Top of Mind with Tambellini Group

Simon Blackwell didn’t have a long-standing career in academia before he became Chief Transformation Officer of Mount Saint Mary’s University. His background included ecommerce banking, aerospace, and Wall Street. The institution brought him on initially as a consultant, saw promise, and the rest is history. Whether small or large innovative projects, his approach is to first create a framework to...

There are studies about how humans tend to resist change and their various reasons why. It’s prevalent, but not much comfort to any higher education executive whose mission is to make enhancements for the good of the institution, which undoubtedly require change. Jim La Creta of Brandeis University found himself within that very delicate balance. Hear how he wrestled with a complex core system imp...

All companies, not just higher education institutions, are challenged with hiring and retaining top talent. The unemployment rate is hovering around a low four percent. So, not only are colleges and universities facing a tight candidate pool, they are hard pressed to compensate them like the private sector can. Shady Azzam-Gomez, Vice President for Information Technology and CIO at Suffolk County...

Is artificial intelligence impacting higher education and, if so, how? That questions is answered in depth in this Top of Mind interview with Dr. Curtis Carver, Vice President of IT and CIO at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. Carver describes his university’s various technology projects currently underway, how they are lightening workloads for faculty and staff, and giving students a compe...

Kelly Walsh became CIO of The College of Westchester in 2008 after a 20-year career in technology. That background made him a natural to explore the relationship between instructional technology and student success. Because he wanted to understand the classroom experience and how the technology could enhance it, Walsh took up teaching, plunged himself into social media, and talked with educators....

Sharon Blanton, Vice President and Chief Information Officer of The College of New Jersey (TCNJ), talks with The Tambellini Group’s Katelyn Ilkani about migrating to Oracle Cloud for finance and HCM. Describing this project as a business transformation and technology modernization initiative, Blanton explains TCNJ’s selection process, including the decision to move ERP to the cloud, evaluation of...

As part of National Cybersecurity Awareness Month 2018, Tambellini’s Katelyn Ilkani talks with Fred Damiano, Vice President of Strategic Initiatives and CIO of Hobart and William Smith Colleges, consortium model for cybersecurity. Damiano discusses how Hobart and William Smith, along with five other institutions, made the strategic decision to jointly work on cybersecurity programs together and to...

To kick off National Cybersecurity Awareness Month 2018, Tambellini’s Katelyn Ilkani talks with Mike Corn, Chief Information Security Officer of University of California San Diego and a Tambellini Group member, about leading cybersecurity efforts within higher education. This discussion covers the importance of security training for campus constituents and ways to deliver training, how to talk to...

Tambellini’s Alex Freeman sat down with Dave Weil, Associate Vice President and Chief Information Officer of Ithaca College, a Tambellini Group member, to discuss a workshop that he ran that examined possible future scenarios such as what if Alexa was connected to the ERP system? or what if students and faculty could use their mobile devices to complete all their work?

Tambellini’s Alex Freeman sat down with Gordon Wishon, recently retired Chief Information Officer at Arizona State University (ASU), to learn more about Wishon’s work over his many years as a CIO in higher education using data for operations and academics. Wishon serves on the Tambellini Executive Advisory Council.

Tambellini’s Alex Freeman sat down with Bret Ingerman, Vice President for Information Technology at Tallahassee Community College, to discuss enhancing the student experience through technology, replacing Starfish with a homegrown solution, early successes with the Workday Student SIS, and more. Ingerman serves on the Tambellini Executive Advisory Council.

In this inaugural episode of Top of Mind with The Tambellini Group, Tambellini's Alex Freeman sat down with Marilyn Smith, Vice President of Information Technology and Chief Information Officer of George Mason University (GMU), to discuss the university’s student experience redesign initiative, data warehousing, constituent relationship management (CRM), GMU’s new state of the art instruction...

This episode introduces Top of Mind with Tambellini Group, a monthly podcast that highlights the innovative thought leaders within the higher education technology community. You’ll hear direct from industry peers about the latest initiatives and innovations in a short, easy-to-digest format. This podcast, part of Tambellini’s Top of Mind blog and podcast series, will help you keep pace with ever-c...