Bean, a former politician in Illinois, will lead Mesirow’s flagship wealth business which has been based in Chicago for over 80 years.

Mesirow Financial has appointed Melissa Bean as chief executive and president of Mesirow Wealth Advisors, taking effect on April 8.

Bean, a former Congresswoman in Illinois, will lead Mesirow’s flagship wealth business which has been based in Chicago for over 80 years. She will report to Dominick Mondi, president and CEO of Mesirow Financial. 

Bean joins Mesirow from JP Morgan Chase, where she served as chairman of the Midwest. She succeeds Lee Gordon, who will become chairman of Mesirow Wealth Advisors, it said in a statement yesterday.

Before JP Morgan Chase, Bean was CEO of the Executives’ Club of Chicago, following her tenure in public service. Bean was elected in 2004, and served three terms in the US Congress, (IL-08). 

She led the task force that wrote the provisions of Dodd-Frank (to protect investors without stifling market growth), and co-authored the 2010 Small Business Lending Act, business tax credits in the GROW Act, and the SAFER NET Internet Child Safety Act; all of which were signed into law by Presidents Bush and Obama. Prior to Congress, Bean served for 20 years in executive roles in the technology industry, namely, Arrow Electronics, Motorola, and SynOptics, and founder of SRI, where she developed sales and operations teams.