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July 1 organizational changes for IT Services

July 1 brings big changes within the IT Services’ Leadership Team (LT). VP and CIO JP Natale is retiring after five years at Miami. In addition, AVP for solution delivery and deputy CIO Alan Ferrenberg has accepted a visiting faculty appointment in the College of Engineering and Computing. The third significant change: Cathy McVey, senior director of IT communications, is retiring following a 30+ year career.

In keeping with transitional best practice and professional courtesy, Natale is looking to provide the incoming leader with the opportunity to actively participate in the placement of candidates into these key leadership positions. An executive search firm has been contracted to lead a national search for a new, permanent CIO. The search committee’s goal is to have a candidate identified and in place for the start of fall term.

Until a permanent replacement is announced, Natale has been working with Dr. David Creamer, SVP for finance and business services, along with leaders from HR and OEEO, to establish an interim leadership structure.

At the top of the new organizational chart, Dr. David Creamer will serve as interim CIO.

Joe Bazeley, the AVP for SCRM (security, compliance, and risk management) will be assisting Dr. Creamer in an acting capacity as the interim deputy CIO. In order to ensure that during this interim period the university maintains security best practice and appropriate segregation of duties IT security and operations, Connie Johnson, information security specialist, will take on an interim role as the manager for SCRM.

Stepping into the interim leadership role in the solution delivery group will be Phyllis Wykoff, currently the director of the Business Intelligence Center. During Wykoff’s tenure in this interim AVP role, BI staff member Amy Locke will take on the interim responsibilities for managing the group. Wykoff and Locke will look to augment the BI team with contract help to maintain the team’s project delivery schedule during this interim period.

Finally, Randy Hollowell, sr. communication and web coordinator, will take the interim leadership role for the IT communications group to cover for the position left vacant by McVey. During this interim period, Hollowell will report to Donna Amrhein, director of IT business services.

Articulating his expectations, Creamer describes his interim appointment as a caretaker role. “You will all continue to work on the work in front of you and follow the strategic plans already in place.” Remarking that it was clear at the most recent Board of Trustees meeting that the IT Services division is well respected for the productivity and quality of the work done, he added, “The entire division should feel very good about the work they do, and I look forward to supporting the continuation of that work.”

Natale reinforced Creamer’s message, acknowledging comments from members of the Board regarding the growth and maturation of the IT Services Division, in which the significant expansion in technical services, increases in solution throughput, and improvement in overall quality were clearly recognized. The Board has held up the IT Services Division as a best practice within the university for our ability to optimize our operations and generate concrete sustained productivity for the institution.

Most of these interim changes will be effective as of July 1. The exception is in solution delivery. Ferrenberg’s last day in the office is 6/15, so Wykoff and Locke’s appointments will begin June 18. Questions may be directed to ITAdvocate@MiamiOH.edu.

JP Natale
Alan Ferrenberg

Cathy McVey