After fending off pressure to hire an ally of Mayor Brandon Johnson, the city’s tourism marketing agency has ended a more than yearlong search for a president and CEO.Choose Chicago said Thursday it has named Kristen Reynolds to fill the key post, which has been the highest-paid public position in Chicago. Reynolds comes to Chicago after 27 years in tourism leadership, the last decade as CEO of New York’s Discover Long Island.She will take over an organization that, with public and private funding, is tasked with promoting Chicago against cities that have much larger budgets to market themselves. While Chicago has seen growth in business and leisure travel, it still hasn’t hit the record numbers it recorded just before the pandemic."The numbers say the city has not recovered to where we want it to be," Reynolds said in an interview. "That's why I'm here."She said she had a genial hourlong interview with Johnson and that navigating local politics isn't new to her. "I come from New York," she said, noting that her Long Island bailiwick covered two counties and towns totaling more than 900 elected officials. Her prior work included promoting and government lobbying for Arizona tourism.Among her priorities will be implementing a Tourism Improvement District that allows for a higher tax on hotel stays to raise more revenue for Choose Chicago. "If we want to be the best, we have to be able to compete," Reynolds said.Reynolds’ hiring ends a more than yearlong search extended by tension between Choose Chicago’s high-powered board of business leaders and Johnson. The board wanted a tourism veteran with a proven track record, while sources said the mayor urged the hiring of an ally with no background in an insular industry.Johnson had tried to persuade board members to hire Deputy Mayor Kenya Merritt, a longtime city employee. Related Power struggle delays filling one of Chicago’s most important and highest-paid jobs — Choose Chicago CEO The Sun-Times reported last week that Johnson had relented and signed off on the selection of Reynolds. The Choose Chicago CEO has in the past been paid $520,000. The selection of a CEO traditionally has gotten approval from the mayor and the governor, as the agency gets both city and state funding.Choose Chicago’s announcement contained those customary endorsements. Johnson hailed Reynolds as a "proven leader in tourism" while Gov. JB Pritzker said he looked forward to working with her to encourage travel to Chicago.Glenn Eden, board chair at Choose Chicago, said Merritt, whom he called a "dynamic individual and a friend," was never formally offered as a CEO candidate. He said the board insisted that its choice "had to have the DNA of the industry in their background."Reynolds will start her new job May 5. Her salary was not reported. Rich Gamble, a Choose Chicago board member and former Brookfield Zoo executive, has been the agency’s interim CEO since Lynn Osmond left the post in early 2024.The agency has gone through turmoil. The pandemic led to layoffs and pay cuts for its staff, but its annual budget of about $33 million is now just above its level in 2019, before the COVID-19 onset. Its leadership hopes the Tourism Improvement District will double its budget, although its funding will still be less than that of agencies promoting convention cities such as Orlando and Las Vegas.For stays at hotels with more than 100 rooms, the district would add 1.5 percentage points to the city's hotel tax, bringing it to 18.9%. It would be the nation's highest rate.State legislation authorized the district, but City Council approval would be needed. While the state's hotel association signed onto the concept, others in the broad convention sector, such as meeting planners, could be opposed.At Long Island, Reynolds said she led a rebranding and increased spending for promotions.Moving to Chicago carries personal appeal, she said, as her husband, Thomas Reynolds, is from the Chicago area and a daughter is a sophomore at Loyola University Chicago. ...read more read less