Carlos Ramirez-Rosa
Carlos Ramirez-Rosa is the General Superintendent and Chief Executive Officer of the Chicago Park District, overseeing the nation’s third-largest park system, with more than 8,800 acres of green space, over 600 parks, 230 fieldhouses, and 26 miles of lakefront. A lifelong Chicagoan, Carlos is working to ensure that every community benefits from safe, welcoming, vibrant public spaces and equitable investment in Chicago’s parks.
Since becoming CEO, Carlos has centered equity in how the Park District invests its resources. Under his leadership, the District launched Chicago Grows Together, its first equitable infrastructure improvement framework, directing new investment toward historically under-resourced parks and communities. He has also prioritized climate resilience, launching targeted air-conditioning and cooling improvements in neighborhoods facing the greatest health risks from extreme heat and strengthening parks as neighborhood resources during increasingly extreme weather.
Carlos has also worked to give Chicagoans a greater voice in shaping their parks. He launched the Park District’s first citywide participatory budgeting process, creating a new avenue for residents to propose ideas and directly help determine how public dollars are invested in their communities. His administration has expanded youth and teen programming and restored reliable seven-day operations at all 50 outdoor pools, strengthening access to recreation and safe, welcoming spaces for young people and families across Chicago.
Under Carlos’s leadership, the District has modernized its approach to public safety and accountability. He established the District’s first centralized Park Operations Center to strengthen real-time coordination and emergency response across more than 600 parks, while expanding safety training, prevention, crisis support, and coordination across the system. These reforms reflect a broader approach to public safety that emphasizes preparedness, accountability, community trust, and the everyday conditions that help people feel safe and welcome in public spaces.
Carlos is also advancing a new generation of public spaces across Chicago. The District completed the first comprehensive Grant Park Framework Plan in more than two decades, establishing a long-term vision to make Chicago’s historic “front yard” more welcoming, accessible, and vibrant. On the Far South Side, he is advancing the transformation of the former Calumet confined disposal facility into 43 acres of new lakefront parkland—extending Chicago’s tradition of reclaiming its lakefront for public use and creating a major new public space in a community long burdened by industrial development.
Before joining the Park District, Carlos served three terms as alderperson of Chicago’s 35th Ward. During a decade in the Chicago City Council, he built coalitions to increase funding for park improvements and parkland acquisition, advance the $27 million Milwaukee Avenue and Logan Square redesign, and strengthen protections for immigrants, LGBTQIA+ residents, women, and workers.
A proud product of the Chicago Public Schools, Carlos holds a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Crain’s Chicago Business recognized him as a “20 in Their 20s” in 2016 and a “40 Under 40” in 2023. He lives in Avondale with his husband, Bryan, and their rescue pit mix, Itztli. Outside of work, Carlos enjoys hiking, kayaking, and exploring Chicago’s rich cultural landscape.
Phone: (312) 742-4200
Email: superintendent@chicagoparkdistrict.com