Individual | Inducted 2025
Mario Treto Jr., Secretary of the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation, is a trailblazing public servant, attorney, and civic leader. As the first openly gay Latino Cabinet member in Illinois government, he has profoundly impacted Chicago’s LGBTQ+ community by authoring transformative local ordinances for LGBTQ+ protections and implementing equity-focused regulations.
A lifelong Chicagoan and proud son of Mexican immigrants, Treto has broken barriers while ensuring that equity, inclusion, and justice remain central to his work. As Deputy City Attorney for Evanston, he authored transformative local ordinances that reshaped LGBTQ+ protections and served as models statewide. He drafted Illinois’ first gender-neutral restroom ordinance, legislation that became the foundation for Illinois’ statewide law and inspired municipalities nationally. He authored Evanston’s Human Rights Ordinance to explicitly include gender identity as a protected class, cementing nondiscrimination protections for transgender residents. Additionally, he crafted Evanston’s Sanctuary City Ordinance, reinforcing the city’s commitment to immigrant rights.
Treto was appointed by Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker to his Cabinet in 2019. As Secretary of the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation, Treto oversees the licensing and regulation of more than 1.2 million professionals across healthcare, real estate, and financial services, manages a $135 million budget, and leads 350 employees statewide. His tenure has been defined by modernization and equity: implementing the Illinois Community Reinvestment Act to address banking deserts, enforcing the Predatory Loan Prevention Act, capping payday loan interest rates, doubling state-funded real estate scholarships for minorities, and launching initiatives to close racial gaps in housing appraisals. By removing barriers to licensure and prioritizing access, he has created pathways of opportunity for historically marginalized communities, including LGBTQ+ professionals.
As the youngest and first Latino Board Chair of Howard Brown Health, the Midwest’s largest LGBTQ+ health organization, Treto oversaw a budget increase from $100 million to $350 million, expansion to 12 clinics, and care for more than 35,000 patients annually. He has also served on the Illinois Supreme Court Committee on Professionalism, the Association of Real Estate License Law Officials, and the Board of Trustees of the Poetry Foundation, where he continues to elevate diverse voices.