This year’s Annual Luncheon will celebrate the BGA’s storied 100+ year record of achievement in advancing its mission of working toward a more transparent, equitable, and accountable government for the benefit of all the people of Illinois.

2024 Annual Luncheon & Celebration
Thursday, September 19, 2024  | 11:30 AM – 1:30 PM

Four Seasons Hotel Chicago | 120 East Delaware Place
Business Attire

Co-Chairs: John A. Canning, Jr. and Heather A. Steans

We are proud to honor civic leader and BGA Board member Carroll Joynes with the 2024 Daniel L. Goodwin Watchdog Award for his decade of commitment to the BGA’s mission and its solutions-based investigative journalism initiative that addresses critical issues facing Chicago and Illinois. Trained as a historian, Carroll has a distinguished record as a teacher, scholar, and philanthropist. Over the past 30 years, Joynes has served on numerous boards, bolstering educational and cultural organizations like the Newberry Library and the University of Chicago’s Cultural Policy Center, which he co-founded in 2001.

BGA President David Greising will be joined in conversation with Deborah Witzburg, Inspector General for the City of Chicago. Before her appointment in 2022, she held several other roles in the Office of Inspector General, including the Deputy Inspector General for Public Safety, leading OIG’s police oversight work. Witzburg previously worked as an Assistant State’s Attorney in the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office, where she prosecuted a wide range of cases and worked closely with police, community groups, and neighborhood organizations. She earned a BA in anthropology from Brown University and a JD from Northwestern University School of Law.