Michigan State University (MSU) Interim Executive Vice President for Administration Thomas Glasmacher announced that he will recommend Rich Czarnecki to the MSU Board of Trustees for the position of chief information officer at the board’s meeting later this month.
Czarnecki is already a familiar face at MSU, having served as interim CIO since December of last year. Before that, he spent more than a decade as part of MSU’s IT leadership team. During his 13 years at MSU he has served as associate vice president for IT and associate CIO, where he oversaw IT services such as portfolio management, IT stewardship and sustainability, and federated IT partnerships.
In a press release, MSU said he “has been instrumental in advancing MSU IT’s capabilities and supporting the university’s mission.”
“Rich has consistently demonstrated exceptional leadership and vision during his time as interim CIO, and I am confident he is the right person to drive MSU IT forward, enhancing the stakeholder experience while reducing operational cost,” said Glasmacher. “His deep institutional knowledge and commitment to leveraging technology as a strategic asset to support our academic, research and administrative goals make him the ideal choice for this role.”
As CIO, Czarnecki will oversee MSU’s enterprise information technology vision and strategy, ensuring it aligns with the university’s mission. He will report to the executive vice president for administration and will be responsible for academic and administrative computing, systems infrastructure, information security, research cyberinfrastructure, and end-user support.
In his time at MSU, Czarnecki has guided the alignment of MSU IT’s service portfolio to the EDUCAUSE model to improve data-driven decision making and create sustainable service alignment. According to MSU, his efforts have enhanced the campus user experience while also reducing university operational costs, which frees up resources to invest into new IT endeavors.
“I am honored to continue serving Michigan State University in this new capacity,” Czarnecki said. “The role of technology in higher education has never been more important, and I am excited to work alongside our talented IT staff for the common good and to further advance the university’s mission. As a partner to campus, we will build on our progress to create innovative, secure and sustainable IT solutions that support MSU’s academic and research excellence.”
