Former deputy governor Jesse Ruiz becomes new chair of University of Illinois Board of Trustees

Jesse Ruiz led his first meeting as chair of the University of Illinois System Board of Trustees on Thursday, Jan. 23, 2025.

CHICAGO — Former deputy governor Jesse Ruiz was unanimously elected to lead the University of Illinois System Board of Trustees on Thursday by his peers on the board.

The child of an immigrant father whose visa expired, Ruiz grew up in Chicago. He dropped out of University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign his first time.

“I’ve got a long complicated history with the University of Illinois,” Ruiz told the trustees. “I never thought this is where I’d be sitting in the spring of 1984.”

After a stint at community college, Ruiz returned to U of I and graduated in 1988. He later became a lawyer and served on the Chicago Public Schools and Illinois boards of education. He also served on a federal education commission during the Obama administration and was a deputy governor for JB Pritzker in 2018.

The previous U of I System chair, Donald Edwards, had led the trustees for six years. Edwards is the CEO of an investment firm.

Emily Hays

Emily Hays started at WILL in October 2021 after three-plus years in local newsrooms in Virginia and Connecticut. She has won state awards for her housing coverage at Charlottesville Tomorrow and her education reporting at the New Haven Independent. Emily graduated from Yale University where she majored in History and South Asian Studies.