Kelly Cronin Krein
Business Intelligence Engineer
Kelly Cronin Krein
Business Intelligence Engineer
Kelly Cronin Krein is a business intelligence engineer and Tableau Certified Data Analyst who is experienced at turning data into action for nonprofit organizations. She has worked on projects in the arts and cultural, higher education, and healthcare sectors.
Prior to joining JCA, she was at Lyric Opera of Chicago for over six years in various roles and collaborating across the organization, most recently serving as the Associate Director of Development Analytics. In this role, she was responsible for the fundraising department’s data initiatives and reporting, as well as lead the Development Services team which is responsible for gift processing, operations, new-hire onboarding, reporting, and analytics. Her professional interests include data storytelling, expanding data literacy, and using data to craft strategies and uncover growth opportunities.
Kelly earned a Master’s degree in Business Analytics from the Mendoza College of Business and a Bachelor’s degree in Economics and Music/Vocal performance, all from the University of Notre Dame. She is a member of the Institute of Operations Research and the Management Sciences (INFORMS). Kelly is an avid balcony gardener, a video gamer, a shower singer, and cross-stitcher of Star Wars characters. She lives in Chicago with her husband and their two cats.
MORE ABOUT KELLY
Where do you work? Where are you from?
I work from Chicago, Illinois, where I’ve lived since 2015. I grew up in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and Waco, Texas, so I am not afraid of cold winters but also have a deep appreciation for sweet tea and good brisket.
What do you do at JCA?Â
I am a Business Intelligence Engineer for the Engineering team. I partner with the Services and Arts Marketing teams to develop BI solutions, such as reports and dashboards, that help leaders monitor key indicators related to their mission. I enjoying learning about a team’s priorities, goals, and pain-points so we can create an effective solution. Few things are as satisfying to me as deploying a clear and insightful dashboard! I have also developed affinity scores that allow clients to identify prospects that act like their existing donors, but may not have given yet at that level.
What is your background? What brought you to JCA?Â
I have spent much of my career integrating data with creativity, from my undergraduate studies in both economics and classical voice to building dashboards for an opera company. When I graduated from college, I couldn’t think of a better way to apply my love of singing and numbers than to work in arts administration at an opera company. So, I started at Lyric Opera of Chicago in 2015, and I held various roles in ticketing and fundraising over the following 6 and a half years. In my most recent position at Lyric, I worked in fundraising operations and analytics. I am excited to be a part of JCA because I’ll be able to help a larger variety of non-profits utilize their data in effective and efficient ways so they can focus on what they do best — serving and engaging their communities.
What do you do outside of JCA?
As a classically-trained shower singer, I love seeing great vocalists live in operas, musicals, and concerts. I picked up cross-stitch as both a hobby and meditative exercise during graduate school, and nowadays most of my cross-stitch projects are accomplished while watching truly bad reality television. I treasure gardening on a small balcony off my living room. I love learning about new plants and tending to them over the summer (Chicago winters are not kind to potted plants). And I enjoy playing video games. There is nothing quite like battling a horde of robots or punching some bad guys to let off some steam at the end of the day!