Montel Gayles

Montel Gayles is currently the Secretary at Northern Illinois University. Prior to that, they served as the Chief Procurement Officer for the City of Chicago from January 2008 to August 2009. In this role, Gayles was responsible for annually over 3 billion dollars in city contracts. Montel also managed five supplier diversity programs that were authorized by City ordinance and/or federal law to remedy the on going discrimination faced by minority, women and/or veteran-owned businesses, as well as those businesses owned by people with disabilities, in their pursuit of City and/or federal government contracts.

From June 2000 to July 2004, Gayles served as the Chief of Staff for the Chicago Housing Authority. In this role, they were responsible for managing the Chicago Housing Authority's executive management team as well as the agency's day to day operations.

Gayles is also the owner and founder of Gayles Consulting PC. Montel served as the Executive Director for the Public Building Commission of Chicago from July 2004 to January 2008. Prior to that, they were the Deputy Commissioner for the Department of Buildings from January 1996 to December 2000.

Montel Gayles received a Juris Doctor degree from Chicago-Kent College of Law at the Illinois Institute of Technology, a Bachelor of Science in Communication Studies from Northern Illinois University, and completed their high school education at Argo Community High School.