Top cop covets leaders who solve problems — not make widgets

Kristen Ziman’s zest for being a good leader, from rushing toward gunfire at a mass shooting to overcoming bouts of self-doubt, translates well to any field.

By Mark Gordon
| 5:00 p.m. November 3, 2022
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Aurora, Illinois Police Chief Kristen Ziman, who retired and moved to Naples last year, has written a book, â€œReimaging Blue: Thoughts on Life, Leadership and a New Way Forward in Policing.â€ (Photo by Reagan Rule)

Leadership

The tears flowed like a gusher when Kristen Ziman least expected it. The longtime police officer and chief of a 310-officer department, Ziman was in her closet, taking off her uniform at the usual end of watch. That’s when she noticed a missed phone call from her son, Jacob.

Then chief of the Aurora, Illinois Police Department, Ziman went to call back Jacob, a 21-year-old college student. But first she thought of another young man: Trevor Wehner. A Northern Illinois University student, Wehner died a week earlier, when a gunman killed five people at the Henry Pratt Co. in Aurora. Five Aurora police officers were shot and wounded in the Feb. 15, 2019 shootout, before officers killed the perpetrator.