Athens, Ga. – Timothy M. Chester, vice provost for academic administration and chief information officer at Pepperdine University, has been named chief information officer for the University of Georgia following a national search.
He succeeds Barbara A. White, who has served as CIO since October 2004 and earlier this year announced her intention to step down from that post. Chester’s appointment is effective Sept. 15.
“Dr. Chester’s strong background is a great match with what we were looking for in a candidate for this position,” said Jere Morehead, senior vice president for academic affairs and provost, to whom Chester will report. “He has demonstrated that he has the ability to develop and implement plans for future information technologies and to work well with faculty, administration, students and staff.”
As UGA’s chief information officer, Chester will be responsible for leadership and management of the university’s information technology strategies and programs, and will direct UGA’s Enterprise Information Technology Services unit. He will be responsible for the development and implementation of several ongoing and planned major IT initiatives in the areas of student information and financial aid systems, learning technologies management, financial and administrative systems, and research computing.
“In consultation with senior administrators and faculty, he will provide vision and strategic development in these critical areas consistent with the changing needs of the university,” Morehead said.
Chester came to Pepperdine from Texas A&M University, where he was a project leader in Computing & Information Services from 1997-2003 before being named chief information officer of the university’s branch campus in Qatar, where new engineering programs were being launched. In 2007, he was named Pepperdine’s chief information officer and was promoted to his current position there in 2009.
“Information technology development and support are key to the successful operation and advancement of a leading research university,” said President Michael F. Adams. “With the coming institution of a new Student Information System, the CIO is a particularly critical leadership position at UGA. We are pleased to welcome Timothy Chester to the team. His extensive experience in similar positions at Pepperdine and at Texas A&M will be a valuable addition to our UGA information technology efforts.”
Chester has published articles in the areas of leadership strategy and promotion of organizational change for information technology organizations in higher education. He has been involved with EDUCAUSE, a nonprofit association that promotes the use of information technology to advance higher education, serving on the editorial board of EDUCAUSE Quarterly from 2003-2006 and chairing the board from 2007-2008. He is currently a member of the Internet2/EDUCAUSE Network Council.
Chester earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of Texas at Tyler in 1991, and a master’s and Ph.D. from Texas A&M University in 1995 and 1999 respectively.
##
