The University of Oklahoma has officially appointed Nishanth Rodrigues as its new Chief Information Officer, as announced last week. Rodrigues, an Indian American currently serving as the CIO at the University of Mississippi, will take up his new role at OU at the end of the month.
He succeeds interim CIO Chris Kobza, following the vacancy created when David Horton departed to become Penn State’s vice president for information technology and chief information officer last spring. According to OU Daily, the student-run publication, Rodrigues brings valuable experience to the position.
At the University of Mississippi, Rodrigues was responsible for overseeing the development of a new data center and leading the institution’s strategic digital transformation initiatives. Matt Brockwell, Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer at OU, conveyed his optimism regarding Rodrigues’ potential influence, saying, “We believe that his focused and forward-thinking vision will be transformative not only for OU IT but also for the overall progress of our university.”
Rodrigues has previously held key positions such as assistant vice president and chief technology officer at Michigan State University, and he was also the director of IT and chief information security officer at Bronson Healthcare. His affiliations include the Cisco Higher Education Advisory Council, the SAP Higher Education Research Advisory Council, and the CIO Visions Steering Committee.
