CIO

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

Vice President for Information Technology (CIO)

Birmingham-Southern College (December 2006 to present)

Responsibilities

Provides planning, budgeting, leadership and supervision to the Information Technology division of the institution; communicates current and projected needs, requirements and options in the campus budgeting process; and recommends technology related acquisitions and updates.

Coordinates long-range planning activities for the technology infrastructure of the campus, including administrative and student information systems, learning management systems, computer networking, desktop computing, emergency notification, and telephone, video and voice communication systems.

Maintains up-to-date network and data security guidelines and manages implementation and policy oversight.

Maintains, reviews, and upgrades the campus disaster recovery plan to ensure maximum protection and efficiency.

Serves as the campus liaison with technology vendors; evaluates and recommends vendor contracts for hardware, software, and technology related equipment and services; monitors service and license agreements to ensure protection of the institution’s interests.

Oversees support services, including network operations and services, student computing, and campus telephone systems, and ensures a prompt, efficient, effective, and client friendly technical support operation.

Establishes standards for technology hardware, software, and communications protocols; oversees desktop computing and user support services; assists in the identification of staff training and professional development needs; and develops related policies.

Provides project management for technology deployment or implementations; is responsible for assuring the maximum availability and reliability of campus technical networks with the resources available.

Works collaboratively with other departments to minimize downtime and efficiently implement technical installations and upgrades.

Serves as the liaison with regard to policies and procedures governing technology use; ensures compliance with BSC Board of Trustees policy, federal, state or local laws relating to information technology.

Participates on campus committees and as a member of the President’s Senior Leadership Team.

Major Accomplishments

Spring 2019 –

Network Redesign and implementation from flat to V-LAN structure introducing redundant firewall for high-availability eliminating a single point of failure.

Backup system implementation using an on-premise appliance with cloud replication for disaster recovery.

Upgraded Colleague ERP system to latest web interface technology and introduced student planning and degree audit functions.

Negotiated sale of IP range.

Fall 2018 –

Implementation of formalized email phishing training identification and prevention system for the campus. After 1 year of operation, the initial Phish-Prone value scored for the campus was reduced from 53.7% to 1.3%.

Implementation of BoardPaq for Board of Trustee usage and EDR Video conferencing room using BlueJeans.

Rollout of Handshake system with Student Development and replaced OrgSync with Engage by Campus Labs.

Continued implementation of SSO using SAML2 including connections to Handshake, Engage, Turning Technologies, Clockwise by GHG, TrackStar, Dude Solutions, Google, and Adobe Spark.

Implementation of Degree Audit and Student Planning systems in the Ellucian ERP.

Rollout of digital signage for campus-wide use.

Summer 2018 –

Online Classes offered at BSC for the first time. Oversaw provision of technical support through the Helpdesk for faculty and students.

Rolled out Blackboard Collaborate for on-line use and used Respondus for secure browsing in on-line courses.

Fall 2017 –

Successful search and hire of AVP for IT.

Rollout of SSO capabilities using SAML2 for Ricoh implementation and Bookstore system for textbook management with faculty and students.

Summer 2017 –

Engaged with Ricoh to do a copier/printer fleet refresh. Reduced device count by 30 units saving significant dollars in capital costs as well as operational expense.

Partnered with Ricoh to convert in-house print shop to outsourced on-campus operation.

Partnered with Ricoh to convert in-house post office to outsourced on-campus operation to email package delivery information to students when packages arrive.

Fall 2016 –

Development of a 3-year technology plan for upgrading fiber and copper network infrastructure.

Continued movement of services to off-premise and planning for migration of a PBX phone system to VoIP.

At present over half of all campus-wide systems are leveraged in an off-premise capacity.

Summer 2016 –

Partnered with Dell to do a campus-wide computer refresh.

Utilized KACE systems for the computer refresh to do in 8 weeks what 4 years earlier had taken 8 months.

Served in an advisory role in the creation of the Creative & Applied Computing major added to the curriculum for fall 2017.

Summer 2015 –

Upgraded on-premise Ellucian ERP server hardware.

Rolled out Ellucian Mobile app technology allowing students to register for classes and access other student information on handheld devices.

Moodle LMS system upgrade.

Implemented Informer reporting technology for ERP.

Fall 2014 –

Implemented campus-wide calendaring system.

Implemented Starfish student retention software.

Completed Apogee wireless upgrades in residence halls negotiated in summer.

Implemented Library technology room utilizing 80” Mondopad touch screen system and LifeSize video conferencing equipment with BlueJeans cloud services.

Summer 2014 –

Acquired KACE systems for imaging, patch management and helpdesk trouble ticketing.

Reduced helpdesk calls by 50% using KACE system and new helpdesk procedures.

Renegotiated contract for ISP, wireless connectivity, ResNet and cable TV with Apogee for the campus increasing bandwidth by 50% and added a secondary internet connection path.

Fall 2013 –

Participated in and supported successful SACS re-accreditation process.

Migrated External DNS resolution to the cloud.

Implemented Unitrends data protection disk backup system.

Summer 2013 –

Oversaw development of innovative technology room on campus and in a Blount County high school for a mentoring program to improve graduation rates in an underserved area through a Community Foundation of Greater Birmingham Grant.

Completed Fund raising software project that had stalled and was resumed after leadership changes in Institutional Advancement.

Fall 2012 –

Implemented a leasing strategy for computer equipment for the campus.

Refreshed all computers on-campus using this new strategy.

Began the process of rewriting all policies for the technology division.

Developed a campus-wide proposal system for use in the annual budget process and throughout the year for technology requests.

Summer 2012 –

Completed e-mail system outsourcing to the cloud using Microsoft Office 365 services.

Began revitalization process of ERP system with Ellucian following merger of Datatel and Sungard HE systems under the new name.

Fall 2011 –

Planned multi-year implementation with Datatel to upgrade ERP database reporting systems, to utilize latest web interface technology and gain campus-wide efficiencies through training.

E-mail outsourcing project restarted.

Fund raising software upgrade project restarted.

Summer 2011 –

Engaged Datatel in a discovery process to learn how to effectively and efficiently re-tool the use of their ERP software on campus through training and updating due to the loss of institutional knowledge from the reduction in personnel.

Fall 2010 –

Maintained operational effectiveness in spite of loss of dollars and personnel due to economic downturn.

E-mail outsourcing project postponed.

Fund raising software upgrade stopped.

Fall 2009 –

Led discussions on moving from in-house e-mail to an outsourced system and gained faculty and administrative buy-in through collaboration.

Estimated cost avoidance of over 150K with implementation to occur during ’10 academic year.

Summer 2009 –

Led project to successfully convert from Blackboard to Moodle LMS in a hosted environment.

Created interfaces to link Datatel ERP to Moodle for seamless interaction between the two systems.

Project to upgrade fund raising system software started.

Summer 2008 –

Negotiated expansion of and led in the implementation of the wireless network on campus expanding from the residential areas to academic classrooms and administrative areas, providing for a seamless wireless transition throughout the campus.

Fall 2007 –

Led successful e-mail system hardware upgrade.

Led highly well-received and successful implementation of web services for student advising and registration.

Led very successful major software upgrade to the ERP system also on schedule and within budget.

Summer 2007 –

Expanded the campus fiber optic and copper infrastructure after the acquisition of 17 apartment buildings adjacent to campus providing phone, internet and cable TV services. Brought in on-time and within budget.

Spring 2007 –

Negotiated new contract with ISP vendor to provide double the current bandwidth, extended wireless services and expanded cable TV services for the campus at more than an 8% savings by bundling services under a single vendor.

Negotiated replacement of piped music system on campus to use XM radio saving over 50% annually.

Associate Vice President for Information Technology

Birmingham-Southern College (June 2003 to November 2006)

Responsibilities

Selected to provide leadership in planning for future technology directions and to help other institutional leaders understand the complexities of information resources, service delivery, technologies, and the information demands of the campus.

Charged with responsibility to lead all technology departments after a reorganization that brought academic computing, administrative computing and telecommunications departments together under a single reporting unit.

Managed Information Technology resources and budgets in an environment where the demand was far greater than the supply; taking care not to focus attention on the technology itself, but to emphasize the opportunities that were possible through the effective use of technology.

Coordinated with other divisions of the administration in the use of technology and formed alliances and relationships with key campus constituents to make sure that all Information Technology efforts were in line with the institution’s goals.

Major Accomplishments

May 2005 –

Successful implementation of MS Exchange e-mail system campus-wide taking advantage of real time synchronization of mobile phone/PDA devices for the executive team using Windows Mobile 5.0 technology.

April 2005 –

Successful ERP hardware systems upgrade.

June 2004 –

Developed and implemented a cutting-edge relationship with a network vendor to provide residential network services for students.

June 2003 –

Created and implemented a helpdesk structure and staffing model to support the campus.

Director of Administrative Computing

Birmingham-Southern College (June 1995 to May 2003)

Responsible for an IBM RS6000 running an ERP system for the College from Datatel in a Unidata DBMS environment.

Responsible for daily operation, system integrity, security, database administration and backups.

Coordinated operating system, database management system and application system upgrades.

Supervised and led computer staff in providing assistance and training for all administrative offices and in the development of modifications for software changes necessary.

Coordinated participation of staff in the learning of new technologies through national conferences.

Accepted, analyzed and prioritized maintenance and emergency related requests and allocated the appropriate resources necessary to ensure the effective completion of each request.

Developed budget plans; worked with vendors’ maintenance agreements and purchased equipment and supplies.

Planned for future needs based on projections extrapolated from current workloads and made recommendations based on current and emerging technologies.

Major Accomplishments

March 1998 to October 1999 –

Served as ERP upgrade Project Leader.

Led implementation team through the migration of a major ERP system upgrade.

The entire file structure of the ERP system changed from the version we were on as the vendor did a complete redesign of the ERP system. The campus leaped from release 13 to 16 of the product during this migration process.

March 1993 to August 1996 –

Served as ERP implementation Project Leader

Participated in the Search Committee that evaluated ERP software packages and selected the ERP system from Datatel.

Led the Implementation Committee composed of department heads of Admissions, Academic Records, Financial Aid, Finance, Purchasing and Human Resources to set realistic and obtainable conversion time frames.

Developed an implementation schedule for both hardware and software for the replacement of the existing system with the newly selected ERP system.

Scheduled and participated in system, database and application training for the use of the new ERP system.

Worked with individual departments on mapping existing data into the new ERP system. Suggested ways to utilize new functionality to take further advantage of the new system.

Analyzed and wrote conversion specifications for moving existing data from the old to the new ERP system. Subsequently worked through questions, problems and issues.

Developed a plan for each department and converted subsets of data to run simulations in a test environment. Identified problem areas and made necessary specification changes for modifications.

Manager of Administrative Computing

Birmingham-Southern College (March 1989 to May 1995)

Responsible for an HP3000 running a College administrative software application written in-house in COBOL using an Image DBMS.

Supervised and led programming staff to carry out maintenance and modification requests.

Responsible for daily operation, system integrity, security, database administration and backups and coordinated operating system, database management system and application system upgrades.

Accepted, analyzed and prioritized maintenance and emergency related requests and allocated the appropriate resources necessary to ensure the effective completion of each request.

Programmer

Birmingham-Southern College (February 1987 to February 1989)

Analyzed, wrote, and tested, debugged and maintained COBOL programs as well as additional FORTRAN and Pascal routines utilized by the COBOL programs.

Maintained and created data entry screens using the V-Plus screen application.

Developed end-user reports using the ASKPLUS report writing tool to fill user generated requests for information.

AFFILIATIONS and PUBLICATIONS

APOGEE – November 2017 panel participant in annual conference on “Innovation with Technology: Initiatives to Impact the Student Experience”

TOGGLE – January 2017 magazine article referencing new Creative & Applied Computing program creation and innovative approaches to a campus-wide computer refresh. http://edition.pagesuite-professional.co.uk/html5/reader/production/default.aspx?pubname=&edid=ec4ef1a4-a6e1-439a-8b32-99929586d53e

APOGEE – user group for ResNet 2012 founding member and 2013 contributor.

EDUCAUSE – regional presentation in June 2006; national presentation in October 2006; Letting Go of ResNet, Partnering to Outsource

Ellucian Live – national user group of Datatel and Sungard HE clients after merger.

Datatel User’s Group – regional presentation in 2002; national presentation 2003; Utilizing Position Budgeting in the Datatel Software

ACS – CIO’s – Associated Colleges of the South association of CIO leadership

NITLE – National Institute for Technology in Liberal Education

ACUTA – The Association for Information Communication Technology Professionals in Higher Education

EDUCATION

Jacksonville State University, Jacksonville, Alabama

Bachelor of Science in Computer Information Systems and Management

Snead State Junior College, Boaz, Alabama

Associate Degree in Business Administration

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