Meet Kim

Over more than two decades, Kim Walz has built an impressive record of community advocacy, coalition building, and experience in the public, private, and non-profit sectors. A longtime 46th Ward resident, she has spent her career fighting for safer neighborhoods, affordable and accessible healthcare and housing, support for those suffering with substance abuse, mental health, and homelessness, and making government more efficient and transparent for the people it serves.

Raised in Freeport, Illinois, the values of public service and community engagement were instilled in Kim at a young age. Her mother was a nurse and her father was a high school teacher who served as the Illinois Education Association representative for his region. After graduating from Georgetown University with a Master’s Degree in Public Policy, Kim moved to the 46th Ward. For ten years, she worked for Congressman Mike Quigley, first in his role as Cook County Commissioner, where she helped reform Cook County government and expand access to services for residents, and then in Congress. 

As an advisor for a number of political, advocacy and non-profit clients, Kim has developed and implemented policy, communications, and strategy. She served as Senior Vice President of Marketing and Communications for a non-profit health insurance co-op founded by local doctors to provide health insurance for low-income working families and others who were uninsured. She currently works for Walgreens, where she serves as a liaison between states, local communities, and the company, and has fought to pass legislation to lower the cost of prescription drugs and combat organized retail crime. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Kim helped open some of the first testing locations in the country, and was instrumental in vaccination efforts, including in long-term care facilities and to improve vaccine equity for people of color, non-English speakers, and the undocumented population.

Kim is an active volunteer in the community, including at the House of Good Shepherd to support mothers and children living at the shelter. She serves on the board of Kids Above All, a non-profit helping children and families who have survived trauma, and on the leadership council of the Haymarket Center, which helps individuals and families suffering from substance abuse and mental health issues and their families. Kim has deep, personal connections to these issues, having experienced firsthand the challenges families face when loved ones struggle with schizophrenia and homelessness.

Kim lives in Lakeview with her fiancé Michael and their daughter Esme.