2005-09-21

Christopher O'Brien, CIO
City of Chicago

Mr. Christopher C. O'Brien was appointed the Chief Information Officer (CIO) for the City of Chicago by Mayor Richard M. Daley in April of 2000. As Chief Information Officer and Commissioner of the Department of Business and Information Services (BIS), Mr. O'Brien's role is to ensure that technology is used as a tool to make the services of the City of Chicago more efficient and more accessible to citizens. As the CIO, Mr. O'Brien is also the Commissioner of the Department of Business and Information Services, the City's primary technology planning and implementation and maintenance organization.

Specifically, Mr. O'Brien's charge is to implement Mayor Daley's vision of a city government that borrows the best practices of private industry and other governmental bodies to raise the level of service provided to citizens, tourists and businesses. As the CIO, Mr. O'Brien oversees several reengineering and technology implementation projects, including streamlining the City's procurement and financial processes to attract qualified firms to partner with the City, redesigning the tax, licensing, permitting and inspections processes City-wide to improve service and efficiency and implementing a Geographic Information System which provides digital maps, photographs and up-to-date data on all property City-wide. Furthermore, one of Mr. O'Brien's primary objectives is to make as many services as possible available to the public via the City's web site, www.cityofchicago.org.