Vice President and CIO

The University of Washington (UW), one of the nation’s preeminent public universities, invites nominations and applications for the position of Vice President for Information Technology & Chief Information Officer (VP-CIO). Reporting to the President, the VP-CIO will lead the development of the University’s strategic technology direction, foster collaboration and community amongst UW’s IT organizations and oversee the people and services of the University’s central Information Technology (UW-IT).  The VP-CIO will be a thinking partner, collaborator, and source of innovative ideas to position technology in support of teaching, learning, and research across the University’s three campuses.  The VP-CIO will provide strong leadership, collaboratively guiding investment in and support of IT systems and services, leveraging expertise from across the institution  to help create world-class, strategic, scalable, and sustainable information technology capabilities of value to all. The VP-CIO will also represent the University in state, national, and international IT-related initiatives and policy discussions, and will play a key role on behalf of the University with vendors and service providers.

 Information Technology @UW

The VP-CIO manages an operating budget of $110 million and leads a department of approximately 450 staff and a large number of students and consultants.  UW-IT manages the University's central information technology infrastructure and services, including administrative systems and information management, networking, telecommunications, data centers, cybersecurity, academic and collaborative applications, accessible technologies, IT customer service, and business continuity.

 

The VP-CIO works with technology leaders across UW’s federated  structure to identify priorities, develop shared policies and standards, establish unifying architecture, and create integrated service experiences for UW’s constituents.  The VP-CIO works in partnership with distributed IT leaders to guide  major information technology projects and acquisitions. Through consultation and partnership with the IT Governance structure and the leaders identified below, the VP-CIO develops UW’s technology strategy and operating model.  Together they develop criteria for determining the array of technologies and services that should be provided centrally to achieve enhanced service, security, and efficiency and those that should remain as local solutions to support nimbleness and/or innovation.

 

  • The Provost and the Division of Academic Affairs who set direction for instructional technology, research computing and technologies that shape the student experience.
  • CIO UW Medicine who oversees clinical systems and hospital technologies.
  • CIOs for UW Bothell and UW Tacoma who support their campuses’ local technology needs.
  • School and College IT leaders who support the distinct research and teaching needs of their students and faculty .
  • The Program Director for UW’s Financial Transformation, which is a multi-year effort to implement the Workday financial management system.  The CIO is a primary advisor to the Director and the President and Provost on the implementation and sustaining strategy for Workday and coordinates the delivery of technical support to the project.

 

The Leadership Agenda

The VP-CIO works with the President, Provost, and appropriate University governance committees to determine university-wide information technology strategies, policies, priorities and resource allocations.  The UW-IT strategy supports the University-wide technology capabilities and informs and enables the technology goals and strategies of other IT groups at UW.  UW-IT’s current plan can be summed up with one simple idea: Good technology, well-delivered, for a better University.

 

The VP-CIO will sustain current strategies while charting new directions to meet new challenges and opportunities.  Key priorities include:

  • Contribute to the strategy and sponsorship of the Finance Transformation Project and oversee the contribution of UW-IT  to the implementation of Workday Finance.
  • Collaborate with the Chief Information Security Officer and IT leadership to develop, implement, and maintain a comprehensive, risk-based strategy to protect the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of UW data.
  • Assist efforts across the institution  to improve data governance and organizational capacity to use data in decision-making.
  • Partner with UW leaders to complete a roadmap to modernize the technologies and processes that support the student experience including replacing the legacy student information system.
  • Support a strong leadership team in UW-IT and continue to evolve its structures, capabilities, and services to support University priorities and IT strategies.
  • Collaborate with partners in Academic and Student Affairs to expand flexible learning spaces and provide the infrastructure and tools to support teaching and learning.
  • Enhance research technology infrastructure and services to enable diverse research and scholarship with a global scope and impact.
  • Champion diversity and inclusive excellence by creating technology services and processes that are inclusive, equitable, and accessible.
  • Guide  efforts to recruit, develop, and retain talented colleagues from diverse identities, backgrounds, and lived experiences.
  • Support the continuous improvement, integration and modernization of UW’s administrative applications.
  • Implement a roadmap for UW’s network, compute and storage services to leverage technical innovation and strategically adopt cloud services.


The CIO will advance UW’s commitment to providing access in its services, programs, activities, education, and employment for individuals with disabilities. They will lead UW-IT’s efforts to foster an environment that is inclusive, equitable and welcoming and that honors and values diverse experiences, perspectives and identities. They will work with colleagues to combat bias and racism at the individual, institutional and systemic levels.
 

Qualifications and Areas of Accomplishment

The VP-CIO must be a strategic and highly experienced information technology leader with demonstrated success in overseeing a large-scale information technology organization which serves a complex enterprise with multiple missions and stakeholders.

 

Required Qualifications

  • Senior leadership experience across a complex organization with multiple layers of stakeholders, encompassing strategic planning, project planning, visioning, and process transformation.
  • A track record of outstanding management that demonstrates financial acumen, organizational sophistication, superb listening skills, and high emotional intelligence.
  • Developed a team of experienced leaders with complementary skills and an ability to realize a shared vision through strong execution.
  • Successfully facilitated transformative change to technology, process and organization in a complex, decentralized setting. 
  • Understanding of the culture and technology needs of organizations that are mission oriented, consensus driven, creative, or research oriented.
  • Contributed significantly to further diversity goals, pursue equity and create an inclusive organization.

 

Areas of Accomplishment

It is preferable that candidates have established records of accomplishment in many of the following areas:

  • Working in collaboration with IT decision-making structures and user groups to understand needs, evaluate competing interests, and prioritize investments.
  • Overseeing complex projects with complicated financing and budgets involving multiple sources of revenue and differing requirements for expense allocation.
  • Fostering a culture of trusted partnership, service and continuous improvement within a large and complex IT organization.
  • Leading efforts to further diversity, equity and inclusion, and the ability to work effectively with a diverse community.
  • Navigating challenging labor markets to attract and retain a diverse, high performing team of IT professionals.
  • Building innovative, mutually beneficial vendor relationships, including the negotiation of contracts.
  • Establishing and implementing policies and standard practices to protect the security, availability and integrity of diverse types of data. Understanding of the structures and technology needs of a research university.  A corporate or public-sector background that demonstrates familiarity with consultative decision-making, teaching, research, healthcare, or large-scale data analytics will be considered.
  • Masters-level or other advanced professional degree or an equivalent combination of education and experience.



The University of Washington

The University of Washington (UW) is one of the nation’s most distinguished educational and research institutions and  is one of the oldest state-supported institutions of higher education on the Pacific coast. The University is ranked #1 most innovative public university in the world according to Reuters (#5 overall) and consistently ranked among the top public universities in the world (#2 U.S. News & World Report Global University Rankings; #4 Times Higher Education; #3 Shanghai Jiao-Tong). Together, the University’s three campuses in Seattle, Tacoma, and Bothell anchor the Puget Sound region and are firmly established as the pinnacle of the higher education system in the state of  Washington.  All three campuses benefit from the region’s Pacific Rim location, from the growth of the Pacific Northwest, and from the growth and dynamism of Seattle.

Together, the UW’s three campuses educate approximately 43,000 undergraduates and 17,400 graduate and professional students, with about 6,300 students at Bothell and 5,400 at Tacoma (each with about 4,300 undergraduates and 500-700 graduate students). In addition, the UW’s Continuum College programs (online, MOOCs, summer programs, and extension activities) will educate another 49,000 students this year. For additional data about the University, see Discover the UW.

The Seattle campus’s 16 schools range from Arts & Sciences to Education, Engineering, Built Environments, Information, Public Health, Law, Business, and Medicine. Average time to complete an undergraduate degree is four years, and 84% of entering freshmen graduate within six years. The University’s historic commitment to accessibility and aid is evident in the increase in the percentage of undergraduates from under-represented minority groups (up to 17% in FY 2021), the percentage of students eligible for Pell Grants (25%, more Pell-eligible students matriculate at UW than at all Ivy League institutions combined), and the number of students who are first-generation college matriculants (31%).

The UW receives more research dollars than any other public university in the nation, with $1.63 billion in awards in FY 2021. The University’s Adopted Fiscal Year 2021 (FY21) Operating

Budget totaled approximately $8.3 billion and its Consolidated Endowment Fund was approximately $3.6 billion (as of June 2020) with a credit rating at Aaa (Moody's). According to the 2019 UW Economic Impact Report, the UW supports or sustains a total of 100,520 jobs–one out of every 37

jobs in the state, with an annual economic impact of $15.7billion.

The University is governed by a 10-member Board of Regents, which is appointed by the governor of the state of Washington to renewable six-year terms, and includes one student appointed annually. The Regents meet monthly in open session and have three standing committees – Governance, Finance and Asset Management, and Academic and Student Affairs.

UW staff enjoy not only outstanding benefits and professional growth opportunities, but also an environment noted for diversity, community involvement, intellectual excitement, artistic pursuits, and natural beauty.   Seattle is the nation’s fastest-growing city, with a population of approximately 700,000 in the city proper and over two million including surrounding King County. Major corporations headquartered in the Puget Sound area include Microsoft, Amazon, Starbucks, Nordstrom, Costco, and Weyerhaeuser. Seattle’s average household income is over $100,000, and more than 63% of residents hold a four-year college degree or higher.

 

To Apply
The University of Washington has retained Next Generation Leadership Partners to support this recruitment. For more information , please contact Next Generation Managing Partners Phil Goldstein at phil@nextgenpartnersllc.com or Mary Beth Baker at marybeth@nextgenpartnersllc.com  To apply in confidence, please send a resume and cover letter to uw@nextgenpartnersllc.com. For full consideration, applications must be received by November 30th.

 

Condition of Employment

Appointment to this position is contingent upon obtaining satisfactory results from a criminal background check.  As a UW employee, you will enjoy generous benefits and work/life programs. For a complete description of our benefits for this position, please visit our website, click here.

 

The University of Washington is a leader in environmental stewardship & sustainability, and committed to becoming climate neutral.

The University of Washington is an equal opportunity, affirmative action employer. To request disability accommodation in the application process, contact the Disability Services Office at 206-543-6450 / 206-543-6452 (tty) or dso@uw.edu.