Curt Carver, vice chancellor and CIO of the Board of Regents of the University of Georgia, thinks the "I" in CIO should stand for innovation.
Watch the video or read the transcript below.
"Well, I think when you look at CIO, it becomes, 'what does the I stand for?' Hopefully it stands for innovation. Hopefully it stands for seeing connections first, or sensing those connections first within an organization. And then being able to leverage those connections into opportunities.
So, when you look at a traditional role of a CIO, and if you see that as a person who keeps the lights on, that may be where you are starting out, but once you can do that flawlessly, it will create opportunities to impact business opportunities. Once you do that flawlessly, you can move into being a game-changer.
If you can move through that, and engage customers, pass credit to them, you really can build an organization, that can be foundational, truly, foundational is the right word, foundational for how the organization is going to innovate over time. And you're not doing it by forcing your way to the table, you're doing it because you keep getting invited back to the table. Because you keep having those small successes and others talk about, that's the person we want. It's all about building trust and relationships."
Curtis A. Carver Jr., Ph.D. is the Vice Chancellor and Chief Information Officer for the Board of Regents of University System of Georgia (USG). In this capacity, he oversees a statewide educational infrastructure and service organization with more than 190 innovators and more than $75 million annual investment in higher education. He also provides technical oversight of the USG Shared Services Center. Dr. Carver has led the transformation of IT services by partnering with USG business owners, institutions, and other state agencies to jointly solve problems.
