Featured Speaker(s)

Ellen Barry :: CIO Chicago Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority
Ellen Barry joined the Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority in February 2000 as Chief Information Officer responsible for information technology initiatives for the Authority. The Authority owns and manages McCormick Place, Navy Pier, and the Authority’s Corporate Center. Her role involves strategic IT planning, budget and staff management, project implementation and ongoing support of the network, desktops, and business applications. In her attempts to align the IS organization with the Authority’s business objectives, Ms. Barry has successfully implemented a revenue generating initiative by insouricng the delivery of Internet and Technical Services to Exhibitors, Show Management and Meeting Planners for McCormick Place, Navy Pier and the Hyatt McCormick Place. In addition, she has been responsible for bringing high speed internet service to all sleeping rooms in the Hyatt McCormick Place Hotel, which is owned by the Authority and managed by the Hyatt Corporation; installing wi-fi cafes within the facility; and implementing a gigabit circuit to ‘next generation networks’ including Internet2.

Prior to MPEA, Ellen Barry was the 1st Deputy Chief Information Officer for the City of Chicago. As 1st Deputy CIO, Ms. Barry was responsible for all information services within the City relating to data center and client-server operations. The City of Chicago outsourced these services through two large outsourcing initiatives, one for desktop support and one for data center operations. Ms. Barry led these two initiatives from Statement of Work Development through contract negotiations and transition of services.

Previous to her role as 1st Deputy CIO, Ms. Barry worked with Chicago’s Police Department in numerous IT and Strategic Planning activities including efforts toward implementation of a major Criminal History Records Information System.

Prior to coming to the City of Chicago, Ms. Barry worked as an internal consultant for various private sector organizations in strategic IT development and planning. Her experience includes initiatives ranging from implementation of a major Health Care and Physician Billing System, to EDI, to energy management, as well as, Forecasting, Inventory Planning and Distribution Requirements Planning systems.

Ms. Barry holds an undergraduate degree in Mathematics from the University of Illinois at Chicago and a MBA in Quantitative Methods and Computers from Loyola University. Ellen Barry has been a life-long resident of the City of Chicago.