Janel Forde

Janel Forde rejoined the City of Chicago (City) in May 2016 to serve as its Chief Operating Officer.  In her role, she oversees city operations on behalf of the Mayor including human and physical infrastructure investments.  Prior to rejoining the City, Janel served as the Chief Operating Officer of the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE), the state agency responsible for K-12 oversight, 38 regional offices of education and more than 850 districts.  She oversaw Human Resources/Labor Relations, Information Technology and Facility Management.

Prior to joining ISBE, Janel served as Deputy Commissioner in the City's Department of Fleet and Facility Management.  Janel led the Energy and Performance Improvement bureau, which was responsible for procuring and managing more than $150 million in energy-related commodities and leading the City's fleet and facility-related performance improvement measures. 

Before her appointment as Deputy, Janel served as Director for Chicago Public Schools (CPS), the third largest school district in America.  She began her CPS tenure as a Director in the Office of the CEO where she led several strategic projects including the management of stimulus-related programs and funds.  She also helped to lead the Office of New Schools and oversaw the accountability processes for more than 100 charter and contract schools.

Janel also held many positions in the private sector at the Boston Consulting Group, American Express, Goldman Sachs, and Citigroup.

Janel holds an M.B.A. from Stanford University's Graduate School of Business and a B.S. Economics with a dual concentration in Marketing and Management from The Wharton School at University of Pennsylvania.

Janel currently lives in Chicago and enjoys traveling, baking, and all types of arts and crafts.