James A. Wright, Executive Inspector General

On July 1, 2005, Governor Rod Blagojevich appointed James A. Wright Executive Inspector General for the Agencies under the Governor. Mr. Wright's credentials include 24 years of public and private sector legal and professional experience. He has served as a Corporate Practices Attorney for the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency; Trial Attorney for the U.S. Department of Justice, Tax Division; Assistant U.S. Attorney in the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Illinois; Manager of Commercial Litigation for the Law Department of the Chicago Board of Education; Chief of Staff to the Chicago Board of Education; Of Counsel in the Government Division of the Law Offices of Altheimer & Gray, practicing in the areas of municipal law, administrative law, government relations, contracts, minority/women business enterprise certification, and commercial litigation; and Inspector General for the Illinois State Toll Highway Authority (“Illinois Tollway”). He possesses law licenses in Illinois, California, and Washington D.C., and is licensed to practice before the U.S. Supreme Court, 7th Circuit Court of Appeals, and the United States District Court of Illinois. Mr. Wright is a Certified Public Accountant and is certified as an Inspector General by the Association of Inspectors General.

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Sydney R. Roberts, First Deputy Inspector General/Chief Operating Officer

Ms. Roberts works closely with the Executive Inspector General on policy, operations, and investigations. Prior to joining the OEIG, Ms. Roberts worked with the Illinois Department of Human Services Office of Inspector General, serving initially as the Deputy Inspector General until she was appointed the DHS' Inspector General in 2003. Ms. Roberts previously worked as a Lieutenant with the Essex County Prosecutor's Office in Newark, New Jersey, where she spent the majority of her tenure in internal affairs investigating police corruption, conducting background investigations, and administering polygraph examinations. Ms. Roberts is also a former Police Commander of the Maywood Police Department. Her credentials include: B.S. Degree in Criminal Justice University of Delaware; Juris Doctor Degree – Rutgers School of Law; Masters in Criminology and Criminal Justice - Oxford University, Oxford, England; and Graduate of the F.B.I. National Academy. Ms. Roberts is also certified as an Inspector General by the Association of Inspectors General.

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Sean Ginty - General Counsel

Sean received his Bachelor of Science degree in Journalism from the University of Illinois/Urbana and his Juris Doctor degree from Chicago-Kent College of Law. He comes to the OEIG with a wealth of experience in ethics, compliance and investigations. Sean began his legal career as an attorney with the Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission (“ARDC”) wherein he reviewed and investigated allegations of attorney misconduct. Following the ARDC, he joined the American Bar Association as an ethics research attorney, and most recently, Sean was a conflicts attorney for the firm of Winston & Strawn, responsible for conducting conflicts of interest reviews, providing ethics training, and responding to auditors' information requests. Sean's publications and presentations include: “When Can You Retain Client Files for Failure to Pay Fees,” Illinois Bar Journal, Feb. 2004; “Risk in E-Chatting Up Potential Clients,” ABA Journal eReport, Dec. 2, 2002; “A Split on Inadvertent Disclosure,” ABA Journal eReport, Oct. 25, 2002; Speaker, ISBA Seminar on Avoiding Malpractice in Setting Up a Business Entity, April 2004; and Panelist, “Hot Tips in Disciplinary Investigations” panel at National Organization of Bar Counsel, February 1999.

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Deborah Ellis - Deputy Inspector General

Deborah is a former State’s Attorney and Assistant State’s Attorney in Ogle County, Illinois where she prosecuted civil and criminal matters and served as the legal advisor to the county and its elected and appointed officials. Deborah graduated Magna Cum Laude from Northern Illinois University College of Law in DeKalb in 1997 where she served on the NIUCOL Law Review. She received a B.A. degree in Communications from Sangamon State University (now the University of Illinois-Springfield) and worked as a broadcast journalist for many years in Illinois, Tennessee, and Florida. She is a native of Champaign, Illinois. Deborah joined the OEIG in early 2006.

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Gilbert R. Jimenez, Deputy Inspector General for Investigations

Mr. Jimenez joined the OEIG after serving for more than four years as Special Projects Manager/Case Manager for the Chicago Board of Education Office of the Inspector General, where he conducted investigations of employee misconduct, and waste, fraud, and mismanagement in the Chicago Public Schools Capital, Facilities Management, Purchasing and Minority/Woman Owned Business programs. Mr. Jimenez brings to the OEIG an investigative skill set that includes legal analysis; case management; financial crime investigation; analysis of contracts, invoices, specifications and other documents; project design and management; data analysis; interviewing; internal controls analysis, ; and report writing and presentation. For 24 years before joining the Board of Education, Mr. Jimenez was an award-winning news and investigative reporter and editor with the Chicago Sun-Times, where a number of his investigations resulted in the resignations of public officials following disclosure of their illegal or unethical conduct. Mr. Jimenez, a licensed Illinois attorney, was engaged in the practice of law for eight years. As adjunct faculty, he taught Media Law/Ethics and Urban Affairs Reporting at Northwestern University Medill Graduate School of Journalism and Columbia College Chicago. He is a 1988 graduate of the John Marshall Law School.

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Millicent Willis - Deputy Inspector General

Ms. Willis is a graduate of Northwestern University and Howard University School of Law. She began her career as an Assistant Public Defender, where she handled criminal litigation and appeals for six years. During her twenty year legal career, Ms. Willis has held several positions with governmental agencies in which she supervised or conducted disciplinary investigations and hearings. As Counsel at the Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission for the Supreme Court of Illinois, Ms. Willis investigated and prosecuted allegations of attorney misconduct. She also served as General Counsel and Acting Chief Administrator for the Chicago Police Department’s Office of Professional Standards, where she made disciplinary recommendations to the Superintendent of Police, supervised disciplinary investigations, and provided advice and counsel to supervisors and administrators on a variety of legal and personnel issues. Ms. Willis was Senior Assistant Attorney for employee discipline for the Chicago Public Schools, the third largest school district in the nation, where she supervised attorneys handling employee discipline cases. Ms. Willis is the former Senior Policy Analyst for the City of Chicago’s Office of Emergency Management and Communications, where she was responsible for policy and legislative matters and conducted investigations regarding allegations of sexual harassment and discrimination and managed an investigative team. She was most recently Assistant Executive Director – Legal at the Cook County Department of Corrections where she helped to manage the largest single site pre-trial detention facility in the country. In addition to her legal and investigative work, Ms. Willis has significant experience in training and course design, having trained not only attorneys and investigators on a variety of topics, including report writing, statement taking and litigation skills, but also Ph.D. candidates in the areas of communication skills and conflict resolution.

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David E. Keahl, Director of Ethics Training and Compliance

Mr. Keahl is responsible for the development and implementation of ethics training for employees and appointees of state agencies, state public universities and state boards and commissions under the Governor, as sponsored by the OEIG and as required by the State Officials and Employees Ethics Act. Prior to joining the OEIG, Mr. Keahl worked in the telecommunications industry for 27 years. During that time, Mr. Keahl directed activities related to corporate planning, accounting, finance, regulatory affairs, engineering and human resources. Mr. Keahl is a graduate of the University of Michigan.

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Stan J. Ryniewski, Chief Financial Officer

Mr. Ryniewski joined the Office of Executive Inspector General after performing as the Fiscal Operations Manager of the Illinois Tollway Authority. Prior to joining the Tollway, Mr. Ryniewski worked at the City of Chicago for eleven years. The last five years of his city tenure were focused on public safety while at the Office of Emergency Management & Communications, where he held the positions of Deputy Director of Finance and Managing Deputy Director of Administration. Mr. Ryniewski's background also includes financial positions in the private sector as a controller, cost accountant supervisor and internal auditor. Mr. Ryniewski graduated from Aquinas College with a B.S.B.A. and he is a CPA.

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Derick Love, Deputy Director of Investigations

On August 6, 2007 Derick joined the OEIG as Deputy Director of Investigations. Derick comes to the OEIG after serving twenty seven (27) years at the McLean County Sheriff's Department. There he served as the Chief Deputy responsible for the administration and oversight of all functions of the McLean County Sheriff's Department, including direct supervision of the Support Services Commander, Patrol Division Commander, the Criminal Investigations Commander and the Detention Facility Superintendent. Derick has his Bachelors of Science degree in Criminal Justice from Illinois State University.

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