Author: Tonya Rice

Tonya Rice has served as a leader in the elections and public sector technology industries for over 15 years. At Amazon Web Services (AWS), Tonya advises state and local governments on how to address their most complex challenges by securely modernizing systems that drive electoral, legislative, and political processes. Prior to AWS, Tonya served as director of elections and chief data officer for Cook County, Illinois, one of the largest US election jurisdictions, where her responsibilities included leadership across a diverse security and technology group. Collectively, her teams of 100+ specialists led strategy, development, and operations of innovative new solutions and public-private partnership models. As a subject matter expert, Tonya has authored multiple cybersecurity whitepapers and delivered keynotes at national election conferences. She has also served on the Bipartisan Policy Center’s national task force of election officials to develop industry best practices. Tonya earned a J.D. degree from Northwestern University School of Law, a B.A. degree from Northwestern University, and serves on the Board of Advisors for Auburn University’s Graduate Program in Election Administration. She also chairs the Board of Directors at Chicago HOPES for Kids, a nonprofit organization that provides educational services for children living in homeless shelters.