Colleen Egan

Director of People, Culture and Endless Possibilities, Clarity Partners, LLC

Chicago

Colleen started her career as a Nurse, but became frustrated with the slow adoption of technology in healthcare. She had an opportunity to become the operations leader at a public digital agency and that experience became the foundation for the rest of her career.

She founded and served as the Chief Operating Officer for the award winning design and technology company Two Hundred Twelve Degrees | 212° with offices in Chicago, New York and Los Angeles. 212’s diverse client list included Orbitz, McDonalds, Nike and pro bono clients like Zula USA. She went on to become the Chief Operating Officer and SVP of Production of Zula USA in Los Angeles, CA where she led the company and the production of the Emmy nominated PBS series The Zula Patrol, which was the first 3D CGI pre-school series on television.

Returning to Chicago in 2006, she was introduced to Akoo USA and became their EVP and Chief Operating Officer. She led the design, deployment and support of the largest DOOH network in the country. The proprietary tech platform was awarded patents across the world, was voted one of the best companies to work at by Adverting Age Magazine and a Rising Star Finalist by the Illinois Technology Association (ITA).

In 2012, as a Principal Consultant with her own company Tiger Puppet Studios, she focused her work on Chicago tech start-ups working for clients that included StageBloc, Built In, ThinkCERCA and Catalytic. In 2013, Colleen was selected to participate in StartupBus North America, where her team created the healthcare app MyBestRx. She became its CEO and was selected as a Tech Cocktail hottest startup.

In 2017, she became the Director of People, Culture and Endless Possibilities at Clarity Partners, a management and technology consulting firm that specializes in public sector work. Clarity was recognized as an INC 5000 fastest growing company for six years in a row, a Crain’s Fast 50 for two years and won multiple "Best Places to Work" awards. Clarity has also won numerous awards for their work, diversity, philanthropy and commitment to community.

Colleen was an ITA CityLIGHTS Prominent Woman in Tech Winner in 2018. She was also named a Connected World Woman of IoT in 2018 as well as a Crain’s Chicago Business Notable LGBTQ Executive in its inaugural year.

She is a founding member of the Women’s Entrepreneurship Institute at DePaul University, the first of its kind in the country and their Acceler8Her program had 200 submissions for its first cohort in 2019. She serves on several company advisory boards and sits on numerous non- profit boards and committees including Congresswoman Robin Kelly’s LGBTQ Taskforce, Little Kids Rock, Women’s Sports Foundation and Chicago Innovation Women’s Mentoring Co-Op.

Colleen is a known speaker and moderator on the topics of women empowerment, diversity, equity and inclusion, LGBTQ issues and impact investing. Se lives in the Logan Square neighborhood of Chicago with her wife Syndy and they have three children and two grand-kids.