Lightfoot Names First Black Woman Chicago Fire Commissioner

CHICAGO — Mayor Lori Lightfoot on Friday named Annette Nance-Holt as the city's first Black woman fire commissioner in the city's 162-year history.

"Commissioner Holt has more than three decades of proven leadership and a passion for public service that makes her the perfect fit for this role," Lightfoot said.

"Furthermore, in a time where more work remains in order to eliminate discrimination, racism and sexism from the firefighter profession, Commissioner Holt's history-making appointment as the first woman and Black woman to lead as Fire Commissioner couldn't have come at a better moment. I want to congratulate her on formally and permanently stepping into the role and look forward to seeing how she builds upon CFD's long-standing reputation as the finest in the nation."

Nance-Holt served as first deputy commissioner, the department's No. 2 spot, since 2018, and took over as acting commissioner after the retirement of Richard Ford this year.

On Friday, she presided over her first fire academy graduation ceremony.

“The Fire Department must have membership and leadership that mirrors the communities it serves every day. As a child, I never laid eyes on either a female firefighter or a firefighter of color,” Nance-Holt said.

“There were no role models who looked like me, and so I never thought that becoming a firefighter, which was my dream, would be a possibility for me. As fire commissioner, I intend to show the next generation of young Black women that they too can achieve any and everything they set their minds and hearts to.”

Over her career, Nance-Holt has served as a firefighter and rose through the ranks as lieutenant, captain and battalion chief of emergency medical technicians before being promoted to deputy district chief and first deputy.

Commissioner Nance-Holt is the founder of two nonprofit community organizations, —Purpose Over Pain and the Blair Holt Scholarship Foundation, which is named in honor of her late son, who was shot and killed aboard a CTA bus in 2007 while shielding a friend from gunshots.