CHICAGO, IL, September 04, 2020 /24-7PressRelease/ -- Marquis Who's Who, the world's premier publisher of biographical profiles, is proud to present Margery Al-Chalabi with the Albert Nelson Marquis Lifetime Achievement Award. An accomplished listee, Ms. Al-Chalabi celebrates many years' experience in her professional network, and has been noted for achievements, leadership qualities, and the credentials and successes she has accrued in her field. As in all Marquis Who's Who biographical volumes, individuals profiled are selected on the basis of current reference value. Factors such as position, noteworthy accomplishments, visibility, and prominence in a field are all taken into account during the selection process.
A talented and successful architect, urban planner and regional economist, Ms. Al-Chalabi established ACG: The alChalabi Group Ltd. in Chicago as the president and partner with her late husband, Suhail Al-Chalabi, in 1983. Supported by more than five decades of expertise, her economic forecasting and development company specializes in public and private urban development projects, as well as the development of socio-economic and transportation models and methodologies. Ms. AlChalabi's extensive expertise spans transportation planning, economic development, historic preservation, socio-economic forecasts and economic impact assessment. Throughout the course of her career, she has served on numerous federal, regional and municipal planning agencies, and has collaborated with private architectural, engineering and real estate consulting firms. Ms. Al-Chalabi's portfolio has also included partnerships where she was responsible for directing urban revitalization and economic development projects.
Prior to establishing her firm, Ms. Al-Chalabi worked for the City of Chicago in the Mayor's Office as Assistant Director of City Development and, later, as Assistant Planning Commissioner, where she prepared the City's Comprehensive Plan: Chicago 1992, a blueprint for the World's Fair the city had won – but would lose with Mayor Byrne's election loss. She also spent a brief time with an accounting firm, long enough to learn how to merge her knowledge of historic tax credits with that firm's talent for syndication. As a Vice President for Real Estate Research Corporation, she oversaw various development projects for the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD); prepared adaptive reuse projects for the Department of Defense; and wrote a manual for comparing adaptive reuse and new projects for the Department of the Interior. Among other earlier professional roles, Ms. Al-Chalabi served as an architect/planner for the Allegheny County Redevelopment Authority, in Pittsburgh, and as a graduate student assistant for Doxiadis Associates in Athens, Greece.
As an entrepreneur, one of Ms. Al-Chalabi's first projects included the purchase and restoration of the Chicago Theater. Notable for its status as a landmark site, it was threatened with demolition. She and her partner/husband, and a team composed of: an established lawyer/developer, a banker, a venture capital firm; and the syndication of tax credits for equity to 143 investors, they successfully rescued the Theater from demolition; opened it to great success; and, for two years operated it. Other successful ventures to Ms. Al-Chalabi's credit have included either the long-term participation on various planning teams and or serving as the prime contractor on forecast and regional coordination issues for the Third Airport for Chicago, between 1986 and 2010
As a seasoned researcher, Ms. Al-Chalabi has authored numerous plans on urban and economic development and transportation plans for rail, bridges, toll roads and airports, often detailing the economic impacts of their construction and job generation. She also has contributed chapters to books, as well as monographs and articles to professional journals. In 2018, she also released a memoir, Like Two Saplings; which is a personal account of life alongside her husband, as they faced a year-long threat to this life, in 2015, and their careers and visits to/exploration of exotic places. Throughout the course of the book, Ms. Al-Chalabi also expresses their commitment to and patronage to of the arts and their delight in family and friends.
To prepare for her career, Ms. Al-Chalabi received a Bachelor of Arts in Architecture at Carnegie-Mellon University in 1961. She subsequently earned a Master of Science in regional planning and economics on a Ford Foundation fellowship at Athens Technological Institute in Athens, Greece, in 1965. Likewise, Ms. Al-Chalabi was the recipient of numerous preservation and restoration awards between 1985 and l995.
Among her industry-related memberships, Ms. Al-Chalabi has been aligned with the Urban Land Institute, the National Trust for Historic Preservation, the Society for Architectural Historians and the Chicago Archaeological Society. She has also served on the executive council and as a past president of the World Society for Ekistics. Other professional memberships include the honorable society of Lambda Alpha. Additionally, she is active with the Cliff Dwellers Club, a private arts club, where she was a board member from 2015 to 2017, where her paintings, along with sculpture by several women of color, were displayed during February/March 2017. She also has made several presentations on ancient archaeological sites.
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