Thomas Ciesielski was appointed in 2021 to serve as the Deputy Commissioner of Compliance for the City of Chicago Mayor’s Office for People with Disabilities (MOPD) by Commissioner Rachel Arfa.

Thomas Ciesielski is a licensed architect and accessibility specialist with thirty years of experience in architectural design, planning, and construction, including over ten years in building code compliance, accessible design, and ADA compliance.  Typical services provided by Thomas before joining MOPD included architectural design, design reviews, construction progress inspections, existing building and facility due diligence surveys, technical assistance, code opinions, and development of design solutions meeting a variety of local, state, and federal accessibility regulations.

In his role as Deputy Commissioner of Compliance, Thomas oversees MOPD’s Accessibility Compliance Unit (ACU).  The ACU team provides technical assistance and plan reviews to developer and design teams and performs accessibility inspections of existing and newly-constructed residential, commercial, and public buildings. In addition, Thomas oversees the work of MOPD’s HomeMod program that is designed to help Chicago residents with disabilities and seniors modify their homes to ensure that they are able to live independently.

Thomas is a member of the American Institute of Architects and a graduate of the architecture program at the University of Illinois at Chicago.