Marny M. Zimmer is the Senior Director of Public Safety at the Civic Committee of the Commercial Club of Chicago, where she leads work on the implementation of the Public Safety Task Force’s strategic plan focusing on police and public safety infrastructural investments and scaling and capacity-building for community violence intervention (CVI) programs.
Marny worked with the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) as part of the crisis intervention team, helping to guide individuals with serious mental illness, and their families, through the mental health system. In that role, she taught at the Chicago Police Academy on crisis intervention strategies and officer wellness. She worked as the Director of Policy at the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office from 2017 to 2020 focusing on criminal justice reform and increased public safety through improved community relationships, violence reduction strategies, and a deepened understanding of the intersection of addiction and mental health issues and crime. Prior to heading the Policy Department, Marny created and supervised the Gun Crimes Strategies Unit, which placed prosecutors in Chicago’s most violent neighborhoods to work side by side with the police and community members, developing an understanding of the causes and individuals driving crime. Marny also worked with violence intervention groups to identify high risk individuals prior to their release from prison to receive specialized services to prevent a re-engagement in violence. During her prosecutorial career, Marny also worked with the Department of Justice at the United States London Embassy and the London’s Mayor’s Office on Policing and Crime (MOPAC) assisting U.S. and U.K. law enforcement using and researching evidence-based policing strategies. Marny began her prosecutorial career as an Assistant United States Attorney in Chicago.
She earned her Master’s in Social Work at the University of Chicago Crown School, a Master’s in Criminal Justice Policy from the London School of Economics and Political Science, a Juris Doctor from the University of Chicago, and a BA in Accounting from the University of Notre Dame.
