Dupage Policy Journal

Greg Hart may be new to politics, but, he says, he is committed to making the DuPage community the best he can as a county board member.

"I represent District 3, which is all of southeastern DuPage, ranging from Hinsdale in the east to parts of Naperville in the west, which covers about 160,000 residents," Hart told the DuPage Policy Journal. 

Though Hart always aspired to be in a position of leadership, he admitted that he came to his position with the county board much earlier than he originally had intended.

DuPage County campus

"I had always been interested in politics and public service, but I'm relatively young for a county board member, and I never thought that it would enter my life in terms of elected office this early," Hart said. 

Hart's career outside of government is as a management consultant, in which he helps large and small companies operate more efficiently, a skill set that has served him well when it comes to dealing with the financial woes of Illinois.

"When I saw there was a vacancy on the county board for my district, I applied and because my professional background fit quite well with the issues facing the county, it was agreed that I'd be a good addition," Hart said. 

Since coming into office, Hart has kept himself busy with community initiatives aimed at improving the lives of his constituents.

"Last year, I was appointed the head of the health and human services committee; DuPage is a large county with a very diverse population that requires different types of health services," Hart said. 

Always looking for ways to offer the highest quality services to residents, Hart also understands the importance of a balanced budget, which is why he consolidated a health department that was coming out of the county board's budget and placed it under county health department, thus saving the county money. 

"Just by doing that and having that creative approach, we actually increased our county's capacity for mental health services, but saved taxpayers $1 million in doing so," Hart said. 

Hart is also working on improving the heroine and opioid prevention and education initiative, as the newly appointed head of the DuPage County H.O.P.E. task force.

"I want to apply the best practices not only from government, but involve the private, nonprofit and educational sectors in helping DuPage combat that issue," Hart said.