Senior Staff

Kevin J. Jackson became the Village Manager in March 2022. His career in local government spans 25 years. Prior to assuming his role as Oak Park's Village Manager, he had served for more than four years as Deputy City Manager of Long Beach, California. Kevin also spent more than nine years as Neighborhood Services Director for the City of Champaign, Illinois, after serving in progressive roles in city governments in Arizona.

Education: Master of Public Administration and Bachelor's degrees in Psychology and Sociology from Arizona State University.

Notable Professional Activities and Affiliations: International City Managers Association (ICMA); National Forum for Black Public Administrators.

Contact information: Contact Kevin at kjackson@oak-park.us or 708.358.5772.

Lisa Shelley's career in municipal government has spanned two decades, including city management positions with the Village of Lake Bluff, Village of Barrington and Village of Woodridge. She joined the Village of Oak Park as assistant to the Public Works Director in January 1998. She was promoted to Assistant to the Village Manager in September 2000, then promoted to the position of Deputy Village Manager in December 2003. She was named Interim Village Manager in August 2021, a post she held through March 2022.

Education: Masters of Public Administration in City Management from Northern Illinois University in DeKalb; Bachelor of Political Science from Lake Forest College.

Notable Professional Activities and Affiliations: International City Managers Association (ICMA); Illinois City Manager's Association (ILCMA) and served on various ILCMA committees such as State Conference(s) Committee, Professional Development, Chairperson of Diversity and Membership; also member of Illinois Association of Municipal Management Assistants (IAMMA) and served on various IAMMA Committees such as Professional Development and Training Committee.

Contact information: Contact Lisa at lshelly@oak-park.us or 708.358.5777.

Ahmad Zayyad joined the Village in February 2021 as the Deputy Village Manager. He has more than eight years of experience in government administration overseeing organizational-wide initiatives, project management, budgeting, contract management, policy development, data analysis, RFP/BID development, grant funding coordination, identifying and implementing performance measures and opportunities for process improvements enhancements to increase Return on Investments (ROI).

Prior to joining the Oak Park team, he worked as the Risk Manager/Assistant to the Village Manager in the Village of Orland Park. After completing his graduate studies, he began his career in city management with the City Manager's Office in the City of Evanston.

Education: Master's Degree in Public Administration with a concentration in Local Government Management from the University of Illinois Chicago, multiple Lean Six Sigma Certifications from Northern Illinois University, and a Bachelor's Degree in Industrial/Organizational Psychology from Governors State University.

Notable Professional Activities and Affiliations: International City Managers Association (ICMA); Illinois City Manager's Association (ILCMA); Illinois Association of Municipal Management Assistants (IAMMA); and also a Board Member of the GIS Consortium Board which includes over 35 regional communities.

Contact information: Contact Ahmad at azayyad@oak-park.us or 708.358.5774.

Kevin Bueso is a seasoned public-sector finance leader with more than 15 years of experience. He was named Chief Financial Officer in December 2025. Prior to coming to the Village, Bueso served as Chief Financial Officer and Senior Deputy Executive Director of Finance, Innovation and Technology for the Regional Transportation Authority (RTA). At the RTA, he led financial functions for the agency during a critical transition period for the region’s transit network. Bueso developed both annual budgets and multi-year financial plans, while maintaining oversight of accounting and treasury operations, capital project management and leadership of the organization’s information technology strategy. Prior to his tenure at the RTA, Bueso served in a similar capacity as Chief Financial Officer for McHenry County, where he oversaw all financial operations for a countywide organization with an annual budget exceeding $250 million. In McHenry County, he led the development of financial policies, directed the annual budget process, collaborated with elected officials and departments on long-term fiscal planning and managed core functions including auditing, payroll, purchasing, grant administration, accounts payable and receivable, and financial reporting. He also spearheaded modernization initiatives, implemented cost-reduction strategies, strengthened operational efficiencies, and advanced cross-departmental innovation projects. Additional professional experience includes serving as Director of Finance for the Village of Round Lake Beach and Assistant Finance Director for the City of Waukegan, as well as finance and administrative roles in the Village of Gurnee. 

Education: Master of Business Administration and Bachelor of Business Administration from Roosevelt University.

Notable Professional Activities/Affiliations: Government Finance Officers Association (GFOA), the Illinois Government Finance Officers Association (IGFOA), Financial Executives International – Chicago (FEI), the Illinois City/County Management Association (IL-CMA), and the Local Government Hispanic Network (LGHN).

Contact information: Contact Kevin at kevin.bueso@oak-park.us or 708.358.5460.

Jonathan Burch is a housing policy and planning expert with extensive knowledge of federal, state and local approaches. He was named Neighborhood Services Director/Assistant Village Manager in June 2024. Prior to coming to the Village, Burch worked for the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning (CMAP). As a Principal Planner for CMAP, Burch managed a large portfolio of grants, research and technical assistance projects, including all housing technical assistance. He worked on several important projects, including Regional Housing Solutions, Homes for a Changing Region and the Regional Housing Initiative. Between those three developments, Burch and his team were awarded $1.7 million in funding to support work being done. Additionally, he oversaw the launch of CMAP’s Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) technical assistance program and secured $3 million in funding from the State of Illinois within the first nine months of launch. Prior to his work with CMAP, Burch worked as a Senior Planner with the Lake County Community Development Division, and an Associate Planner and Senior Planner with Heyer, Gruel & Associates.

Education: Masters of City and Regional Planning from Rutgers: The State University of New Jersey; Bachelor of Arts in History and Economics from St. Olaf College.

Notable Professional Activities/Affiliations: American Institute of Certified Planners, American Planning Association.

Contact information: Contact Jonathan at jburch@oak-park.us or 708.358.5411.

Craig Failor was named Development Services Director in February 2025. Failor is a longtime Village employee who has served as the Village Planner and Planning and Urban Design Manager since 2002. In those roles he regularly met with a variety of constituents including residents, developers, attorneys, elected and appointed public officials and other agencies all with eye toward moving the Village forward. His responsibilities have included facilitating staff Project Review Team meetings, administering, interpreting and ensuring compliance with the Zoning Ordinance, Comprehensive Plan, business district plans, Historic Preservation Guidelines and Sign Ordinance. Prior to arriving at Village Hall, Failor was Assistant Director of Planning and a Senior Planner for the Village of Barrington for five years. He also spent six years as a Planner in the Community Development Department with the Village of Lombard,. His municipal career began in 1989, when he began a two-year stint as a Planner with a focus on Zoning Enforcement for the City of Belvidere.

Education: Failor is a graduate of Iowa State University, where he obtained a Bachelor of Science in community and regional planning. He also earned an Associate in Applied Science for mechanical drafting from Marshalltown Community College in Iowa.

Notable Professional Activities/Affiliations: Failor is a member of the American Planning Association and the APA’s New Urbanism and Sustainability Divisions. He is a member of the American Institute of Certified Planners, U.S. Green Building Council, Congress for New Urbanism, Urban Land Institute and Lambda Alpha International.

Contact information: Contact Craig at cfailor@oak-park.us or 708.358.5422.

Shatonya Johnson was named Chief of Police in October 2022. She joined the Oak Park Police Department in 2000 as a patrol officer and rose steadily through the ranks to serve as a neighborhood resource officer, juvenile specialist, detective, sergeant and commander, deputy chief and interim chief. She was promoted to Deputy Police Chief in October 2020 after serving as detective commander. Prior to arriving in Oak Park, Johnson served in a variety of public service roles including as a case manager with the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services, a correctional officer at the Will County Jail, and a patrol officer for the Cook County Forest Preserves.

Education: Masters in Organizational Behavior/Organizational Development from Benedictine University. Bachelors in Law Enforcement Administration from Western Illinois University. A graduate of the Public Safety Staff and Command School at Northwestern University and the Senior Management Institute of Police in Boston.

Contact information: Contact Chief Johnson at sjohnson@oak-park.us or 708.358.5503.

Kellye Keyes joined the Village as Chief Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Officer in June 2025. The highly accomplished public servant and equity-focused leader brings more than 25 years of legal, executive and community-based experience to the leadership role. Keyes previously served as the inaugural Chairperson and Executive Director of the Illinois Commission on Equity and Inclusion, where she was appointed by Illinois Governor JB Pritzker to launch and lead a new state agency tasked with dismantling systemic barriers to equity in public contracting and hiring. Under her leadership, the State of Illinois awarded more than $1 million in contracts for the first time to certified Business Enterprise Program (BEP) and veteran-owned business, marking an historic milestone in equitable contracting and supplier diversity. Keyes also held senior leadership roles with the State of Illinois Executive Ethics Commission, the Chief Judge’s Office of the Circuit Court of Cook County and the Chicago Housing Authority, where she led multimillion-dollar budgets, directed compliance and planning departments and helped establish the Restorative Justice Community Court of the Circuit Court of Cook County. Earlier in her career, she practiced law privately for over a decade.

Education: Keyes holds a Juris Doctor from American University Washington College of Law and a Bachelor of Arts in political science and history from Emory University. She also holds a Project Management Certification from Loyola University Chicago.

Notable Professional Activities/Affiliations: Keyes is licensed to practice law in Illinois. She is also a trained Restorative Justice Practitioner.

Contact information: Contact Kellye at kellye.keyes@oak-park.us or 708.358.5778.

John Melaniphy was named Assistant Village Manager to lead the Village of Oak Park’s newly established Office of Economic Vitality in June 2025. In this executive leadership role, Melaniphy leads the Village’s strategic efforts to support and enhance Oak Park’s economic vitality, working closely with business owners, developers, residents and community stakeholders. A proven industry leader, Melaniphy brings nearly four decades of experience in economic development, site selection, real estate market analysis and public-private partnerships. Most recently serving as the Director of Economic Development for the Village of Niles, he led the implementation of a comprehensive economic strategy that helped increase retail sales by more than $200 million and secured over $600 million in new development projects. Beyond his municipal roles, Melaniphy also served as Vice President of Market Feasibility, Strategy and Development for Mid-America Development Partners, LLC, and in several capacities for Melaniphy & Associates, Inc.

Education: Bachelor of Science degree in Real Estate and Human Resource Management from DePaul University. 

Notable Professional Activities and Affiliations: International Council of Shopping Centers, Urban Land Institute, and Lambda Alpha International Economics Fraternity.

Contact information: Contact John at john.melaniphy@oak-park.us or 708.358.5696.

Alvin Nepomuceno has served in local government since April 1990. His past positions have included Systems Analyst with the City of Highland Park from April 1990 to April 1998. He joined the Village of Oak Park as its first Director of Information Technology to modernize, centralize and integrate the Village's technological systems.

Education: Bachelor of Science in Management Information Systems from DePaul University.

Notable Professional Activities and Affiliations: Member of Government Management Information Sciences International.

Contact information: Contact Alvin at anepomuceno@oak-park.us or 708.358.5452.

Greg Olsen is an experienced professional with a wealth of knowledge across the public health spectrum. Prior to his arrival at the Village , Olsen worked in the City of Evanston’s Health and Human Services Department as Public Health Manager. In that role, he maintained oversight of environmental health programs, emergency preparedness and response, community health programs and more. His responsibilities included organization of the department’s $1.6 million budget, grant management and the creation of Evanston’s community health assessment. Previous to that role, Olsen also worked for the City of Evanston as a Senior Management Analyst and a Senior Environmental Health Practitioner. He served as a member of the of the Evanston Health Advisory Committee and as the Secretary of the Illinois Environmental Health Association from 2015-17. Olsen also has additional government experience working as an Environmental Health Practitioner at the county level for both the Lake County (2010-14) and Kane County (2008-10) Health Departments. In those roles he conducted a variety of food safety inspections, collected and analyzed water samples of non-community wells and investigated and resolved nuisance complaints. Olsen also served as an intern for the Cook County Department of Public Health in 2008.

Education: Olsen earned a Bachelor of Science in public health from Northern Illinois University in 2008. In 2017, he added a graduate certificate in epidemiology from the University of Illinois - Springfield before obtaining a Master of Public Health from the same institution a year later. He graduated from the NEHA Environmental Health Leadership Academy in 2023.

Notable Professional Activities/Affiliations: Member of the National Environmental Health Association (NEHA) and the Illinois Environmental Health Association (IEHA)

Contact information: Contact Greg at greg.olsen@oak-park.us or 708.358.5482. 

Lindsey Roland Nieratka is a leader in developing and implementing climate-focused sustainability programs. She spent much of her professional career in Florida prior to arrival in Oak Park, including her most recent position as Sustainability Manager for the City of Boca Raton, Fla. There, she meticulously developed sustainability plans and strategies for the community that covers five miles of Atlantic coastline from the ground up. Similarly, Roland Nieratka was the first person to work as the Environmental Sustainability Coordinator in the City of Hollywood, a suburb of Miami. She held that role for more than two and a half years, beginning in 2015. In addition to her extensive municipal background, Roland Nieratka is a founding member of the Coastal Resilience Partnership of Palm Beach County. This multi-jurisdictional team collaborated on a regional Climate Change Vulnerability Assessment, policy development drafts, grant applications and programming. Roland Nieratka is an experienced educator, too, having spent more than 15 years in higher education. Since 2012, she has been an Adjunct Environmental Science Instructor at American Intercontinental University. Previously, she served as a teaching assistant, and later as an adjunct instructor, in the Environmental Studies program at Florida International University from 2009-2012.

Education:  Roland Nieratka earned Bachelor of Arts degrees in biology and anthropology from Knox College in Galesburg, Ill. in 2003. She later studied abroad in Australia, obtaining a graduate diploma of science in tropical ecology from James Cook University with the aid of a Rotary Ambassadorial Scholarship. She received a Master of Science in environmental studies from Florida International University, where she earned an Academic Excellence Award. She recently completed coursework through Harvard University in Executive Education for Sustainability Leadership.

Notable Professional Activities/Affiliations: Member of International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives (ICLEI) and the Southeast Sustainability Directors Network.

Contact information: Contact Lindsey at lnieratka@oak-park.us or 708.358.5785.

Rob Sproule is a longtime public servant who became Pubic Works Director in July 2022. He served as the Village's Assistant Public Works Director from 2020-2022, sharing in management responsibility for all Public Works services and activities. He was first hired at the Village in 2014 as Forestry Superintendent overseeing Oak Park's urban forestry management program. Prior to his work at the Village he was a Conservatory Arborist at the Chicago Park District from 2012-2014 and Senior Horticulturist for the City of Chicago from 2009-2012.

Education: Bachelor of Arts Degree from Fordham University; Master of Forestry Degree from the University of Maine. Certified Public Works Professional in Management through the American Public Works Association. Board Certified Master Arborist through the International Society of Arboriculture.

Notable Professional Activities and Affiliations: Chairperson of the Illinois Urban and Community Forestry Committee and member of the Illinois Forestry Development Council and Chicago Region Trees Initiative Executive Advisory Council.

Contact information: Contact Rob at rsproule@oak-park.us or 708.358.5700.

Kira Tchang has been supporting and leading human resources teams since 2007. She most recently served as the Chief People Officer for Civitas Education Partners, where she managed human resources and talent strategy for over 300 employees and contractors, with a particular focus on labor relations. Prior to that she held a number of HR roles with the United Neighborhood Organization of Chicago, including serving as the Director of Human Resources where she oversaw the HR needs for over 750 employees throughout the city of Chicago. She began her HR career in Community Unit School District 300, located in the northwest suburbs. Kira lives in Oak Park with her husband and three children.

Education: Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from Northern Illinois University

Notable Professional Activities and Affiliations: Certified Crucial Conversations and Crucial Accountability Trainer, Society of Human Resources Management (SHRM) Certified Professionals.

Contact information: Contact Kira at ktchang@oak-park.us or 708.358.5652.

Joseph “JT” Terry was named Fire Chief in June 2025. A highly experienced first responder with a passion for promoting health, safety and security, Chief Terry has served the Village of Oak Park in various leadership roles since joining the department in 2007. Most recently he served as Deputy Fire Chief of EMS Operations and Infectious Disease. Terry’s leadership within the Village was essential during Oak Park’s COVID-19 response, when he served as Interim Director of Public Health for a span of nearly six months, as well as EOC Operations Section Chief during the pandemic response. 

Education: Bachelor’s in Psychology from Washington University in St. Louis and Master of Science in Threat and Response Management from the University of Chicago. He is currently enrolled in the prestigious Executive Fire Officer program at the National Fire Academy with graduation anticipated in 2027.

Notable Professional Activities and Affiliations: International Association of Fire Chiefs, the Illinois Fire Chief Association and the Metropolitan Fire Chiefs Association of Illinois. He is also credentialed as a Chief Fire Officer, Chief EMS Officer, and Illinois Professional Emergency Manager.

Contact information: Contact Chief Terry at jterry@oak-park.us or 708.358.5602.

Dan Yopchick was named Chief Communications Officer in October 2022. Prior to arriving at the Village, Yopchick served as Senior Associate Athletic Director of Strategic Communications with the University of Illinois Chicago. His 15-year communications career prior to coming to Oak Park also included communications roles with Northwestern University, the Chicago White Sox and the Bakersfield Blitz.

Education: Master's degree from Northwestern University; Bachelor's degree from the University of Iowa.

Contact information: Contact Dan at dyopchick@oak-park.us or 708.358.5781.