Carolyn Blackwell, a senior accountant with Champaign Asphalt Company, and Jesse H. Ruiz, a Chicago attorney and former deputy governor for education, were appointed by Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker to serve on the Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois.
The appointments, which run through 2029, are pending confirmation by the Illinois Senate. Blackwell and Ruiz both are graduates of the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and have extensive backgrounds in the business world and in public service.
“Carolyn Blackwell and Jesse Ruiz bring so much capability to the board, and I look forward to their contributions,” board of trustees chairman Don Edwards said. “I would like to thank Gov. Pritzker for selecting two outstanding individuals who will carry forward the board’s tradition of thoughtful leadership.
“Jesse’s extensive service in education will be extremely valuable and, in addition to Carolyn’s impressive qualifications, she will provide perspective from the Urbana-Champaign community,” Edwards added.
University of Illinois System President Tim Killeen thanked Blackwell and Ruiz for stepping forward at a critical time in the system’s history.
“Higher education is facing unprecedented challenges as we navigate population shifts, sweeping changes in technology and fundamental advancements in instructional delivery methods,” Killeen said. “It is also a time of unprecedented opportunities. Our board will help us not only to deliver an exceptional education, but to engage in innovative partnerships – both in our own back yard and internationally – that improve lives and provide solutions to pressing issues.
“As graduates of a University of Illinois System university,” Killeen said, “Carolyn Blackwell and Jesse Ruiz understand why what we do is so transformative to so many lives and communities in our state and across the globe.”
Blackwell is politically independent and has more than 20 years of financial management and accounting experience. Formerly the corporate accounting manager for Core Spaces LLC, an accounting consultant for YG Financial Group and accounting manager for Campus Acquisitions LLC, Blackwell also has volunteered with the Champaign-Urbana Downtown Independent Volunteer Association and as a board member of the Champaign Central High School Volleyball Booster Club.
She earned a bachelor’s in accounting from UIUC in 2000.
Ruiz is a partner, general counsel and chief compliance officer of The Vistria Group LP, a private investment group based in Chicago. A Democrat, he previously served as deputy governor for education in Pritzker’s office, overseeing the state’s education system from early childhood through higher education, including 852 school districts, 48 community colleges and 12 public universities. Earlier in his career, Ruiz was a partner in the Corporate & Securities Group of Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP.
His public service roles have included president of the Chicago Park District Board of Commissioners, vice president of the Chicago Board of Education, interim CEO of Chicago Public Schools and chairman of the Illinois State Board of Education.
Ruiz earned a bachelor’s in economics from Urbana-Champaign in 1988 and a law degree from the University of Chicago in 1995.
The board of trustees oversees the U of I System and its universities in Urbana-Champaign, Chicago and Springfield. The board has 13 members, 11 of whom vote. The governor appoints nine trustees, and no more than five may belong to a single political party.
With Senate approval of these two appointments, all of the board seats will be filled. Their first Board of Trustees meeting will occur Thursday at 8:00 a.m. in Chicago, and a public livestream of the meeting can be found at https://www.uis.edu/uislive.
