Christopher Nelson, 52, has been mayor (or village president) of the Village of West Dundee since 2013. Mayor Nelson lives in West Dundee with his wife, Julie, and is the proud parent of two adult children.

 

In addition to his duties at the village, Mayor Nelson works at Comcast as Senior Director, Local Government Affairs Policy and Operations. Having been with the company since 2003, Mayor Nelson supports the local government affairs function across all of Comcast’s footprint nationwide.

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Previously, Mayor Nelson was Director of Government and Regulatory Affairs for the Greater Chicago Region. In that role, he managed a team that coordinates relations between Comcast and more than 300 communities in suburban Chicago, in addition to a multitude of legislative districts.

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Prior to coming to Comcast, Mayor Nelson worked in administration in local government for a decade, specifically in the Illinois communities of Sycamore, Schaumburg, and Hoffman Estates.

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In his elected role, Mayor Nelson serves on a variety of boards, including those of the Illinois Municipal League (IML), Metro Mayor’s Caucus, the Kane-Kendall Council of Mayors, Northwest Municipal Conference, and the Metro West Council of Governments. Nationally, Mayor Nelson is an active member of the National League of Cities, serving on both the Information Technology Committee and the Small Cities Committee, and is a member of the US Conference of Mayors.

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During his tenure in West Dundee,  Mayor Nelson and his team have attracted more than $500 million in private investment in the community, comprised in part by the recruitment of three corporate (North American) headquarters for multinational firms as well as the substantial renovation of West Dundee’s historic downtown. Most recently, Mayor Nelson and team secured $100 million project that is now home to Reyes Coca-Cola Bottling, one of the largest privately owned companies in the United States. The facility will be home to 600 career-levels jobs.

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Mayor Nelson was also a board member of the Dundee Township Boys and Girls Club and the NIU Political Science Department Advisory Commission. He is the immediate past-president of the Grand Pointe Meadows Homeowners Association, where he remains on the board.

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Additionally, in 2013, Mayor Nelson was also selected as a Fellow for World Business Chicago, the economic development arm of the City of Chicago. In 2014, MayorNelson received the “Service Above Self Award” from Rotary International’s Dundee chapter.

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In 2018, Mayor Nelson received the Daniel Witt Service Award from the Northern Illinois University Department of Political Science. The award recognizes Mayor Nelson's continued contribution to the political science educational mission of the department.

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In 2022, Mayor Nelson was selected as a fellow for the Gov. Jim Edgar Fellowship Program at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. The highly selective program recognizes key elected and private-sector officials from around the state.

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A native of the Chicago area, Mayor Nelson received both his Bachelor of Arts Degree in Political Science and his Master's in Municipal Management from Northern Illinois University. He is currently enrolled in the executive education program at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government; he is expected to obtain his certificate in 2026.

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