Gail
Holmberg

Gail Holmberg is a senior partner in the Chicago practice of Fortium Partners. She brings nearly 35 years of leadership experience with prominent national brands in driving process and organizational optimization through creative uses of technology strategy. Her extensive background in consumer-facing industries, including retail, services and products, has given her the unique ability to demystify technology decisions and drive organizational change. As CIO of Bally Total Fitness, which was the nation’s eminent fitness chain with more than 420 facilities, 25,000 employees and 4 million members during her tenure, she directed the overall technology strategy. Before Bally, Holmberg was the divisional CIO of administration systems for Sears, Roebuck & Company, where she owned all facets of technology and infrastructure support for $1 billion commercial sales as well as corporate HR, finance and legal departments. Prior to Sears, she was manager of transaction processing, systems support and IT at The Quaker Oats Company, where she led the systems integration strategy for more than 35 applications. Prior to joining Fortium, Holmberg served as COO and CIO of Tandem HR, where she owned responsibility for all HR, benefits and payroll services to thousands of employees. She was also president of her own firm, where she provided CIO advisory services with a focus on midcap companies up to $1 billion. Holmberg holds a Masters of Public Administration from Harvard University and a Bachelor of Arts in communications from Illinois State University. She proudly serves on the boards of the Sugar Beet Coop, the Turnaround Management Association – Chicago Chapter and the Association for Corporate Growth – Chicago Chapter. She is also a mentor in the Chicago Innovation Women’s Coop program.