Kane County Leadership Within the Kane Kendall Council of Mayors

Kane County Division of Transportation (KDOT) is pleased to announce the promotion of Jackie Forbes as Executive Director of the Kane Kendall Council of Mayors (KKCOM). She replaces KDOT’s Deputy Director, Tom Rickert who will focus on mentoring the next generation of leadership as part of KDOT’s transition planning efforts. Jackie has served as the Council’s Director for nearly 5 years and has been instrumental in guiding the Council and its Chairman, Mayor Jeff Schielke of Batavia, in various regional planning efforts. She will continue as Chief of Planning and Programming for KDOT where she oversees many ongoing efforts including the Ride In Kane paratransit program and Kane County’s 2050 long range planning efforts for highway, bike/pedestrian and transit.

Additionally, Heidi Lichtenberger has been promoted to KKCOM Council Director and will continue as a transportation planner for KDOT. Heidi joined the Council of Mayors staff in 2021 as a regional Planning Liaison. She recently led a competitive funding process to evaluate projects and distribute approximately $12 million per year in federal transportation funds to Council municipal and county members for the Council’s new five-year Surface Transportation Program. As Council Director, Heidi will be assisted by Kaci Crowley, a regional Planning Liaison and the County’s Bicycle/Pedestrian Planner. She will also help to facilitate the participation of our local communities in the region's federal transportation process and participate on several committees representing our area.

The Council of Mayors was established through the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning (CMAP) to provide a forum for early public involvement and partnership in the various transportation plans and projects developed for Northeastern Illinois.

The eleven sub regional councils, one of which is the Kane / Kendall Council of Mayors, are responsible for programming federal Surface Transportation Program (STP) funds for transportation improvements each year and are key players in the development of the region's Transportation Improvement Program (TIP) and Regional Transportation Plan.