Darien Marion-Burton is no longer the executive director of the Oak Park River Forest Chamber of Commerce after leaving his job Sept. 19. Marion-Burton told Pioneer Press that he resigned, and his photo and bio no longer appear on the organization’s website.
According to the Illinois Department of Human Rights, Marion-Burton’s resignation came after two women, a current employee and a former employee, filed separate complaints against the Oak Park River Forest Chamber of Commerce with the agency on Aug. 28 and Sept. 4. IDHR referred to the complaints as “unperfected charges of discrimination” and declined to release the complaints because they are still under investigation.
Marion-Burton declined to comment when asked why he resigned or whether his leaving his job was related to charges of discrimination filed with the state agency.
“At this time, I’m not prepared to comment,” Marion-Burton said during a brief telephone conversation.
Marion-Burton was hired to be the executive director of Oak Park River Forest Chamber of Commerce in 2023. Previously he had been the chamber’s president. Marion-Burton owns a marketing agency, D.M. Burton.
When he was elected as president of the Chamber of Commerce in 2021, he described himself in published accounts as the “youngest, gayest, Blackest” person to hold that position.
While the Department of Human Rights would not release the complaints filed against the Chamber of Commerce because they are still under investigation, at least one alleged a sexualized work environment at the Chamber, according to an employee who filed one of the complaints, who asked not to be identified.
“Since day one, literally the first day that I worked there, there’s been a lot of inappropriate talk,” she said. “(Marion-Burton) spoke about how he was rejected by some guy that he was interested in and he was out drinking all night and he came to work hungover and wearing the exact clothes that he claimed he was wearing before.”
She said Marion-Burton often talked at work about his sex life, discussing specific sexual acts and describing his sexual encounters..
“The environment is consistently sexualized,” she said.
The Chamber had, with Marion-Burton, a staff of seven people.
Marion-Burton has been staying away from the Chamber’s Lake Street office after the complaints were filed with the state agency. Most employees of the Chamber work on a hybrid schedule.
Rob Guenthner, the president of the Chamber of Commerce, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Bob Skolnik is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.