Executive Vice President

2025-2027

Betty Magness is a lifelong civil rights activist with more than 40 years of advocacy and leadership experience. A trailblazer in political organizing, she served as a Facilitator for the 1996 Democratic National Committee Training Academy and made history as the first African American elected State Chair of the Independent Voters of Illinois–Independent Precinct Organization (IVI-IPO).

Currently, Betty serves as Executive Vice President of the League of Women Voters of Chicago (2023–2025), Co-Chair of Chicago Women Take Action (CWTA), Illinois Political Director of the National Rainbow PUSH Coalition, and Vice Chair of Program for IVI-IPO. She is also an active member of the Policy Council for Citizen Action Illinois.

Betty has been deeply involved with LWV Chicago, focusing on civic education and voter registration. She has served on the LWV Chicago Board of Directors since 2020, previously holding the position of Vice President of Citizen Engagement from 2021 to 2023 and serving as Executive Vice President since 2023.

Her contributions have been recognized through several honors, including the “Spirit of 76” Award from IVI-IPO in 2020, the inaugural Jane Addams Woman of Vision Award from the National Council of Jewish Women North Shore in 2022, and the Ida B. Wells-Barnett Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Organization for Women – Illinois in 2023.

In addition to her civic and political work, Betty has been a devoted member of Fellowship Chicago for over 40 years, where she actively serves in the choir. 

She resides in Chicago and is a proud mother and grandmother. She is a widow with two sons (one deceased) and four grandchildren.