How Chicago is Rewriting the Public Safety Playbook

Amy L. Solomon is a senior leader and policy entrepreneur with deep experience in government, philanthropy, and the nonprofit sectors. She currently serves as Senior Fellow at the Council on Criminal Justice, working to shine a light on the black box of federal justice funding, policy, and operations. Solomon is also serving as Distinguished Advisor to The Pew Charitable Trusts, Consultant to the Center for Law and Public Trust at NYU School of Law, and on the boards of the Clean Slate Initiative, The Marshall Project, the California Correctional Mental Healthcare Receiver Corporation, and the Health and Reentry Project (HARP)Advisory Committee. 

From 2021-2024, Solomon led the Office of Justice Programs (OJP), the largest grantmaking agency at the U.S. Department of Justice. Nominated by the President and confirmed by a bipartisan vote of the U.S. Senate, Solomon served as Assistant Attorney General, leading an 800-person workforce and overseeing about $5 billion annually in grants to support state and local criminal justice efforts and to generate research and statistics to inform national policy and practice. During her three-plus year tenure leading OJP, Solomon spearheaded a broad range of strategies and investments to build knowledge, advance community safety, and serve victims.  She also led an unprecedented effort to reimagine OJP’s mission and investment strategy to center the role of communities as co-producers of safety and justice.    

Previously, Solomon was Vice President of Criminal Justice at Arnold Ventures, where she launched and led a corrections reform portfolio and initiatives to advance economic mobility for people with criminal records.  

From 2010 to 2017, Solomon served in the Obama Administration as Director of Policy for OJP and as Executive Director of the Federal Interagency Reentry Council. The Cabinet-level Council spearheaded successful policy reforms including the federal Ban the Box rule, fair housing guidance, the Second Chance Pell initiative and Medicaid guidance for the justice-involved population. Solomon has also worked in state government and the nonprofit sector to help shape innovative approaches to social justice challenges. 

Eric Smith is the Vice Chairman of BMO Harris Bank.  In this role, Eric serves as a senior advisor to the Commercial Banking management team and he leads the bank’s community and economic development effort which includes a $40 billion commitment in support of racial equity. 

 Eric joined BMO in January 2020 from Fifth Third Bank, where he served as the Regional President.  Prior to assuming that role in 2016, Eric served for many years as a Managing Director at JPMorgan in the Investment Banking Group where he was responsible for advising Fortune 500 consumer product companies.  For example, Eric advised companies like ImBev on its $50 billion hostile takeover of Anheuser Busch and McDonald’s on the strategic sale of its Latin American business which included over 1,500 restaurants across the region.  Likewise, he has helped to structure debt and equity underwritings for iconic consumer branded companies like General Mills, Campbell Soup, Kellogg, Sara Lee, and Pepsi – just to name a few.  Eric has more than 30 years of banking experience, and he began his career on Wall Street with Merrill Lynch as a Financial Analyst in Municipal Finance. 

In November of 2023, Eric was appointed as a Corporate Director of Southern Company Gas which is a leading Fortune 500 energy company that serves over 5 million utility customers across four states, including Nicor Gas in Illinois; Atlanta Gas Light; Chattanooga Gas; and Virginia Natural Gas.  

In addition to Eric’s various corporate leadership roles, he is a visionary civic leader who currently serves as the Co-Chair of the Civic Committee’s Public Safety Task Force which represents a coalition of local CEOs and business leaders who have developed a five-point plan to address the alarming crisis of crime in Chicago.  In collaboration with Governor Pritzker, Mayor Brandon Johnson, the Superintendent of the Chicago Police Department, and various community stakeholders, the plan includes a goal of cutting the rate of homicide and violent crime by 75% over the next 10-years.  Several months ago, Eric announced that the Public Safety Task Force would lead an audacious effort on behalf of the business community to create jobs and promote economic development in long-neglected Chicago neighborhoods and to raise $100 million to invest in a major expansion of violence intervention programs.  To date, over $75 million has been raised toward this transformative commitment.  

 Eric has a long history of commitment to the non-profit community as reflected through his board service and volunteerism.  For example, he serves as the Immediate Past Board Chairman of the Chicago Urban League; Chairman of the Board for Lurie Children’s Hospital Foundation; Vice Chairman of the Board of Lyric Opera; and Treasurer of the Economic Club of Chicago.  Likewise, Eric is an active Board Member of the Chicago Public Education Fund, the Commercial Club of Chicago, Navy Pier, Northwestern Memorial Hospital, Ravinia, and the Steward Board of St. John AME Church. 

 Eric earned his Bachelor’s degree in Finance from Howard University and his MBA from Harvard Business School; and he is a beloved member of the Boule’ and Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity. Finally, Eric is the proud father of two daughters – Bradleigh Smith who is a 2022 graduate of Spelman College and Shelby Smith who is a graduate of Emory University. 

Grace Hou has served as Deputy Governor for Health and Human Services for Governor JB Pritzker since October 10, 2023. As the Deputy Governor, Grace oversees twelve Health and Human Services cabinet agencies, boards or commissions whose impact touches every corner of Illinois. Under her leadership, the Health and Human Services team tackles several critical initiatives such as implementing the state’s plan to eradicate medical debt, coordinating public health approaches to decreasing gun violence, establishing a Multi-Sector Plan on Aging, creating a cross-agency Justice Cabinet, amongst others.  

 Previously, Grace served on Governor Pritzker’s Cabinet as the Secretary of the Illinois Department of Human Services. Notable achievements include leading Illinois with one of the highest response rates for the U.S. Census; launching the state’s inaugural gun violence prevention office; providing access to meals and public health insurance for Illinois families and children; and elevating awareness of mental illness patients and their path to recovery. Grace also served as the Assistant Secretary and was an architect of the nationally recognized Immigrant Integration New American’s Gubernatorial Executive Order.  

Grace is a child of Taiwanese immigrants and has dedicated her career to advancing non-profit and public service sectors. Grace has served as the President of Woods Fund Chicago and as the Executive Director of the Chinese Mutual Aid Association where she became an advocate for immigrants’ rights. She is Board Chair of the American Public Human Services Association, a member of The Commercial Club, the 2001 Leadership Greater Chicago Fellow, and a German Marshall Fellow.  She was inducted into the Lyons Township High School Hall of Fame in 2025.