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PROPOSED RESOLUTION
HONORING THE YEARS OF DEDICATION & SERVICE OF COMPTROLLER LAWRENCE L. WILSON
WHEREAS, Lawrence L. Wilson has proudly devoted the past three decades serving the public sector, he enthusiastically began his public service career as a high school teacher within the Chicago Public School system. Lawrence was determined to improve the educational and economic trajectory of historically disenfranchised youth through guidance and mentorship, having attributed such resources as the catalyst behind his own success; and
WHEREAS, Lawrence succeeded in elevating the lives and opportunities for his students, he recognized the significance of obtaining an advanced degree to further extend his ability to serve others. Lawrence was the first in his immediate family to graduate from college and he earned a graduate degree from an Ivy League school. Lawrence worked two jobs and performed maintenance work to cover his tuition. Obtaining an MBA from Cornell University as a Black man in the early 1970s was fraught with discrimination and racism. However, Lawrence persevered, further prepared himself by receiving the Professional Accounting Program Certificate from Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management, passing the CPA exam in 1979, and ultimately obtained prominent roles in public accounting, investment banking, consulting and executive leadership; and
WHEREAS, Lawrence launched his government finance career in 1986, when Mayor Harold Washington appointed him deputy comptroller. Lawrence continued to oversee all of Chicago's enterprises and accounting needs under the administrations of Mayors Sawyer and Daley respectively; and
WHEREAS, Lawrence served as deputy commissioner of finance in planning and development for the City of Chicago, a position he truly loved, because it resulted in commercial development which created and retained employment opportunities, revitalized local neighborhoods and provided loans, bonds and tax incentives t...
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