Director of Data Innovation

John Tolva is a leading voice in the design and technology of complex, data-rich environments whose work with cities spans the last two decades.

As Chief Technology Officer for the City of Chicago, John streamlined public services through more efficient data-sharing, digital communications, and next-generation infrastructure. As the primary author of the ‘The City of Chicago Technology Plan’ he inaugurated a series of public-private strategies to accelerate economic growth, build educated and digitally-engaged communities and workforce, improve government services, and reduce costs through technology. For this work he was recognized by the Obama White House as a ‘Champion of Change’ as part of a group of creative individuals engaged in building stronger communities through innovative approaches to problem-solving.

Prior to his work in the mayor’s office, John served as Director of Citizenship and Technology at IBM Corp, where he worked on the firm’s ‘smarter cities’ initiative, advising cities how to incorporate data analytics into planning and operations. John led the City Forward project, the first global aggregator and visualizer of urban data sets.

More recently, John served as Scholar in Residence at the University of Colorado Denver’s College of Engineering, Design, and Computing, co-founded the non-profit Colorado Smart Cities Alliance, was a founding partner at Cityfi, an urban change management consultancy, and was President of PositivEnergy Practice, a sustainable systems engineering firm based on data-driven planning for new building design, retrofits, and urban design.