Terry G. Hillard
Partner
You don’t forget meeting Terry Hillard. It’s not just the more than three decades he spent protecting and serving the 2.8 million citizens of Chicago – including a distinguished tenure as Superintendent of the Chicago Police Department (CPD) overseeing an annual budget totaling nearly $1 billion. It’s not just the quiet demeanor and spotless career record that made him the Chicago mayor’s top choice to lead the high-profile CPD at a time of turmoil. Nor is it necessarily the manner in which Hillard ran his administration: with integrity, compassion, a results-oriented approach to performance and an unwavering personal commitment to making Chicago a safer place.
It’s something more human and humble – which perhaps goes part of the way towards explaining his exceptional record of accomplishment as commander of the nation’s second largest police force and his ability to shape how 16,000 sworn officers and civilian employees approached their missions, their challenges and their constituents on the street every day.
Today – as partner and co-founder of Hillard Heintze – Hillard taps this leadership instinct and experience, and this public record and concern for individuals regardless of rank and role, to advise an exclusive roster of senior decision-makers responsible for the performance of some of the most important public and private organizations in the United States, South America and the Caribbean.
Hillard earned the CPD’s highest rank and distinction the old-fashioned way: one step at a time – evolving first from a Patrol Officer to a Gang Crimes Specialist and member of the mayoral Executive Security Detail and later to Intelligence Division Sergeant, District Commander, Chief of Detectives, Coordinator of the Chicago Terrorist Task Force and Lieutenant in Gang Crimes and Narcotics Sections.
Hillard’s initiatives got results. In fact, the programs and initiatives of his administration transformed the CPD into a best practice-setting, 21st century law enforcement agency – with changes that spanned critical law enforcement domains such as technology, information exchange, community policing, and police accountability. His career reflects bravery, dedication to duty, extraordinary sensitivity to others, and an outstanding ability to develop successful programs to safeguard others.
Hillard enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps in 1963, served 13 months in Vietnam and received four medals and a Presidential Unit Citation. He entered the Chicago Police Training Academy in 1968. In 1975, he was shot twice and seriously wounded while apprehending a suspect who had shot four suburban police officers. He subsequently received the Chicago Police Medal, an Award of Valor, the Chicago Police Department’s highest honor for courage under fire. Other awards and commendations earned over the years include the Blue Star Award and the FBI Director’s Community Service Award.
He holds Bachelor and Master Degrees in Corrections from Chicago State University and honorary doctoral degrees from Lewis University, Saint Xavier University and Calumet College of Saint Joseph. He has completed training through the Police Executive Research Forum (PERF), the FBI National Academy, the FBI National Executive Institute, and the U.S. Secret Service Dignitary Protection Course. Hillard holds a Top Secret Security Clearance.
