Chicago-based development and design-build firm, Clayco, has hired Lori Healey to be president of its new Chicago regional business unit. The new unit, led by Healey, will oversee all the enterprise activity for development-, design- and construction-related activities in the greater Chicago area and surrounding region.
“Lori is one of Chicago’s most accomplished business and civic leaders who has demonstrated executive leadership in both the public and private sectors,” said Clayco CEO Robert Clark. “Lori is the perfect person to lead our Chicago business unit as Clayco continues to grow the business and have the type of impact on the community we are seeking.”
Healey joins Clayco following her successful tenure at the Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority (MPEA), where she had served as chief executive officer since 2015. As CEO of MPEA, Healey oversaw the McCormick Square campus, which includes McCormick Place, North America’s largest convention center, Hyatt Regency McCormick Place, Marriott Marquis Chicago and Wintrust Arena. In 2018, the campus hosted more than 272 events, attracting 2,941,087 visitors, the strongest performance since 2004.
“Clayco is doing innovative and transformative work in Chicago and I am excited to lend my experience and expertise to build on this success,” said Healey. “Clayco’s focus on Chicago and extensive work throughout the area shows how the company is becoming a major factor in regional growth, and I look forward to leading that work and growing the business further.”
Prior to her work at MPEA, Healey was CEO of Tur Partners LLC, a firm founded by former Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley to drive growth within global urban markets; principal in the development group for the John Buck Company and held several senior leadership positions for the city of Chicago, most recently as Mayor Daley’s chief of staff.
Healey’s hiring further underscores Clayco’s commitment to Chicago, where the company has been headquartered since 2013. In announcing Healey’s hiring, Clark noted Chicago will be the firm’s premiere geographic business unit.
“Traditionally, Clayco has focused on project types and pursuing first-class projects and clients throughout North America, and this is our first foray into creating a geographic business unit,” Clark said. “We selected Chicago for all the obvious reasons—its central location and easy access to multiple modes of transportation, its booming real estate market, and we have landed and completed significant work here without actually focusing on it. Much of the work here came to us, because it’s now in our back yard.”
Also joining Clayco as part of the Chicago business unit is Dan Gibbons who will serve as regional director for business development. Most recently, Gibbons was a principal at Tur Partners where he led client and investor relations and civic engagement efforts. Prior to Tur, Gibbons held several leadership positions in the city of Chicago, including assistant to Mayor Richard M. Daley, where he collaborated with business, civic and philanthropic leaders to ensure the Chicago region remained a leading destination to visit, raise a family and grow a business. Clayco also recently announced that former city planning and development commissioner, David Reifman, had joined CRG, its real estate and investment arm.
Since 2013, Clayco has added over 400 employees to its Chicago office, and the company has several major undertakings throughout the region including projects for Cook County, the University of Chicago, Amazon in Monee, Illinois and Kenosha, Wisconsin and the Conrad Chicago Hotel.
Clayco is currently working on nearly 10 million square feet of new industrial distribution and manufacturing projects including the transformation of nearly 500,000 square feet in Willis Tower, and the dramatic renovation work at Macy’s flagship store in the Loop. The company has also just begun work that includes a 2.2-million-square-foot expansion project at O’Hare International Airport with architect Jeanne Gang. In 2018, Clayco purchased Lamar Johnson Collaborative, an architecture, interior and urban design firm serving corporate, developer and institutional clients.
