Ron Huberman

Ron Huberman is an American entrepreneur and current CEO/Co-Founder of Benchmark Analytics, a provider of an evidenced-based public safety management system, featuring early warning and intervention analytics software for law enforcement agencies throughout the U.S. He spent 16 years in Chicago city government, with the first nine years in the Chicago Police Department.

He started as a beat cop, advancing to Assistant Deputy Superintendent, where he created one of the country’s most advanced policing technology systems, including community-based strategies to help decrease crime on the streets.

He also headed up Chicago’s Office of Emergency Management and Communications, bringing rapid change to that agency following the September 11 attacks on America.

Born in Tel Aviv, Israel, on November 26, 1971, Huberman is the son of Holocaust survivors.

He and his family moved to Oak Ridge, Tenn., when his father, a cancer researcher, began working at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

Huberman attended the University of Wisconsin–Madison, graduating with a bachelor's degree in psychology and English in 1994.

After graduation, he joined the Chicago Police Department where he initially served as a beat officer.

Upon his graduation in 1994 from the University of Wisconsin–Madison, Huberman entered the Chicago Police Academy and began his career in public service.

He was initially assigned as a patrol officer in Chicago's Rogers Park neighborhood, and also served as a bicycle officer and as a tactical gang team officer.

In partnership with the Illinois State Police, Huberman created and implemented the department's Citizen and Law Enforcement Analysis and Reporting (CLEAR) system, a unique and progressive technology-based criminal data and intelligence gathering system.

In 1995, Huberman was promoted to Assistant Deputy Superintendent, becoming one of the youngest officers to reach exempt rank in the history of the Chicago Police Department.

In this role, he led more than 600 sworn and civilian personnel who were charged with systematically improving the operations and strategic capacity of the department.

As Assistant Deputy Superintendent, he commanded the following CPD divisions: Research and Development, Information Services, Records Services, and the Office of Information and Strategic Services.

He also pioneered a pilot program for the installation and use of Police Observation Devices, also known as "blue-light cameras,"which gave the department a powerful new technological surveillance tool in its crime-fighting arsenal.

While working full-time as a Chicago police officer, Huberman attended night classes at the University of Chicago and earned two advanced degrees in 2000, a Master of Social Work from the School of Social Service Administration and a Master of Business Administration from the university's Graduate School of Business (now the Booth School of Business).

Huberman was a recipient of The Paul & Daisy Soros Fellowships for New Americans and an Albert Schweitzer Fellow while attending the University of Chicago.

In 2004, Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley appointed Huberman as Executive Director of the city's Office of Emergency Management and Communications.

Tasked with protecting the city from terrorist attacks, public health crises, natural disasters, and responding to the city's 21,000-plus daily 911 emergency calls, Huberman developed the Operations Center within OEMC to help city services conduct a coordinated response to disaster scenarios and established Chicago as a leader in emergency preparedness.

While at OEMC, Huberman greatly expanded the blue-light camera system throughout the city, which he had launched as a ranking police officer, to further boost the crime-fighting capacity in some of the city's high-crime areas.

He also initiated the city's Traffic Management Authority, replacing sworn officers with civilian employees to manage high-traffic areas, thereby freeing needed police resources for law enforcement duties.

Huberman supplemented the Traffic Management Authority with additional programs aimed at relieving congestion on busy urban streets, such as a "quick-tow" system, street sensors, smart signal timing and message boards.

While at OEMC, Huberman also implemented a Performance Management system as a method of improving the organizational efficiency and outcomes of the agency.

He would also use Performance Management, coupled with relevant data, as a key tool in later career assignments in identifying key issues and bringing effectiveness and employee growth and development to government.

In 2005, Mayor Daley brought Huberman to City Hall to serve as his chief of staff, delegating to him supervision of the city's day-to-day operations and instructing him "first and foremost … to help restore taxpayers' confidence in the integrity of city government" in the wake of wrongdoing in Chicago's Hired Truck Program.

Huberman quickly instituted a hiring freeze while implementing new screening policies to prevent applicants from using political clout to get city jobs.

He removed seemingly entrenched senior staff who failed to measure up to the standards required in securing and maintaining the public's trust.

As Chief of Staff, he also oversaw settlement of the Shakman Decree, a decades-old federal court order, which governed political hiring for city jobs.

Huberman implemented a performance management system for each of the city's 49 departments and agencies.

Borrowing heavily from the private sector, Huberman's performance management system created a process for city management and service delivery.

Similar to the New York City Police Department's COMPSTAT system, Huberman conducted weekly sessions that required each department to report on their key metrics.

Following his role as chief of staff, Huberman was named by Mayor Daley to be president of the Chicago Transit Authority in 2007.

His appointment to head the second largest public transit system in the U.S. was greeted as a "breath of fresh air" as Huberman pledged to press for better system-wide performance, employee accountability and an emphasis on customer service.

Huberman addressed customer communication, oversaw investment in new rail-car and bus technology, and brought his Performance Management process to the agency.

He mothballed a project that was running $100 million over budget, negotiated new labor contracts that saved the system more than $100 million and improved operations by significantly reducing "Slow Zones" on the system's rail lines, the "L", while increasing ridership.

He also oversaw negotiations for long-term agreements with the CTA's 21 collective bargaining units which included pension and health care savings.

Huberman, an avowed "L" rider during his tenure at the CTA, once removed an unruly and disorderly passenger from a train he was riding on after the rider verbally harassed a female passenger.

He is also the former chief executive officer and superintendent of Chicago Public Schools (2009–2010).

Prior to heading the CPS, Huberman served as president of the Chicago Transit Authority.

After President Barack Obama appointed then-CPS Chief Executive Officer Arne Duncan to be U.S. Secretary of Education, Mayor Daley selected Huberman to head CPS on January 28, 2009.

Upon appointing Huberman, Mayor Daley stated, "I have utmost faith in him. I can go to sleep at night, and just close my eyes. I don't have to worry about Ron Huberman."