Klara Jelinkova

Klara Jelinkova serves as Vice President and University Chief Information Officer at Harvard University. She oversees information technology strategy, policies, and services that support the university's mission in teaching, learning, research, and business operations. Additionally, she is the Chief Information Officer for the Faculty of Arts and Sciences and leads Harvard University Information Technology (HUIT), the central IT provider serving over 50,000 educators, researchers, students, and staff.

Before her time at Harvard, Klara held various IT leadership roles in higher education. From 2016 to 2021, she was Vice President for International Operations and IT and Chief Information Officer at Rice University. There, she spearheaded the creation of a new IT organization, addressing strategic technology issues from governance and policy to operational matters related to Rice's global interests. Under her leadership, Rice received two CIO 100 Innovation Awards (2018, 2019). Klara also taught courses on innovation and new technologies as an Adjunct Professor at the Jones Graduate School of Business.

From 2010 to 2015, she was the Chief Information Officer and Senior Associate Vice President at the University of Chicago, managing the central IT organization that provided services across the university, its global centers, and the biological sciences division, including UChicago Medicine. From 2006 to 2010, she served as Assistant Vice President of Shared Services and Infrastructure and interim CISO at Duke University. Before Duke, Klara spent ten years at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Klara is actively involved in the technology community, serving on several advisory boards of Fortune 500 companies and as a board member for SustainableIT.org and MGHPCC. She is a former member of the Internet2 board of trustees. Her distinguished career includes being named Houston CIO of the Year in 2021 and receiving the Internet2 Leadership Award in 2019 for her contributions to identity and access management.

Klara holds a Doctorate in Education from Johns Hopkins University, a Master's in Education from Boston University, and a Bachelor's in Economics and Slavic Languages from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.