Commissioner Samantha Steele

Samantha Steele serves as Commissioner for District 2 of the Cook County Board of Review, where she works to make the property tax system more fair, transparent, and accessible for taxpayers. 

She is the first Commissioner in the Board’s history to hold the Assessment Administration Specialist (AAS) designation from the International Association of Assessing Officers (IAAO), and one of only four professionals in Illinois to earn this distinction. Steele is also a certified Level III Assessor/Appraiser with more than 20 years of experience in property valuation and over 500 hours of valuation education. 

Since taking office, Commissioner Steele has led reforms that improve how taxpayers engage with the appeals process. She created Analyst Days, a program that sends analysts into neighborhoods to provide personalized assistance and launched the Board’s first Commercial Property Outreach Program to help small business owners understand their right to appeal. Steele has strengthened professional standards by requiring all District 2 staff to pursue the Certified Illinois Assessing Officer (CIAO) credential. In 2024, 13 team members became CIAO-designated, more than 10 percent of all new certifications in Illinois, ensuring that taxpayers receive guidance and decisions from highly trained professionals with advanced expertise in property assessments and appeals. 

Steele has introduced technology that modernized the appeals process and improved accuracy. In 2023, she and her team developed the Standardized Technique for Adjudicating Residential Appeals (STARA), a system that provides analysts with three times more data when reviewing appeals compared to standard methods. That same year, District 2 received the Distinguished Assessment Jurisdiction Award from the IAAO for its use of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) in appeal review practices. Building on this recognition, her office launched the Data Accuracy Campaign to research inequities in assessments and guide reforms that promote fairness. 

Her leadership has been recognized nationally. In 2025, the National Association of Counties (NACo) presented District 2 with four awards for civic education, professional development, financial management, and technology innovation. 

Steele’s career in public service began in Indiana, where she was elected Assessor of Tippecanoe County in 2006. At age 27, she became the youngest Assessor in the county’s history and the first Democrat elected countywide in 30 years. During her tenure, she introduced regression models to reduce a backlog of property tax appeals, developed new methods for valuing contaminated properties, and oversaw the valuation of industrial and commercial properties during Indiana’s General Reassessment. 

Beyond elected office, Steele founded The Leanor Group, a woman-owned consulting firm specializing in local government assessments, and served as Director of Commercial Valuations at the Cook County Assessor’s Office, where she was also a member of the Assessor’s 2019 transition team. She has been an active member of the International Association of Assessing Officers (IAAO) since 2007, contributing to its professional development committee and presenting at national conferences. 

Steele attended Purdue University and earned a bachelor’s degree from the Kent Institute of Art & Design. A native of Bridgeport, she now lives in Evanston with her family.