The Chief Information Officer at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign reports to and works closely with the Provost and other campus leaders. The CIO's duties include overall responsibility for the central academic IT organization (Technology Services at Illinois), IT governance, and participating in national and international organizations and consortia. The CIO chairs the campus IT Council, whose portfolio includes both infrastructure governance and implementation of IT governance decisions.
IT Governance
Technology plays a mission-critical role in helping the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign remain a preeminent public research university with a land-grant mission. The creative development and use of cutting edge technology resources helps transform all dimensions of our academic enterprise, including research, teaching and learning, and public outreach. Simply put, technology in each of these areas helps to support and transform the University of Illinois. Learn more about IT governance.
IT Policies
The Office of the CIO, helps formulate IT policies for the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. You can find links to specific IT policies by visiting the Information Technology Policies page.
Strategic Initiatives
Strategic Initiatives align to the strategic goals and desired outcomes of campus technologies, and have been reviewed and approved by senior leadership. IT Governance works with these initiatives to ensure they accomplish the desired results and outcomes identified by campus stakeholders.
Current Strategic Initiatives
Office of the CIO Personnel
Interim Chief Information Officer
Scott Genung
Scott Genung is the Interim Chief Information Officer at the University of Illinois. He has nearly 30 years of higher education IT technical and leadership experience spanning three distinct institutions including the University of Chicago, University of Oregon, and Illinois State University.
Assistant CIO, IT Planning and Outreach
Beth Scheid
Beth Scheid is the Assistant CIO at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She has been a part of academic computing on the campus for over 33 years. She has overseen groups that designed, implemented, and maintained wired and wireless Internet connectivity and facilitated the implementation of a campus-wide rates and funding model covering basic IT and computing services
Deputy CIO, Research IT Services
John Towns
In the role of Deputy CIO, John works to enhance technologies and services used in research. Drawing on his resources and experiences at NCSA, Technology Services, and other campus units, John is well prepared to meet these challenges. He focuses particular attention on high-performance computing, high-speed networking, big data, and visualization.
Acting Deputy CIO, Innovation and Technology Strategy
Tracy Smith
Interim Deputy CIO, IT Operations
Drew MacGregor
Drew MacGregor is the Interim Deputy CIO for IT Operations at the University of Illinois. He has been engaged in customer relationship development for 28 years, 23 in higher education Information Technology. Drew has worked at all levels of the University of Illinois, including the Department of Computer Science, Engineering IT, and CITES/Technology Services since 2012.
Chief Privacy & Security Officer
Joe Barnes
Joe Barnes is Chief Privacy and Security officer and Assistant HIPAA Privacy and Security official at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He leads and oversees the execution of the university’s privacy, information security, and HIPAA programs, focusing on policy, risk, compliance management, training and awareness, and cybersecurity operations.