Deputy Governor
State of Illinois
The son of Mexican immigrants, Ruiz was born and raised in the Roseland neighborhood on Chicago’s South Side. He paid his way through college, worked for four years in the steel industry after earning a degree in economics, then entered law school at the University of Chicago.
As an attorney at Drinker Biddle & Reath, he spent more than 20 years advising clients all over the world. He served as chairman of the Illinois State Board of Education and as vice president of the Chicago Board of Education. In 2015, he took on the volunteer role of interim CEO of the Chicago Public Schools.
