• CERAWEEK 2025 | March 10-14, 2025
  • CERAWEEK
  • March 10 - 14, 2025

Klara Jelinkova

Rice University

Vice President for International Operations and IT and Chief Information Officer

Klara Jelinkova is the Vice President for International Operations and IT and Chief Information Officer at Rice University. She arrived at Rice in 2015 to advance the university’s strategic goals through sound information technology investments.  She is responsible for strategic technology issues ranging from governance, policy and resource allocation to protocol and organization as well as operational issue connected to Rice’s global footprint and interest. She represents the university nationally and internationally. The Office of Information Technology, the Information Security Office and International Operations Teams report to her. Prior to joining rice Ms. Jelinkova served as the CIO and Sr. Associate VP at the University of Chicago. Her accomplishments include restructuring and realignment of the IT function and the implementations of numerous systems and services. She supported the University of Chicago’s global aspirations by overseeing the technology implementation of centers in Beijing, Delhi and Hong Kong.   

Ms. Jelinkova is an active member of several regional and national higher education organizations. She serves on the Internet2 and LEARN boards. She is also the Vice-Chair of the RHEDcloud Foundation.  Ms. Jelinkova holds a B.A. from the University of Wisconsin and a Master’s in Education in Educational Leadership and Administration from Boston University.

Sessions With Klara Jelinkova

Monday, 9 March

  • 04:00pm - 04:50pm (CST) / -

    Cybersecurity: Protecting energy & industrial IoT
    Innovation & Technology Digitalization

    The energy industry is used to managing security and integrity in remote operations. However, the increased digital connectivity between operational facilities and equipment leads to an imbalance of cybersecurity threats from a small set of bad actors or hacktivists. These aren’t just threats to physical security and operational integrity: sensitive proprietary data is also at risk. How are cybersecurity risks growing as the industry digitalizes? How are integrity and compliance assured through the supply chain? What are the current best practices in cybersecurity solutions? How will cybersecurity evolve to stay ahead of threats?