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Chicago Treasurer Melissa Conyears-Ervin smiles outside the Thompson Center before Dr. Willie Wilson distributed 1 million masks across all 50 wards of Chicago on Tuesday, April 28, 2020. Credit: Colin Boyle/Block Club Chicago

CHICAGO —  City treasurer Melissa Conyears-Ervin is assured reelection this month as the sole candidate running for the office.

Conyears-Ervin, who is the wife of Ald. Jason Ervin (28th), prevailed in the 2019 runoff for the treasurer’s office against former North Side Ald. Ameya Pawar and has led the office since.

The city treasurer is one of three citywide elected positions in Chicago municipal government, along with the mayor and city clerk. 

Responsible for overseeing and managing the city’s $9 billion investment portfolio, the city treasurer is also in charge of writing and revising the city’s investment policy. While the baseline of the city’s investment policy is ratified by City Council, the treasurer can add further restrictions, such as divesting from fossil fuels.

The treasurer also functions as a banker, maintaining an account and record of the city’s finances and publishing an annual report to the City Council. 

The city treasurer sits on the board of the city’s four employee pension funds for police, firefighters, municipal employees and laborers, as well as the board of the teachers’ pension fund. 

The position is an elected, four-year term, with a salary of $133,545, although it is set to increase by 20.5 percent in 2023 to $160,921. 

City Treasurer Melissa Conyears-Ervin waves to spectators along Martin Luther King Jr. Drive during the 92nd Bud Billiken Parade in Chicago on Aug. 14, 2021. Credit: Colin Boyle/Block Club Chicago

Conyears-Ervin previously worked for Allstate Insurance Corporation for 15 years, according to her biography on the city website. She was a state representative from 2017-2019, representing a district that includes Garfield Park and other parts of the city’s Near West and North sides. She stepped down from that post after winning the election for treasurer.

As treasurer, Conyears-Ervin has started a small-business loan fund called the Community Catalyst Fund to distribute pandemic-related aid. She has also hosted an online financial advice conversation called Money Monday’s With Melissa that discusses the work of the treasurer’s office. 

Conyears-Ervin has added an investment restriction that prevents the treasurer from investing in a company that is on a Carbon Divestment Exclusion List compiled by the city. 

Conyears-Ervin has $324,000 in campaign funds, according to the most recent public disclosure forms and lives in Garfield Park, according to her biography. 

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