CIO Brad Wheeler wins EDUCAUSE Leadership Award

A nonprofit association for information technology leaders and professionals in higher education granted its Leadership Award for individual achievement to Brad Wheeler, IU vice president for information technology and chief information officer.

The Leadership Award is the highest honor the nonprofit organization, EDUCAUSE, bestows.

It is awarded for exceptional leadership in individual and institutional accomplishments.

“Brad led the development and continues to lead the implementation of IU’s second strategic IT plan,” President Michael McRobbie said in a press release.

“The innovative eTexts initiative, which Brad also spearheaded, has helped to transform the way students obtain and use digital course materials.

Brad has also been instrumental in guiding the development of the university’s newest IT facilities, including the Cyberinfrastructure Building, which houses our IT staff, and the IU Data Center, which ensures the safety and security of our networking, computer processing and data storage equipment.”

In 2009, the IU Office of the Vice President for Information Technology was recognized among the nation’s top 100 organizations for its leadership in developing open-source software, according to the release.

Government Technology, a magazine reporting on state and local governments’ use of information technology, named Wheeler one of its “Top 25 Doers, Dreamers and Drivers in Public Sector Innovation” in 2012.

“When you think about Brad, words come to mind like visionary, powerful, persuasive and driven,” EDUCAUSE President and CEO Diana Oblinger said. “He is a great communicator. He is also a strategist.”

According to the release, he was also named one of the “12 Tech Innovators Who Are Transforming Campuses” by the Chronicle of Higher Education in the same year.

The IU IT organization has netted $114 million in external contracts and grants since Wheeler became vice president.

It has been recognized in Computerworld’s “100 Best Places to Work in IT” in 2010 and 2011.

According to the release, Wheeler has directed the $3,000 award to the IU Scholarship Fund.

EDUCAUSE will honor Wheeler at its annual conference in mid-October in Anaheim, CA.

“I am deeply honored and grateful to receive this tremendous award from the EDUCAUSE community,” Wheeler said in the release.

“IU’s extraordinary IT team has made it possible for IU to be a ‘partner of choice’ with many of the best institutions and firms in the nation and the world.”

— Tori Fater