Kristen Ziman, Chief of Police (ret.), shares critical insights and lessons from her career, emphasizing the importance of positive organizational culture and personal development.
About the Speaker
Kristen Ziman joined the Aurora Police force in 1991 as a police cadet and became a sworn officer in 1994. She worked in patrol,
field training, community policing and investigations as a domestic violence detective before being promoted to sergeant in 2003.
She was promoted to lieutenant in 2008 and to Commander in 2010 and Chief of Police in January of 2016. She recently retired after 30 years with the department and launched a consulting firm to pursue her passion of public speaking and helping organizations through leadership challenges. She led her department through a mass shooting where five people were killed and five of her officers were shot and her life’s mission is to prevent the next mass casualty. She provides guidance to organizations on lessons learned from the incident in her city.
Kristen earned her Associates Degree from Waubonsee Community College in 1994. She holds a Bachelor’s Degree from Aurora University and a Master’s Degree from Boston University. She earned a 2nd Master’s Degree in Homeland Security and Defense from the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California. She is a graduate of the FBI National Academy #249. She completed the Kellogg Women’s Senior Leadership Program at Northwestern University, Senior Executives in State and Local Government at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government, and the Senior Management Institute for Police (SMIP).
Kristen is the author of “Reimagining Blue,” a passionate and personal analysis of a misunderstood profession through the vantage point of female police chief. Kristen serves on the Mass Violence Advisory Board for the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP). She is currently on the DOJ team assigned to review the Uvalde massacre. Since retiring, Kristen has delivered over 100 keynote presentations to organizations all over the world on the topics of leadership, culture, and risk management.
