As the Vice President for International Operations and IT, Klara Jelinkova is responsible for strategic technology issues such as governance, policy, and resource allocation as well as operational issues connected to Rice’s global footprint and interests. She represents the university nationally and internationally. The Offices of Information Technology and Information Security as well as the International Operations Team report to her. Under her leadership, Rice University received two CIO 100 Innovation Awards (2018, 2019).

Before joining Rice, Klara served as the Chief Information Officer and Senior Associate Vice President at the University of Chicago. From 2006 – 2010, Klara was the Assistant Vice President of Shared Services and Infrastructure and interim CISO at Duke University. Prior to Duke, she spent ten years at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Klara is an active member of several regional and national higher education organizations. She currently serves on the boards of Internet2, the Lonestar Education and Research Network (LEARN), and several industry advisory boards. Klara is a past and present lead Principal Investigator (PI) for several National Science Foundation (NSF) grants.

For her work related to identity and access management, she received the Internet2 Leadership Award in 2019. In 2021, Klara won the Houston CIO of the Year ORBIE award.  She holds a Master’s in Education from Boston University and BA in Economics and Slavic Languages from the University of Wisconsin–Madison.