IT leader named chief information officer for ASU

Gordon Wishon, a leader in information technology with a distinguished career in higher education and the military, will join Arizona State University as chief information officer on Aug. 16.

Wishon will be responsible for developing a long range technology plan for the university, helping meet ASU's goals of excellence, access and impact. He will guide the selection of strategic technologies to meet the unique administrative, research and academic computing needs of a rapidly growing, multi-campus university.

Wishon comes to ASU from Notre Dame University, where he was CIO for nine years and was named one of Computerworld Magazine’s Premier 100 IT Leaders. He also was awarded CIO Magazine’s CIO100 award for innovation in information technology in 2005 and 2008.

He led a Notre Dame/Purdue grant program to establish the Northwest Indiana Computational Grid, and he chaired the board of directors of the St. Joseph Valley Metronet, a northern Indiana regional economic development initiative.

“Gordon Wishon will help ASU lead the nation in innovative ways to enhance university education, improving access by lowering cost and improving excellence by expanding learning options and intensity,” said ASU President Michael Crow.

Wishon emerged as the leading candidate after a national search produced a very deep pool of talented candidates, according to Kevin Salcido, associate vice president of human resources.

“He is highly qualified and is very interested in working with faculty, students and staff as we increasingly use technology in all of our operations,” said Elizabeth D. Capaldi, executive vice president and provost. “We are very happy to have attracted him to ASU.”

From 1994 to 2001 Wishon served as CIO for the Georgia Institute of Technology, where he was chair of the Southeastern Universities Research Association IT committee and served on its executive committee. He also co-founded and chaired the EDUCAUSE/Internet 2 Security Task Force and served as a faculty member on the EDUCAUSE Leadership Institute.

Prior to that Wishon served 20 years with the U.S. Air Force in a variety of roles, including flying in F-111 fighter-bombers, aiding in the development of advanced avionics systems and leading the engineering of the first large scale production TCP/IP network in the Air Force. He completed his military career as CIO at the Air Force Institute of Technology.

He holds a bachelor’s degree in computer science from West Virginia University and a master’s in computer science from Wright State University.

“We are very pleased Gordon Wishon will be joining the ASU team,” said Morgan Olsen, executive vice president, treasurer and CFO. “He is an accomplished chief information officer, whose experience will allow him to lead our efforts as we apply information technology in a wide range of opportunities across the university.”

“I am excited by the opportunity to make an impact at a university that is on such an upward trajectory,” Wishon said. “President Crow has a tremendously powerful vision for what ASU can mean to the people of this state and the nation, and I’m honored to be a part of that effort.

“I’m also pleased to have the opportunity to lead a group of accomplished professionals in the University Technology Office, and I look forward to working with them in service to the faculty, students and administrators of the university.”