William D. Gainer
Director of Government Relations
William D. Gainer is the director of government relations for AT&T Illinois. He started his career as a lineman with Illinois Bell Telephone in 1960.
Though he enlisted in the U.S. Army, Mr. Gainer’s telephony career wasn’t interrupted as his two years of service was with the 261st Signal Construction Corps. Following his honorable discharge, he returned to his hometown and the telephone company.
Mr. Gainer worked in various positions in Construction, Operations, Installation and repair, Marketing, Network Coordination and planning, Business relations and inter-company coordination and government relations. During his career, Illinois Bell became Ameritech, which became SBC and, now, AT&T.
Mr. Gainer has been involved with overseeing many of the biggest events in Chicago that require coordination with the telephone company, including the 1994 World Cup and the 1996 Democratic National Convention.
In addition to his extensive career in telephony, Mr. Gainer has a distinguished resume in public service and charitable organizational work. Mayor Richard M. Daley appointed Mr. Gainer as the chair of the Chicago Sister Cities International Program-Galway Committee in October of 2001.
He accompanied the mayor to the National University of Ireland in Galway, where the mayor was conferred with an honorary doctorate and received the Galway Freedom of the City Award.
Mr. Gainer is chair of the Business Development Committee for the Cook County Irish Trade Mission to County Down and County Cork. He works with the Cook County Economic Development Project Director and the Cook County Assessor on many of the County Trade Mission initiatives.
Bill also serves on the board of directors for Mercy Home for Boys and Girls, the Veterans Leadership Program, the Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce, the Convention and Tourism Bureau and the Irish American Alliance.
He also sits on the Advisory Board for Misericordia Heart of Mercy and on the Executive Board of the South Side Irish Parade Committee. He is also a very active member of the Irish Fellowship Club and the Hundred Club of Cook County. He has served on the Mayor’s Council of Technology Advisors, the Illinois Association of Chiefs of Police Finance Committee and the Chicago Fire Department’s Memorial Scholarship Fund.
Mr. Gainer resides in the historic Beverly neighborhood on the city’s South Side, with his wife Gerry. They have six adult children and three grandchildren.
