Dennis Mondero

Dennis is a first-generation immigrant born in the Philippines and moved to the Uptown neighborhood of Chicago in 1971. He received his bachelor’s degree in English from the University of Illinois at Urbana, his law degree from Indiana University at Bloomington, and his master’s of law degree in Real Estate from John Marshall Law School. We have been very lucky to have Dennis Mondero serve not only as Executive Director of Chinese Mutual Aid Association (CMAA) since 2013, but previously serving on CMAA’s Board of Directors for approximately ten years.

After some time practicing commercial real estate law, Dennis later joined the City of Chicago as Chief Counsel for the Department of Buildings, then subsequently held positions as Deputy Buildings Commissioner, Deputy Chief of Staff for the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA), and Senior Vice President & Chief Administrative Officer for the CTA.

Dennis proudly sits on the advisory council of the Chinese American Bar Association, the Board of Directors for Illinois Partners for Human Services, the national board for the National Federation of Filipino American Associations as well as on Federation of Philippine American Chambers of Commerce board. Additionally, Dennis serves on Illinois State Comptroller Susana Mendoza’s Advisory Collective and was a member of Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s transition team, serving on the Public Safety Council. Dennis is a past President of the Asian American Bar Association (AABA) and the Asian American Action Fund of Greater Chicago and various other community advisory boards.