Hiring committee wants strategic and visionary CIO - University Information Technology

By Emily Rushton

It’s official: the job has been posted, a hiring committee has been selected, and the search for a new Chief Information Officer is well underway.

In May 2014, the University of Maryland announced that Eric Denna, then-CIO for University Information Technology (UIT), had been selected as its new Vice President for IT/CIO effective July 1, 2014. Since then, Steven Corbató has been leading UIT as the Interim CIO while a national search is undertaken.

Denna started some major strategic initiatives during his time with UIT, and finding a replacement CIO to fill those shoes will be no small task.

“I want to have a proven leader in IT,” said John Nixon, Chief Business Officer for the University. “Somebody who knows where IT is headed, has a full grasp on the cyber threats and risks associated with IT, and someone who can clearly articulate a vision and has proven experience in implementing that vision.”

Jeff Herring, Chief Human Resources Officer and chair of the hiring committee, agrees.

“It’s looking to find the right candidate to fill those big shoes, and then letting them bring all of the resources that they’ve got to help accomplish the mission of the University,” said Herring.

The consistent message for UIT since Denna left has been one of “staying on course” regarding various projects and initiatives, and the hope is for the new CIO to build on those strategic initiatives even more.

“The new CIO will come in and do a review of where we are right now, determine where the vulnerabilities and opportunities to improve are, and develop a strategic plan going forward,” said Nixon.

The hiring committee is hoping to make a decision soon – within a couple of months.

“We want to move as fast as we can while also giving it the due diligence it deserves,” said Herring.

“We have a very robust search committee,” said Nixon. “These processes take time, but I am talking a couple of months – my goal would be middle to end of October to have an offer out and accepted.”

Ultimately, the hope is to find a CIO who understands IT in higher education and has the knowledge to get UIT where it wants to be.

“We’ll get somebody who can really focus in on understanding where we need to get to as an organization, but yet has the ability and experience to build a tactical plan to get us there,” said Nixon. “Not just all vision – it’s got to be somebody who can build the plan to get us where we need to get to, and will help us get there.”