Purdue Names Permanent Chief Information Officer

  • By Paul McCloskey
  • 06/05/07
After a national search, Purdue University last week named long-time management Boilermaker Gerry McCartney as its vice president for information technology and chief information officer.

McCartney has been the university's top information technology administrator on an interim basis since July 2006. As CIO, he will be responsible for overseeing all information technology at Purdue and will report to Purdue Provost Sally Mason and CFO Morgan Olsen.

Mason said McCartney rose to the top of the search list because he combined the skills of a ground manager with a strategic vision.

"We conducted a national search and interviewed several outstanding candidates from other universities," she said. "That process served to underscore the fact that Gerry is the right person for this job. He has the rare ability to manage the day-to-day operations of a complex organization while never losing sight of the opportunities for improvement that exist on the horizon."

McCartney said his goal in his job is to become a model for how IT should be managed at research universities.

Prior to his 2006 interim appointment, McCartney was assistant dean for technology at Purdue's Krannert School of Management for two years. He also taught in the Krannert School's MBA and executive programs and serves as director of Krannert's SIFT Project.

From 1993 until 2004, McCartney served as associate dean and chief information officer at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School.

He earned his doctorate in sociology and anthropology from Purdue in 1996 after receiving diplomas in advanced programming and systems analysis from Trinity College in Dublin.

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About the Author

Paul McCloskey is contributing editor of Syllabus.

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