Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Governor Bruce Rauner announced the formation of a committee that will support the drive to bring Amazon’s HQ2 to the Chicago area. The committee will be co-chaired by Oscar Munoz, CEO of United Airlines.; Penny Pritzker, Founder and Chair of PSP Capital; Jim Reynolds, Chairman and CEO of Loop Capital; and Miles White, Chairman and CEO of Abbott. The effort will be headed by the Mayor and Governor, who are serving as Honorary Co-Chairs of the Committee, and Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle, who is serving as Honorary Vice-Chair. In total, the committee is comprised of more than 600 leaders from across the business, financial, technology, arts and culture, civic and education communities.

Earlier this month Amazon announced it plans to build HQ2 – a second headquarters in North America. The company expects to invest more than $5 billion for construction and employ up to 50,000 people. HQ2 is also projected to create tens of thousands of additional jobs and tens of billions of dollars in additional investment. The company is accepting applications in October from areas across the nation. Mayor Emanuel and Governor Rauner, in collaboration with surrounding counties, will be submitting a bid to bring HQ2 to metropolitan Chicago. The effort is being led for the Mayor’s Office by Deputy Mayor Robert S. Rivkin and for the Governor’s Office by Deputy Governor Leslie Munger. The formation of the committee builds on a major step taken last week. The City of Chicago and Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity are currently accepting nominations for potential Amazon HQ2 locations to include in the formal response to the company’s search for a second home. Nominated sites must meet Amazon’s requirements, which include 500,000 square feet of initial space and the ability to expand up to 8 million square feet of space over the next 10 years. Sites should also provide direct access to mass transit and be located within 30 miles of a population center and 45 minutes of O’Hare Airport.