Susana A. Mendoza (Democrat) took office on Dec. 5, 2016, serving the last two years of her friend Comptroller Judy Baar Topinka's term. She was reelected in 2018 and 2022. Mendoza is the first Hispanic independently elected to statewide office in Illinois.
Since becoming Comptroller, Mendoza has transformed the office, opening the state's books and giving citizens a better view of state finances. Comptroller Mendoza used the power of the office to pay down the state's backlog of unpaid bills, and Illinois now pays bills faster than the private sector. Taking office amid a budget impasse, she immediately shifted the IOC's priority to funding nursing homes, hospice centers, schools, and the state's most vulnerable citizens. Comptroller Mendoza has been an advocate for stability and predictability in state finance, comprehensive budget solutions, and open and transparent financial reporting, winning accolades from agencies that rate the state's bonds.
Additionally, thanks in part to Comptroller Mendoza's leadership, the state's Rainy Day Fund has over $2 billion, and Illinois has earned nine credit rating upgrades in recent years. She has frequently been sought out as a voice of reason during tough economic times.
Comptroller Mendoza has initiated a transparency revolution in state government, working with legislators of both parties to introduce and pass transformative legislation to make financial information more publicly available than ever before. These measures include the Debt Transparency Act, Truth in Hiring Act, Budgeting for Debt Act and Vendor Payment Program Transparency Act.
When the COVID-19 pandemic took hold in Illinois in early 2020, Mendoza established a public online portal showing coronavirus-related state spending on necessary supplies in Illinois' fight against the deadly virus. Newspapers around the country called on their states to follow her lead.
In the same spirit of transparency, Comptroller Mendoza set up a portal in February 2024 to track state spending on asylum seekers sent to Illinois.
Before her statewide election, Comptroller Mendoza served six terms between 2001 and 2011 in the Illinois House of Representatives. She was the youngest member of the 92nd Illinois General Assembly, and she quickly earned a reputation as a tenacious and effective legislator who embraced a bipartisan approach to governing. She was routinely recognized for her leadership in social services, education, law enforcement, job creation and animal welfare. In 2011, she was the first woman elected Chicago City Clerk and modernized the office's collection systems.
Comptroller Mendoza graduated from Bolingbrook High School, earning All-State and All-Midwest honors in varsity soccer. Because of her achievements, she became the first female on the Bolingbrook High School Wall of Fame.
Comptroller Mendoza attended Truman State University in Missouri on a soccer and academic scholarship, earning All-Midwest honors in soccer and a B.A. in Business Administration.
She is a first-generation Mexican American and has two older brothers. She lives in Chicago's Portage Park neighborhood with her husband, David, and her son, David.
