Jennifer Ricker
State of Illinois
Jennifer Ricker serves as the State of Illinois Chief Information Officer and Secretary of the Department of Innovation & Technology (DoIT), a role she has held since September of 2020. Prior to this she was appointed by Governor Pritzker in February 2020 as the Assistant Secretary of DoIT, focusing on application development and technology delivery to the agencies DoIT serves. Ricker joined DoIT in February 2019 as Chief of Staff, serving as advisor to the Secretary with responsibility to manage and direct agency operations.
Ricker has over 20 years of service to the State of Illinois in leadership roles and has held several other senior positions in state government, including: Acting Director, Deputy Director and Chief of Staff at the Illinois Emergency Management Agency; Deputy Chief of Staff for Public Safety in the office of the Illinois Governor; Acting Executive Director of the Illinois Liquor Control Commission; Chief of Staff and Director of Legislative Affairs for the Illinois Department of Revenue; and Legislative Analyst for the Illinois House of
Representatives.
In 2021, Ricker was honored with the StateScoop GoldenGov State Executive of the Year Award.
Jennifer holds a B.A. in history from the University of Missouri (Columbia, MO), and a M.A. in security studies (homeland defense) from the Center for Homeland Defense and Security at the Naval Postgraduate School (Monterey, CA).
