City of Chicago’s Maurice Classen Joins Zencity as Chief Operating Officer

Classen Previously Served as Chief of Staff to Mayor of Chicago; Director of Strategy for Chicago Police Department

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Zencity, a technology company providing the leading platform for community trust to over 350 global cities, counties and agencies, announced that Maurice Classen has joined as the company's chief operating officer (COO). Mr. Classen, the former chief of staff to the mayor of Chicago and director of strategy for the Chicago Police Department, brings over a decade of experience in public service, operations, and criminal justice systems change, making him critical to Zencity's mission of empowering local governments to make data-driven decisions that build trust with the communities they serve.

Prior to joining Zencity, Classen served as chief of staff to the mayor of Chicago and the de facto chief administrative officer of the third-largest city in the United States during a historic period. In those roles, he was responsible for leading the city's response to a range of challenges, from the COVID-19 pandemic to social unrest following the murder of George Floyd. His principal management responsibility included oversight of the City’s employees and multi-billion dollar budget.

Classen's career in public service includes serving as director of strategy at the Chicago Police Department and directing criminal justice and policing efforts at the MacArthur Foundation immediately prior to his role in government. He also brings significant experience as a lawyer, having served as a senior deputy prosecutor in the King County (Seattle), Washington Prosecuting Attorney’s office, addressing violent crime, gang challenges and burglary. He also ran multiple political campaigns providing an insight into how residents chose their leaders.

"We are beyond thrilled to have Maurice join our team at Zencity," said Eyal Feder-Levy, CEO and co-founder, Zencity. "His record as an innovator in government will be of tremendous value to our partners around the world, as the company continues to grow. Maurice's expertise will help us better serve our customers and advance our mission of helping local governments build trust by making better, data-driven decisions."

“Having served two mayors in one of the biggest cities in America, I can speak with experience as to how important solving the challenge of being more responsive, and building trust is to the day-to-day work of local government,” said Maurice Classen, chief operations officer, Zencity. “Zencity was a key partner in helping Chicagoans in earning resident trust through leveraging their transformative tools. I am honored to join the company to bring what we learned there on the road to help cities, counties and local government agencies around the world thrive.”

As Chief Operating Officer, Classen will oversee the company's day-to-day operations and work closely with Zencity's executive team to drive growth and effectiveness. He will also lead efforts to strengthen Zencity's relationships with local governments and other key stakeholders, with a focus on the largest US local governments, where Zencity already serves eight of the ten largest cities. Classen's appointment is effective May 3, 2023.

About Zencity

Zencity is a New York and Tel Aviv based govtech company that serves more than 300 local government agencies in the United States, Canada, Australia, the United Kingdom and Israel. The company, founded in 2016, works with mayors, city managers, police chiefs and other public sector leaders to build trust between governments and the people that they serve by improving responsiveness to community needs.