JLL Biography

Meredith O’Connor International Director, Tenant Representation Chairman of Headquarters Practice Group

Current Responsibilities Meredith O’Connor is an International Director and member of JLL Executive Committee. Meredith provides expertise through a diverse array of experience in tenant representation, business and economic incentives, zoning and land use, acquisitions and dispositions, strategic consulting, financial analysis and development services. Meredith also serves as the client relationship manager for Toyota Motor North America and Aon.

Experience

Currently, Meredith represents the Barack Obama Foundation for the site selection and project management of President Obama’s Presidential Library. She also represents Toyota Mazda Joint Venture on the site selection and incentive advisory work for the $1.6B North American assembly plant (4,000 new jobs) in Huntsville, Alabama. ConAgra Foods on the relocation of their Global Headquarters from Omaha to Chicago where more than 1,000 employees will occupy approximately 200,000 sf in the Merchandise Mart. Recently, Meredith represented Toyota on the relocation of their North American headquarters from Torrance, California to Plano, Texas (2.1M sf build-to-suit); Mercedes Benz USA on the relocation of their North American headquarters from New Jersey to Georgia (1000 jobs); and Zurich N.A. on a 700,000 sf build-to-suit, in Schaumburg, Illinois.

Meredith served on the founding teams of 1871 and MATTER, two digital startup communities located in the Merchandise Mart in downtown Chicago. She also served on the founding team for the development of UI Labs on Goose Island, a center that solves large-scale industrial challenges by forming consortia of university, industry and civic partners who innovate and commercialize new technology solutions. Most recently, Meredith lead the search for Chicago’s first innovation center for physical product development and manufacturing, mHUB. mHUB is a center of collaboration among Chicago’s leaders in business, innovation and research. mHUB will offers manufacturing mentors, community educational programming and industry events. Mayor Rahm Emanuel refers to mHUB as the “final piece of the manufacturing puzzle.”

Prior to joining JLL, Meredith was the Managing Director at World Business Chicago (WBC), where she led the targeting and management of corporate relocation and expansion projects for domestic and globally based companies. Meredith led business development for the region's technology landscape, and served as a principal public/private liaison for corporate technology & entrepreneurial tech leadership. WBC is a public-private economic development corporation chaired by Mayor Rahm Emanuel and comprised of over 50 top executives from many of Chicago’s leading companies. During Meredith’s tenure, WBC was repeated recognized and awarded as one of the top international organizations in its field. Meredith led notable relocations of headquarters for major operations for Boeing, NAVTEQ/Nokia, CDW, CareerBuilder, Motorola Mobility/Google, United Airlines, Wrigley, PepsiCo, GATX and RR Donnelley.

In addition, Meredith spent more than 10 years as Deputy Commissioner with the City of Chicago where she founded a new unit in the Department of Planning and Development (DPD) to advocate for science and technology-based economic development. She also held several other City positions, including Assistant to Mayor Richard M. Daley and was appointed as the youngest-ever Assistant Sergeant At Arms for the Chicago City Council.

Meredith holds a Masters in Business Administration from Loyola University and an undergraduate degree in Finance. She also serves on more than a dozen local associations and charities. Meredith and her husband Dan reside on the Northside of Chicago with their five children.