James A. Wright, Executive Inspector General

On July 1, 2005, James A. Wright was appointed as 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 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 also is a former suburban police commander. 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

Mr. Ginty 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, Mr. Ginty joined the American Bar Association as an ethics research attorney, and most recently, he 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. Mr. Ginty'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

Ms. Ellis 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. She graduated Magna Cum Laude from Northern Illinois University College of Law in DeKalb in 1997, where she served on the NIUCOL Law Review. Ms. Ellis received a Bachelor of Arts 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. Ms. Ellis joined the OEIG in early 2006.

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Gilbert R. Jimenez, Deputy Inspector General for Investigations

Mr. Jimenez' credentials include 32 years of government and private sector legal, investigatory and journalistic experience in protection of the public interest. Since joining the OEIG in August 2005, he has served as a Deputy Inspector General for legal review, as Acting Director of Investigations, and as head of Special Operations. He joined the OEIG after serving as an Investigation and Special Projects Manager for the Chicago Board of Education Office of the Inspector General, where he conducted investigations and supervised a team who investigated employee misconduct, as well as waste, fraud, and mismanagement in the Chicago Public Schools' capital, MBE/WBE and procurement programs. Mr. Jimenez' investigative skill set includes legal analysis; case management; investigation of financial crimes and other misconduct; contract and document analysis; data analysis; interviewing; deception detection; report writing and presentation; and information technology management. For 24 years before joining the Board of Education, Mr. Jimenez was a 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 for 21 years, has also been engaged in the private practice of law. He formerly taught classes in reporting, Media Ethics, and First Amendment Law at Columbia College Chicago and the Northwestern University Medill Graduate School of Journalism. He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology from De Paul University, and a Juris Doctor degree from the John Marshall Law School. Mr. Jimenez is a Director of the Association of Inspectors General, Illinois Chapter, and has provided training and educational classes to its member investigators and Inspectors General.

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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 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 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. 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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James J. Bonk, Director of Investigations

Mr. Bonk joined the Office of Executive Inspector General as Director of Investigations in July 2008 with responsibilities for investigative operations, policies, and procedures. He brings to OEIG over 30 years of public and private sector experience in investigations, leadership, and operations. Mr. Bonk's background as a strategic leader with a proven track record in the insurance fraud industry, coupled with his strong investigative knowledge and experience, operational skills, and business acumen, brings extraordinary value to the OEIG investigative operations. He began his career in law enforcement for two Chicago suburban police departments. He received numerous commendations and citations for the successful arrest and prosecution of several heinous criminal investigations. He then joined CNA Insurance Companies where he worked for approximately 20 years and led their nationwide Special Investigations Unit focused on the identification, investigation, and prosecution of multi-line insurance fraud. Mr. Bonk rose to the position of assistant vice president at CNA. Most recently, he served as Senior Vice President of Operations for a nationwide provider of professional investigative services, surveillance, and fraud awareness. He previously was an active board member with the Coalition Against Insurance Fraud, Washington, D.C. where he held positions of treasurer and co-chair. He graduated from National-Louis University with a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Applied Behavioral Science.

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Derick Love, Deputy Director of Investigations

Mr. Love joined the OEIG as Deputy Director of Investigations in August, 2007. He comes to the OEIG after serving 27 years with the McLean County Sheriff's Department. There, Mr. Love served as Detention Facility Superintendent and Chief Deputy. In the position of Detention Facility Superintendent, he was responsible for the oversight of the 205-bed detention facility and the correctional staff. He also was responsible for the oversight and preparation of the facility's $3 million budget. During his tenure as Chief Deputy, he was responsible for the administration and oversight of all functions of the Sheriff's Department and its 135 employees. His responsibilities included preparation and oversight of the department's $7 million budget. Mr. Love also represented the department in contract negotiations and handled all personnel matters. He provided direct supervision of the Support Services Commander, Patrol Division Commander, Criminal Investigations Commander and Detention Facility Superintendent. Mr. Love holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Criminal Justice from Illinois State University.

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David E. Keahl, Director of Ethics Training and Compliance

Mr. Keahl is responsible for the establishment of standards for and oversight of ethics training for the officials, employees and appointees of the state agencies, departments, boards, commissions, and state public universities under the OEIG's jurisdiction 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, and has considerable experience in managing matters related to organizational governance, internal controls, and legal/regulatory compliance.

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Rochelle M. Hardy, Chief Financial Officer

With a professional background and 30 years in management, accounting, finance, information technology and professional development of staff in both government and the private sector, Ms. Hardy brings a unique and valuable perspective to the Office of Executive Inspector General. She has been employed by the State of Illinois for the past 3-1/2 years, first serving 1-1/2 years as the Chief Fiscal Officer for the Illinois State Police and most recently for 2 years as Deputy Director of Administration creating the pilot Shared Service Public Safety Center, consolidating seven public safety agencies, and providing fiscal and HR business process redesign for statewide systems. Also, she created the Kenosha County data center and worked for six years as the Director of Information Systems for County of Kenosha (WI). Prior to joining State government, Ms. Hardy held various positions in the private sector including manager of accounting for L'Oreal USA; senior accountant/controller with Walgreens, and manager of consulting services with Washington, Pittman and McKeever. She received her Bachelor of Science degree in business administration with a concentration in accounting from Roosevelt University and her Master of Business Administration degree from Keller Graduate School of Business, with concentrations in information technology and finance. She is an active member of the National Association of Black Accountants ("NABA") and the National Black MBA Association ("NBMBAA").

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