October 08, 2021

Interviews set for chief information officer candidates

Three candidates for chief information officer at Southern Illinois University Carbondale will meet with constituents during a series of virtual interviews beginning next week.

The candidates, in alphabetical order, are:

  • Vikram Ahmed, director, enterprises information systems and user services, Stetson University.
  • Scott Bridges, interim assistant provost and CIO; acting director, institutional research and studies, and director of information security-information technology, SIU Carbondale.
  • Dawn Stoyanoff, management consultant, CampusWorks.

The CIO serves as the chief fiscal and administrative officer of the Office of Information Technology and participates as a member of the chancellor’s executive cabinet. The CIO also provides leadership in IT and information security, including strategic planning, managing the Office of Information Technology, project management, purchasing and vendor relations. The CIO also works collaboratively with administrators, deans, directors, faculty, academic and administrative staff and students in identifying and implementing effective uses of technology and in enhancing information security.

The visit schedule is:

  • Monday, Oct. 18 – Dawn Stoyanoff.
  • Tuesday, Oct. 19 – Vikram Ahmed.
  • Thursday, Oct. 21 – Scott Bridges.

Each candidate will participate in a virtual open forum at noon on the day of their visit. The open forum will be hosted by the constituency groups, and each group will have a member of the interview panel ask the candidates prepared questions. The open forum will be streamed on the chancellor’s YouTube channel for the campus community to watch.

Candidates bring varied experiences to the position

Brief summaries of each candidates’ academic appointments and education are below.

Ahmed has worked in numerous capacities within institutions of higher education for more than 20 years. The director of enterprises information systems and user services at Stetson University, Ahmed has been there since October 2013 and served as interim chief information officer from September 2014 to April 2015. In addition, he is an adjunct faculty member in the School of Business Administration at Stetson. Ahmed has also served as manager of enterprise information systems at Texas A&M, applications analyst/developer at the University of Notre Dame and systems analyst and administrator at East Carolina University. He also held multiple managerial positions with ANZ Grindlays Bank.

Ahmed earned his doctorate in educational leadership from the University of Central Florida, an MBA with specialization in management information systems from East Carolina University and a bachelor of commerce degree from the University of Calcutta, India. He also earned a post-graduate diploma in business management with a specialization in finance from the Indian Institute of Social Welfare and Business Management in Calcutta.

Bridges has been with affiliated with SIU Carbondale and the SIU System since 1991. He has held a variety of positions, including interim assistant provost and CIO since March 2015; acting director, institutional research and studies since March 2017 and information security director with information technology since February 2014. From February 2006 to January 2014, Bridges was assistant director for student information systems with IT; assist director for systems development with institutional research and studies from December 1999 to January 2006, and a data processing analyst II/management systems manager with the SIU System Office from July 1997 to November 1999. Prior to that, Bridges worked in a variety of capacities with IT.

Bridges earned a bachelor’s degree in career development with a focus on business computing and an associate degree in electronic data processing, both from SIU.

Stoyanoff has been with CampusWorks as a management consultant working with higher education clients this year. From 2019 to 2020, she was associate vice chancellor of information technology/CIO at the University of Arkansas. From 2016 to 2019, Stoyanoff worked with Information Services Group as a higher education and academic medical center practice director. She has also served as executive director of systemwide shared information services in the Office of Business Affairs with the University of Texas System Administration, director of program management in the information technology office at the University of Texas at Arlington, program director/project manager—higher education practice with the Hunter Group/Cedar (currently Sierra-Cedar), practice director-higher education practice with Carrera-Maximus, instructor and research assistant at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and project manager/implementation coordinator with Epic Systems.

Stoyanoff earned a doctorate in organization and management from Capella University, a master’s degree in communications from Northeastern Illinois University and bachelor’s degrees in business administration and speech communications from Monmouth College.

Candidates’ full CVs are available on the chancellor’s website.