Christian Diaz is the first ever openly LGBTQ+ person appointed to the Metra Commuter Rail Board. He is currently an affordable housing developer with LUCHA, the Latin United Community Housing Association. He also serves as Co-Chair of the Systems Change Working Group for Elevated Chicago, a collaborative focused on advancing equitable transit-oriented development (ETOD).

Mr. Diaz is board president of the Center for Equity, Effectiveness and Efficiency (C3E), a nonprofit organization that provides capacity building for local government organizations in the Chicagoland region. Mr. Diaz has also previously served as Vice-Chair of Governor JB Pritzker’s Community Land Trust Task Force, Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s Inclusionary Housing Task Force and was formerly Executive Director of Chicago Votes.

In 2018 Mr. Diaz led the first ever Racial Equity Impact Assessment with Elevated Chicago and Chicago United for Equity for a public infrastructure project, specifically the Logan Square traffic circle redesign. This work led to several successful grassroots campaigns to win public plazas and affordable housing in transit served locations including the Lucy Gonzalez Parsons Apartments, Metro L Apartments and Encuentro Square. 

In 2019 Mr. Diaz accepted the community leadership award from the Active Transportation Alliance on behalf of these efforts. He also led community engagement for the Logan Square Blue Line ETOD Action Plan with CMAP, which won the American Planners Association of IL award for advancing diversity in planning in 2024. His work has been featured in NBC Latino Voices, WTTW, Bloomberg and Vice Magazine.

In 2024 he was recognized by the Chicago City Council with a resolution honoring his contributions to equitable community development and transportation justice in the Northwest side.

Mr. Diaz grew up in Logan Square and graduated with a B.A. in Global Studies from Warren Wilson College in 2012.