The Rise of the CIO: Moving Beyond the Seat at the Table

One unexpected outcome of the COVID-19 pandemic was the perfect leadership storm that instantly propelled several CIOs from their traditional scope safe spaces into more strategic, institution-wide spotlights. Recent events changed traditional CIO notions, forcing swift growth beyond any lingering legacy protectionism into a new brand of CIO—collaborative, service-oriented, less operational/more institutional. When technology became a core element of the university landscape, and the delivery of teaching and learning hinged on effective technology leadership, communication and campus partnerships catapulted the CIO role into a more strategic place. This new concept drives big and small wins, more rapidly realized than ever before. Join two CIOs whose scope dramatically changed over the course of the past year, hear about their journeys, and prepare for a similar career roadmap should you choose to accept the challenge. What does the future hold for this new brand of CIO? Is this expanding role one that may be more supportive of or attractive to diverse candidates? Only time will tell. But for now, when a CIO chooses to move away from a myopic (single business unit) focus, anticipate the next logical succession-planning steps for a CIO to be less a final resting place and more in the direction of COO and CEO.