Alicia Tate-Nadeau, first woman to lead state's disaster response, leaving post

Illinois Emergency Management Agency cirector Alicia Tate-Nadeau — who was tasked with overseeing the state's pandemic response — is leaving her position later this month.

In a letter to IEMA employees, Tate-Nadeau said it was "the honor of a lifetime" to have run the agency and that she is retiring to spend more time with her family and a grandchild in Texas.

"Throughout my career in public service, I have faced many challenges, but none compared to what we have navigated together," she wrote. "From the longest flooding in Illinois history to a once-in-a-lifetime pandemic, from National Special Security Events to tornadoes, dust storms, bitter cold, extreme heat and even celestial events — the scope and sale of our work has been extraordinary."

Appointed by Gov. JB Pritzker in 2019, Tate-Nadeau led the department through the pandemic and the migrant influx.

A former Illinois National Guard brigadier general, Tate-Nadeau was the first woman to lead the state agency. She also was the state's homeland security director and has a background in chemical, biological and radiological emergency management.

Tate-Nadeau was the first woman to hold the rank of brigadier general in the Illinois National Guard and served military tours in Iraq and Israel. She also worked with the Federal Emergency Management Agency to lead the federal response to the water and lead-exposure crisis in Flint, Michigan, and ran the city of Chicago’s Office of Emergency Management & Communications.

Her tenure with IEMA faced controversy in 2023, when the Chicago Sun-Times reported that Amy Gentry, an executive assistant to Tate-Nadeau, accounted for $240,761.30 in billings — double Tate-Nadeau's salary — between February 2023 and August 2023. Her total billings to the agency in other contracting roles through August 2023 topped $1.03 million.

Gentry and the state official who approved paying Gentry were two of four staffers ousted in 2023 for what state leaders said were “personal reasons.”

That payroll scandal led to a testy Senate committee hearing in March 2024, in which Tate-Nadeau was asked by members of the committee whether the state had conducted a payroll review to focus on fraud and inefficiencies. Tate-Nadeau said she had been holding biweekly meetings about contractor pay — and limited the amount of hours worked. Anything over 45 hours had to get approval from a deputy director.

“No one was forced out,” Tate-Nadeau said. “There’s one standard within my organization. Everyone is held to the same standard, and, in this case, it was seen that these individuals needed to depart. They made that decision to depart the agency.”

Tate-Nadeau continued as the state agency's director, though her reappointment process was in limbo. Pritzker last year pulled her nomination, then resubmitted it the same day to restart the required 60 legislative-session day clock, the general requirement for governor appointees.

Adnan Khayyat, who was the agency's acting chief of staff, will be the interim director beginning April 1.

Contributing: Lauren FitzPatrick