Chief Innovation Officer, City of Peoria, Location: Peoria, Illinois 61602, Job Type: Employee, Permanent, Job Status: Full Time, Categories:  Marketing/PR, City of Peoria, Research Salary,
Job Details: BACKGROUND, The City of Peoria (Illinois) was one of 14 cities selected to participate in Bloomberg Philanthropies’ Innovation Teams program. Innovation teams (i-teams) function as in-house innovation consultants, moving from one community priority to the next. Reporting directly to the City Manager, the Peoria Chief Innovation Officer (CIO) will build and oversee a team that helps agency leaders and staff through a data-driven process to assess problems, generate responsive new interventions, develop partnerships, and deliver measurable results.
As part of the grant process, an initial set of issues has been identified: Peoria’s new i-team will be charged with developing fresh, cost-effective strategies to revitalize our city’s aging infrastructure in ways that maximize benefits to our citizens. Correcting defects in our environmental infrastructure, though literally below the surface of our city, is one of the most imperative challenges we face. This is a massive community undertaking with an equally large cost; the Peoria i-team will take a broad look at this issue, exploring and developing strategies that simultaneously improve water quality and improve community outcomes: more jobs, greater investment, lower crime.
ABOUT PEORIA
Peoria is a city of 115,000 and the center of a three-county metropolitan area of nearly 400,000 in Central Illinois. Peoria is a vibrant, urban community that lies along the Illinois River. It is the regional hub for education, legal, financial and retail services. Peoria is the home to Caterpillar, a Fortune 50 company that employs over 15,000 people. In addition to a strong manufacturing base, the community has a tremendous medical industry which includes three hospitals, a college of medicine, three nursing schools and a variety of research facilities. Peoria boasts a low cost of living and a high quality of life. It has all of the qualities of bigger cities – and is just a 2½ drive from Chicago and St. Louis – but without the congestion and inconvenience.
RESPONSIBILITIES
- Hiring and managing a staff responsible for generating innovative solutions, developing implementation plans, and managing progress towards defined targets
- Managing and maintaining strong relationships with a broad set of stakeholders, including senior government officials and private and nonprofit sector leaders in the community
- Generating new ideas by deploying open innovation methods
- Consulting with internal and external experts to generate innovative solutions and assess their feasibility
- Ensuring that there are clear and appropriate implementation plans for delivery on all major initiatives in the identified priority areas
- Achieving defined targets by monitoring performance and helping to correct course when needed
- Communicating progress to all relevant stakeholders, including regular reporting to the Mayor and City Council
- Sharing the team’s strategic framework and best practices for innovation throughout city government
Requirements
QUALIFICATIONS
Characteristics of successful candidates for the CIO position include:
- Demonstrated ability to lead large scale transformations that involve multiple stakeholders, constituencies, and/or agencies;
- Successful experience developing and managing a high-performing team;
- Track record of establishing targets and delivering results;
- Understanding of the mechanics of city government and familiarity and knowledge of public sector innovation;
- Direct experience working with senior government or private sector leaders; and
- Ability to thoughtfully communicate with and respectfully engage diverse stakeholders around a shared vision for achieving results
BENEFITS
- Salary - $105,000; dependent upon qualifications
- Employee and employer pension contributions to Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund (IMRF)
- Paid vacation, sick and personal days
- Medical and dental insurance
OTHER INFORMATION
- It is the City’s intention to fill this position very rapidly; availability to commence is valued
- Residency within the City of Peoria required within twelve months of accepting position
- Position may require frequent travel
- More information at www.peoriagov.org/innovation
SUBMISSION REQUIREMENTS
Cplete on-line application www.peoriagov.org/internal.applications/. As part of the application please upload a cover letter summarizing your qualifications and interest in the position as well as a resume.
 Position is open until filled; first review of applications January 30, 2015.

For questions about the position, please contact Christopher Setti, Assistant City Manager: csetti@peoriagov.org