Biography

A leading voice for low taxes, transparency, government reform, and better fiscal management Brien Sheahan has served on the DuPage County Board since 2002. He has served as Chairman of the DuPage County Legislative & Government Affairs Committee, and Technology Committee, and currently serves as Vice Chair of the influential Judicial & Public Safety Committee. He is (or as been) a member of the following committees: Economic Development, Stormwater, Transportation, Intergovernmental, Health and Human Services, Public Transit, and Finance.

Brien has a wealth of state government experience including serving as an Assistant to the Governor in the administration of former Governor Jim Edgar, an Assistant to the Lt. Governor, legal counsel to a member of the Illinois Commerce Commission, and Deputy Executive Director of a major state agency. Sheahan holds a legal degree from DePaul University College of Law, and is an attorney in private practice. He is General Counsel of the Illinois Republican Party, and has been a Republican Precinct Committeeman in York Township for over a decade. Brien served as Co-Chairman of Illinois Lawyers for McCain.

Brien has been a member of various legal organizations including national, state, and local bar associations, and is a member of the National Association of Parliamentarians. He is also involved in a variety of charitable causes including the American Cancer Society; the Illinois Professional Golfers Association Foundation, which introduces inner-city and underprivileged kids to golf; and Bluestem Housing Partners, which is a not-for-profit that works with groups like Catholic Charities and Southern Illinois University School of Medicine to provide safe affordable housing for families and people with disabilities.

Finishing with the highest grade point average in his class, Brien earned an undergraduate degree, with High Honors, in Urban and Regional Planning from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign where he was also an award-winning editor of the Department of Urban and Regional Planning's newsletter.

Brien attended the College of DuPage in Glen Ellyn for two years prior to finishing at the University of Illinois, where he was in the Honors Program, on the Dean's List, President of the Student Senate, and wrote a weekly column for the student newspaper. He was also Captain of the golf team, which was conference champion and competed in the National Junior College Championship.

A lifelong DuPage County resident Brien attended York Community High School in Elmhurst where he was elected to student government and was a member of the golf and tennis teams. Brien was twice West Suburban Conference Champion in golf. He was born in 1970.

In his third term on the County Board, Brien has been recognized as a principled and outspoken fiscal conservative. Leading by example, Brien has given back over $15,000 in county salary and other benefits, fought to eliminate local travel reimbursements, and consistently opposed pay raises for county board members. He has voted to cut county property taxes for six consecutive years, and vote to cut overall spending to ensure that the county lives within its means. Brien continues to be a budget watchdog, sponsoring a measure to require long-term fiscal planning, and drawing attention to the expansion of county programs and services at a time when the county faces significant financial challenges.

Brien has lead efforts to make county government more accessible on the internet by providing greater detailed information regarding meeting agenda, backup materials, and minutes online. He's advocated the placement of searchable committee and county board votes online so the citizens can track the records of county board members.

As a member of the county Stormwater Committee Brien proposed and successfully pushed for the inclusion of "green roof" and "permeable" parking surface technology in the county stormwater regulations. These environmentally sustainable stormwater detention techniques provide the developers of new structures in our downtown areas with new options to control stormwater in an aesthetically pleasing and environmentally manner.

County Committees

• Technology, Chairman
• Judicial & Public Safety, Vice Chairman
• Stormwater
• Legislative
• Finance
• Transportation

Professional Experience

• Currently in private practice as an attorney in Elmhurst.
• Former executive with an affordable housing lender, served as part of a senior management team that oversaw nearly 200 employees and over $2 billion in assets.
• Legal counsel to one of five members of the Illinois Commerce Commission, which regulates utilities in the state. Provided legal and policy advice on telecommunications issues; helped to craft consumer oriented and pro-competitive conditions on one of the largest corporate mergers in US history.

Political Activity

• Advisor to Illinois Governor Jim Edgar
• Board of Directors,
  American Cancer Society
• Board of Governors,
  Illinois PGA Foundation

Education

• JD, DePaul University
• BA (high honors) in Urban and Regional Planning from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.
• College of DuPage in Glen Ellyn for two years
• York Community High School in Elmhurst

Personal Information

• Lifelong resident of Elmhurst
• Board of Directors,
  American Cancer Society
• Board of Governors,
  Illinois PGA Foundation