Jamie Rhee Appointed As New Commissioner Of Chicago Department Of Aviation

CHICAGO (CBS) -- Chicago's Aviation Commissioner is spreading her wings as she prepares to vacate that post.

Ginger Evans has served as the city's Aviation Commissioner for the past three years. Evans announced she is stepping down from her position August 1.

Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel announced the appointment of Chief Procurement Officer Jamie Rhee as Evans' replacement.

In a press release from Mayor Rahm Emanuel's office, Rhee's responsibilities as Chief Procurement Officer were outlined:

"As Chicago's CPO, Rhee is responsible for purchasing approximately $2 billion in goods and services for dozens of user departments of the City of Chicago, including the CDA, and the certification of thousands of minority, women-owned, disadvantaged business enterprises, as well as Veteran-owned businesses and businesses operated by people with disabilities and the Airport Concessionaire Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (ACDBE) program. Under her leadership, Rhee has transformed City procurement through increased transparency and innovation to ensure that vendors who earn City contracts are diverse as Chicago itself. For instance, more than 20 programs and incentives have been developed to strengthen and streamline opportunities for Chicago's small, minority and women-owned businesses."

"When I appointed Ginger three years ago, I tasked her with specific goals to modernize our airports and strengthen our status as a global transportation hub so that Chicago's distinguished airports would not only be the busiest, but the best," said Mayor Emanuel. "In a herculean feat accomplished in a small amount of time, Ginger has negotiated an historic $8.7 billion agreement to modernize O'Hare; opened two new runways and the first new gates in 25 years; undertaken the largest investment plan for Midway in nearly two decades; and attracted new airlines and services to make O'Hare not only the best connected airport in the nation, but the only American city to offer direct flights to all six major continents."

Her appointment will have to be approved by the city council.