Three finalists named for chief information officer

The search for a new chief information officer (CIO) and vice provost for information technology at the University of Wisconsin–Madison has been narrowed to three finalists, Provost Patrick Farrell announced today (May 15). The finalists are:

• Ronald D. Kraemer, deputy CIO and associate director of the UW–Madison Division of Information Technology (DoIT);
• Kathy Pletcher, associate provost for information services and CIO, UW-Green Bay; and
• Deanna M. Raineri, associate dean for technology and information services, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC).

The CIO position, which was redefined in 2006 after review by a group of external consultants and university CIOs, will provide campus-wide leadership and strategic direction for technology in the learning, research and administrative environments. The position will also oversee DoIT, the central technology organization on campus, and its 500-plus full-time employees and budget of more than $70 million.

"This is a vital position for the university in helping us move forward on complex and rapidly changing technology issues," says Farrell. "This position will not only address the daily IT needs of students and staff, but deal with other highly specialized applications and set a course for important new directions. We look forward to getting broad-based campus input on the three finalists and selecting a leader who will bring strong managerial experience and strategic, innovative thinking to the job."

Ken Frazier, director of the University Library System, has been serving as interim CIO since July 2006, following the retirement of former technology leader Anne Stunden. She had served as UW–Madison's CIO since 2000.

More on the candidates:

Kraemer has been in his present position of associate director since November 2005. Prior to that, he served as chief information officer for the UW Extension from 1996-2005 and as a program manager for Oak Ridge National Laboratory from 1988-1996.

In his present position, Kraemer provides leadership and planning on campus technology issues. He also manages a range of services at DoIT, including: Network, Internet, security, user and other services; communications; human resources; policy and planning; process planning; and WISCNet. Kraemer is also part of campus-wide steering efforts around IT issues such as identity management, the "One Card" system, centralized access controls and the crisis operations center.

Kraemer earned his bachelor's degree in geography in 1978 from UW-Eau Claire, and his master's in geology, with an emphasis in geographical information systems, in 1983 from the University of Tennessee-Knoxville.

Pletcher has been associate provost and CIO at UW-Green Bay since 1997, and has a long career history with the campus. She also served as UW-Green Bay's library director from 1993-2001; associate library director from 1985-1993; head of public services, 1981-1985; government publications librarian from 1977-1981; and catalog librarian in 1976-1977.

Pletcher's work as CIO in Green Bay includes deployment of the PeopleSoft Student Administrative System; implementation of more than a dozen information and transaction systems; development of a new technology network backbone for campus buildings and residence halls; and wireless Internet access in a number of high-traffic campus areas.

Pletcher received her bachelor's degree from the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana (UIUC) in 1975; and her master's in library sciences at UIUC in 1976.

Raineri has been associate dean with UIUC since 2001. Her additional experience with UIUC includes associate director of undergraduate instruction and instructional technologies for the School of Molecular and Cellular Biology, 2000-2001; assistant professor of microbiology, 1996-present; associate director of the Biotechnology Center, 1994-1996; and senior research scientist in microbiology, 1992-1996.

In her current administrative post, Raineri oversees a program called Applied Technologies for Learning in the Arts and Sciences (ATLAS) that is used by 45 academic units and programs on campus and has 25 full-time employees. Her office oversees computer classrooms, teaching and learning technologies, audio-video and Web services, desktop and network support, and a variety of other services for the college.

Raineri received her bachelor's degree in biochemistry and chemistry in 1984 from the University of Southampton, U.K; her Ph.D. in biochemistry and molecular biology in 1988 from the University of Southampton; and she held a NATO postdoctoral fellowship in microbiology from 1988-1992 at the University of Washington-Seattle.

The schedule for campus visits and open opportunities to meet the finalists is being developed and will be shared with the campus community as soon as it is finalized.