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PROPOSED RESOLUTION
CELEBRATING THE CAREER OF MARY JO HORACE
WHEREAS, after twenty-nine (29) years of dedicated service to the Bureau of Technology (BOT) Ms. Mary Jo Horace has retired from her position as Deputy Chief Information Officer and Director of Geographic Information Services (GIS) effective December 31, 2015; and
WHEREAS, early in her career she helped consolidate various IT resources under the Office of the President into what would eventually become the Bureau of Technology; and
WHEREAS, she helped to create the County's first department focused on providing desktop services to thousands of users; and
WHEREAS, her efforts to consolidate a large number of mid-range computers into a single system has helped reduce the cost of managing important judicial, financial, and property data, and has also simplified county-wide operations considerably; and
WHEREAS, she was a leader in the establishment, consolidation, and continued improvement of the Bureau of Technology Enterprise Program Management Office (EPMO) which has successfully managed hundreds of projects and requests for proposals that improved efficiency and cross-agency collaboration; and
WHEREAS, she has championed collaborative GIS in Cook County since the 1980's, and in 1996 was a leader in the procurement of the county-wide GIS system; and
WHEREAS, in September 2015, she was awarded the Dahlberg Distinguished Achievement Award by the Illinois Geographic Information Systems Association. This award is presented to an individual who has made a significant contribution to the development and advancement of geographic information systems; and
WHEREAS, under her direction Cook County's Department of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) was also honored this year with a Special Achievement in GIS Award for establishing an enterprise approach to GIS which provides a framework for County departments to collect data, share information, collaborate, and conduct cross-d...
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