942) is an American politician who served as the 54th mayor of Chicago, Illinois, from 1989 to 2011. Daley was elected mayor in 1989 and was reelected five times until declining to run for a seventh ter ...

appointed Neely the Chicago City Treasurer to take office December 4, 2006. A week later, she was confirmed by the Chicago City Council on November 15, 2006. Neely succeeded Judith Rice, who stepped down from the position effective December 1, 2006, to rejoin Daley's administration as a deputy mayor. Pursuant to her role as City Treasurer, Neely maintained a $7 billion portfolio and tracked the balances on all City accounts. The City pension fund has posted double-digit returns on pension fund investments during Neely's tenure. In addition to her duties as Treasurer, Neely serves as trustee on the City's five public

pension A pension (; ) is a fund into which amounts are paid regularly during an individual's working career, and from which periodic payments are made to support the person's retirement from work. A pension may be either a " defined benefit plan", wh ...

boards. Programs operated by the Treasurer's Office during Neely's tenure included

Small Business Small businesses are types of corporations, partnerships, or sole proprietorships which have a small number of employees and/or less annual revenue than a regular-sized business or corporation. Businesses are defined as "small" in terms of being ...

Development Loans, Financial Literacy programs in

Chicago Public Schools Chicago Public Schools (CPS), officially classified as City of Chicago School District #299 for funding and districting reasons, in Chicago, Illinois, is the List of the largest school districts in the United States by enrollment, fourth-large ...

, and free seminars on using

social media Social media are interactive technologies that facilitate the Content creation, creation, information exchange, sharing and news aggregator, aggregation of Content (media), content (such as ideas, interests, and other forms of expression) amongs ...

to build small business. Neely was reelected to a second term in February 2011. In 2013, while Treasurer, Neely was considered a finalist to be Pat Quinn's running mate in the

2014 Illinois gubernatorial election The 2014 Illinois gubernatorial election was held on November 4, 2014, to elect the governor and lieutenant governor of Illinois The lieutenant governor of Illinois is the second highest executive of the State of Illinois. In Illinois, the ...

after then-incumbent Lieutenant Governor Sheila Simon opted to run for

Illinois Comptroller The Comptroller of Illinois is a constitutional officer in the executive branch of government of the U.S. state of Illinois. Ten individuals have held the office of Comptroller since the enactment of the Illinois Constitution of 1970, replaci ...

. Quinn ultimately chose

Paul Vallas Paul Gust Vallas Sr. (; born June 10, 1953) is an American politician and former Superintendent (education), education superintendent. He served as the superintendent of the Bridgeport Public Schools in Connecticut and the Recovery School Distri ...

Present career (2015-2025)

In 2015, she became vice president of treasury for Allstate Insurance Company, where she oversees corporate finance and commercial banking.

References

External links

* http://www.chicagocitytreasurer.com * https://web.archive.org/web/20140812043610/http://www.chicagocitytreasurer.com/treasurer-stephanie-d-neely/ Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Women in Illinois politics Smith College alumni University of Chicago Booth School of Business alumni City treasurers of Chicago Illinois Democrats Businesspeople from Chicago 21st-century American women {{illinois-politician-stub