Graham C. Grady

Lawyer Graham C. Grady was born on May 2, 1957 in Chicago, Illinois to Mary Forte Grady and Leonard Grady. He received his B.A. degree in speech communication from the University of Illinois at Chicago in 1980 and his J.D. degree from the Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law in Chicago in 1983.

Grady began his legal career in 1984 as an assistant state’s attorney in the Office of the Attorney General in Chicago. In 1986, he was appointed executive director of the private industry council in Chicago’s Office of the Mayor. Grady later served as zoning administrator for the Department of Planning and Development from 1989 until 1993, and as building commissioner from 1994 until 1995. Shortly thereafter, he was named chief executive officer and board director of the Chicago Housing Authority. In 1996, Grady joined Mayer Brown LLP as counsel, where he remined for eight years. He became an equity partner at K&L Gates LLP in 2004; and, in 2012, he joined Taft Stettinius & Hollister LLP as partner.

In addition to his legal career, Grady held leadership positions at the Lloyd A. Fry Foundation, serving as treasurer, vice president, and director beginning in 2015. He also served on the boards of Pepper Construction Group, the American Bar Association’s Retirement Funds, the Building Owners and Managers Association of Chicago, the Smithsonian Institute’s National Postal Museum Advisory Council, the Chicago Public Library Foundation, the Chicago Parks Foundation, and the Shriver Center on Poverty. In 2020, he became a founding board member for the Chicago Emerging Minority Developer Initiative.

Grady’s numerous honors include the Maurice Weigle Public Service Award and the Earl B. Dickerson Public Service Award from the Chicago Bar Association; Chicago United’s Business Leader of Color Award in 2011; the Doris B. and Marshall M. Holleb Community Service Award from Lambda Alpha International, Inc., in 2019; and Private Company Director magazine’s Director to Watch Award in 2021. He was also named to Ebony magazine’s 30 Under 30 list and appeared on several of Crain’s Chicago Business’s recognition lists between 2020 and 2024.

He is married to Robin Accola and resides in Chicago, Illinois.

Graham C. Grady was interviewed by The HistoryMakers on April 3, 2023.