Nicole Gillespie

Nicole Gillespie is a senior public administration professional who has led data governance, policy analysis and change management projects for more than 15 years. As the Director of Data Partnerships, Nicole oversees the operational team responsible for data contract management and compliance to obtain and safeguard all data used by the Crime Lab across hundreds of projects and partners.

Nicole heads the Urban Labs data privacy and security program as the Privacy Officer and liaises with government partners and University stakeholders to ensure Labs meet all legal and ethical requirements for working with sensitive data.

Prior to joining Labs, Nicole worked in the Illinois Governor’s Office for Management and Budget as the Director of Communications and Change Management for a state project developing legal and technical procedures for inter-agency data exchange. Nicole also worked as the Senior Policy Analyst and Public Information Officer in the New Mexico Department of Finance under Governor Bill Richardson, where she provided legislative analysis and responded to media requests. Nicole holds an MA in communications from the University of New Mexico, a BA in political science from the University of Illinois at Urbana, and is a certified Project Management Professional.