Steven Mahr steps in as Chicago's acting CFO, sources say

City of Chicago finance department

Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson has chosen Assistant Finance Commissioner Steven Mahr as the city's acting chief financial officer, according to two sources familiar with the city's financial operations. 

Mahr steps in for departing CFO Jill Jaworski, who left the mayor's finance team to take a job with the nonprofit that runs Navy Pier that began this week.

Mahr is now the acting CFO, said the sources, who declined to be named.

A veteran of Stifel who moved to Chicago with his wife, a theater professional, in 2022, Mahr told The Bond Buyer in 2024 that the humanity of the city's renowned theater scene extends to its political and financial worlds, as well. 

"My goal is to take into account that heart and struggle and empathy in the work that our team has the honor of doing each and every day," Mahr said.

He will be stepping amid tension between the mayor's administration and the City Council, which passed the 2026 budget over Johnson's objections.

In that 2024 interview with The Bond Buyer, Mahr championed the Johnson administration's $1.25 billion housing and economic development bond plan.

"This administration worked really diligently to design a program that adequately funds both (the Department of Housing) and (the Department of Planning and Development) while also taking advantage of those (tax increment financing districts) expiring and entering the tax base," Mahr said.

"We worked a long time trying to build in important transparency measures, both on the bond issuance side and on the program implementation side," he added.

Mahr is a graduate of the Ohio State University who served as a Clean Energy Leadership Institute fellow in 2023. 

He volunteers as an associate board member for the Chicago Public Library Foundation, according to his LinkedIn profile. Past volunteer efforts include service as an associate board member at Navy Pier and at the Goodman Theatre. 

Mahr also ran in the 2023 Chicago Marathon to benefit Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago.   

A longtime student of government and civics, he previously told The Bond Buyer he tries to be "always questioning, always learning, always finding connections between things," and called his 2024 move back into a public service role "a return to my roots."

The acting CFO appointment does not require City Council sign-off.

The city's finance team did not respond to questions by press time.