Board of Review Analyst Doug LaSota Receives CIAO Designation

Chicago--Cook County Board of Review Commissioner Dan Patlak announced today that Commercial/Industrial analyst Doug LaSota has earned the Certified Illinois Assessor Officer designation. The CIAO designation administered and awarded by the Illinois Property Assessment Institute requires 90 hours of classroom instruction and a passing grade in each class. Classes include Basic Assessment Practices, Property Valuation, Introduction to Mass Appraisal Techniques, Introduction to Residential Assessment Practices and Introduction to Sales Ratio Studies. Classes were administered by the Illinois Property Assessment Institute and the Illinois Department of Revenue. The CIAO designation is required for anyone who wishes to run for Township Assessor and requires 60 hours of additional class time every four years in order to keep current. Doug LaSota has been a member of Commissioner Patlak's staff since December of 2011. He holds an undergraduate degree from the University of Illinois at Chicago, a law degree from Chicago-Kent College of Law and a LL.M. in taxation from New York University School of Law.

"We are very happy that Doug invested the time and money necessary to earn the CIAO designation," said Commissioner Dan Patlak. "One of my campaign promises was to improve the professional qualifications of our Board analysts. That's why we have worked with the IPAI and IDOR to conduct four of their classes right here at the Board of Review. Over the next several years we expect many of our analysts to earn the CIAO designation as well," concluded Patlak.

The Cook County Board of Review is a quasi-judicial office run by three independently elected officials who represent three separate districts within the county. The Board reviews property assessment appeals from owners of industrial, commercial, residential and vacant property within Cook County. Commissioner Patlak was first elected to a two year term in 2010 and re-elected to a four-year term in 2012. His district (#1) includes most of suburban Cook County. Patlak holds a bachelor's degree from Valparaiso University, is a licensed Real Estate Broker, CIAO, Graduate of the Real Estate Institute and served as an analyst at the Board of Review from January 1999 to December 2006. He lives in Wheeling with his wife Dulce and twelve year old son Teddy.