Pedestrians cross at a downtown Evanston intersection. Photo: Eric Fredericks from Rancho Cordova, CA, United States / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0
Downtown Evanston, the nonprofit that markets and manages the city’s central business district, named Annie Coakley its new executive director in April 2014. She was due to start April 21.
Coakley came from the City of Chicago, where she had been assistant to the commissioner in the Department of Planning and Development since 1998. She succeeded Carolyn Dellutri, who left in January to become senior director of programs and services at the National Main Street Center in Chicago, according to the Daily Northwestern. Dellutri had been the organization’s first full-time executive director, starting in 2008.
The post had been vacant for about three months. Dellutri told the board in December 2013 that she would leave on Jan. 3, according to Patch.
Chicago experience
In Chicago, Coakley managed the city’s Special Service Area program, leading the team that educated the public about it and developed its annual budget, about $28 million at the time. Her 16-plus years in the department centered on programs for commercial areas. Among them were Made in Chicago, a marketing campaign promoting locally produced goods to businesses and the public, and Shop Chicago, which connected developers, brokers and retailers with development opportunities in the neighborhoods.
She holds a bachelor’s degree in communications from Loyola University Chicago, with a concentration in interpersonal communication and marketing.
What the job covers
Downtown Evanston is a 501(c)(6) nonprofit governed by a board of directors. It is responsible for Special Service Area 4, Illinois’s version of a business improvement district, which was established in 1987. The organization provides marketing and management services for the district and works in partnership with the City of Evanston. The director runs those operations day to day. The Daily Northwestern described the group as one that works with the city and local businesses to strengthen the downtown business district, and said Coakley’s Chicago work included initiatives to attract new businesses to commercial areas, which is the kind of effort the Evanston job calls for.
Coakley remained in the post for years. The organization’s website now lists Andy Vick as executive director.
Margaret Whitfield is the editor of The Evanston Edge and covers local government, development and neighborhoods.
