Office of the Vice President for Information Technology: Tom Sawyer

Tom Sawyer
CIO, Indiana University East; CIO, Indiana University Southeast; CIO, Indiana University Purdue University Center at Columbus

Tom currently serves as a Regional CIO at Indiana University and has responsibility for Indiana University Southeast (IUS), Indiana University East (IUE), and for the Indiana University Purdue University Center at Columbus (IUPUC). He reports to the Vice President and CIO of University Information Technology Services (UITS) at Indiana University. He has responsibility for all aspects of technology at IUS, IUE, and IUPUC, which includes overseeing the annual operating budgets for technology as well as all personnel. He also works closely with UITS to assist them with the implementation and coordination of the overall vision and mission for technology at Indiana University.

Prior to coming to Indiana University, Tom served the University of Louisville for 23 years as the Assistant Vice President for Information Technology. Reporting to the Vice President of Information Technology, he had responsibility of assisting the Vice President in the combined management activities of 220 fulltime staff and over 100 students in all areas of Information Technology including computing, telecommunications, video, printing, publications, imaging, repair and installation, communications, copy centers, and instructional technology. He also oversaw the unit's annual budget and represented the university and Information Technology in matters relating to state-wide strategic initiatives.

Tom played a central role in the successful restructuring of Information Technology to ready the university for the e-business transition. He was responsible for the rapid growth of technology at the university, including the installation of over 9000 workstations and 22,000 network ports. He also served as overall project manager for the implementation of the PeopleSoft ERP system, which was implemented on-time and within budget. During his tenure at the UofL he also coordinated a state-wide disaster recovery risk analysis for all state universities and led the effort to build a new Information Technology Center incorporating all areas of Information Technology. He also served as Host and General Chairman of CUMREC '91, which, at that time, was the oldest higher education technology conference in the United States.

Previously at Michigan State University, Tom held positions as Assistant Director/Operations, Production, and Systems Enhancements, Manager of Systems Enhancements, and Manager of Operations and Productions. He also Founded and organized a quarterly meeting of Mid-Michigan Operations Managers (MMOM) and organized and implemented a response center for production and telecommunications issues.

Tom has a Bachelor's Degree in Business Administration from Northwood University where he graduated magna cum laude. He has been actively involved in higher education computing and information systems for over 40 years.