Jacqueline Umbles is a Chicago native and public servant currently working for the City of Chicago in the Department of Procurement Services (DPS) Public Affairs Unit, where she oversees community engagement efforts and educational procurement initiatives.  Among her accomplishments is developing streamlined, standardized, and transparent educational programming that helps the vendor community understand the City’s procurement process and how to obtain equitable contracting opportunities. Additionally, she oversees the planning and management of the two annual procurement contracting events for the City. These outreach events educate, engage, and encourage entrepreneurs to network and pitch their businesses to government agencies, the City’s Assist Agencies, and Prime and sub-contracting partners. She assists DPS leadership with facilitating the Government Procurement Compliance Forum Meetings, Affirmative Action Advisory Board, and other projects. She is instrumental in DPS’s efforts to foster impactful relationships among City and sister agencies, non-profit organizations, local chambers of commerce, and the local vendor community.  

 

Before joining the City of Chicago, Jacqueline worked for over thirty years in various management roles at the Chicago Teachers’ Pension Fund, Chicago Transit Authority, and AMR/American Airlines/Sabre Group, designing and delivering corporate communications, public and media relations, and developing and implementing custom corporate training programs for Fortune 500 companies domestically and abroad. Some areas of training focus were management development, diversity, equity and inclusion, soft skills, sales, team building, customer service, technical training, and change and performance management for the transportation industry.   

 

Jacqueline earned her Bachelor of Science in Computer Science from Chicago State University and a Master's in Business Administration with a concentration in Marketing and Communications from Kellar Graduate School of Business in Chicago, IL.