Days after Mayor Brandon Johnson signaled he would fire top holdovers appointed by past mayors, he announced Thursday that two key city department leaders are stepping down from their jobs.
The mayor’s press office announced Department of Aviation Commissioner Jamie Rhee will retire in April. Moments later, the office released another statement announced Jose Tirado “will be transitioning out of his position” as executive director of the Office of Emergency Management and Communication.
Rhee, a Rahm Emanuel appointee, oversaw O’Hare and Midway airports, key drivers of the city’s economy. More recently, she has helped lead an effort to overhaul large parts of O’Hare that has at times pitted Johnson against the Illinois Congressional delegation.
In a statement, Johnson praised Rhee for leaving an “indelible mark on our airports and our city.” He then thanked Tirado for helping to oversee reductions in crime and a “successfully hosted” Democratic National Convention.
But just days earlier, he hinted at leadership changes to come while telling a church crowd he wished he would have “cleaned house faster” during his first two years in office.
Asked Monday night during a “Faith in Government Tour” conversation at New Covenant Missionary Baptist Church about what he regrets in his first term, Johnson told Pastor Stephen J. Thurston II that he kept on some staffers who did not “agree with [him] 100%” when he became mayor in an effort to show “godly presentation” and his ability to work with others. He then hinted he would soon make key staff changes.
“If you ain’t with us, you just gotta go. So now, I’m in a position now where I’ll be making some decisions in the days to come, because playing nice with other people who ain’t about us, it’s just a waste of exercise,” Johnson said.
“Everybody don’t have that Joseph anointing,” Johnson quipped. “There’s a whole bunch of people who are like, ‘Oh, shoot, who’s about to get fired?’ Well, you’re about to find out, stay tuned.”
Asked whether Johnson’s comments forecast Rhee’s departure, the mayor’s press office did not immediately respond Thursday.
In a statement shared alongside Johnson’s, Rhee thanked her staff and said she is “eternally grateful for the opportunities that have been afforded to me and am extremely proud of the work that’s been accomplished.”
The seven-year veteran commissioner oversaw Chicago’s airports as the COVID-19 pandemic hit, marking some of the most challenging moments in recent memory for air travel. As activity began to rebound from pandemic lows, the recovery at O’Hare, long a linchpin in the nation’s air system, remained sluggish, as business travel was slow to return and one of the airport’s major airlines began to shift focus elsewhere.
By November 2024, the most recent month of data available, the number of travelers at O’Hare for the year was closer to pre-pandemic levels, reaching 95% of 2019 numbers. Passenger traffic at Midway had surpassed pre-pandemic levels.
Rhee also oversaw major construction projects at the two airports, including the completion of a redesign of O’Hare’s runways to reduce delays at the congested airport nearly 20 years after the project was announced.
Another major O’Hare construction project during Rhee’s tenure has yet to take off. Work to replace Terminal 2 with a new Global Terminal and add two satellite concourses is set to be the centerpiece of an overhaul of the airport’s terminals.
Already behind schedule, the effort became mired in months of contentious negotiations and drew the attention of Illinois’ Congressional delegation when Chicago’s two main airlines pushed back against rising construction costs.
The city and airlines ultimately agreed to change the order of construction, a move that initially raised fears outside of City Hall that a second satellite concourse could be cut from the project.