On January 24th, I resigned my position at Baruch College, and on February 3rd started as Chief Information Officer at Western New England University in Springfield, Massachusetts.
My time at Baruch was important and transformational. It’s hard to describe the connections I’ve made, the experiences I’ve had, the impact I had on the community and it on me. Working at Baruch and CUNY gave me experiences in a large university system, a complicated bureaucracy (I’m actually fond of referring to it as “multiple intersecting bureaucracies”) and a place where I made an impact. When my former boss retired in June 2023 I was appointed interim VP/CIO and served for eleven months in that role, guiding the College through a significant event, but also supporting a technology refresh at all levels of the organization.
I was a finalist for the permanent position, but ultimately was not selected to continue on and went back to the AVP/Deputy CIO role, which I had been doing since last May. Perhaps a reminder that nothing is guaranteed, and even if you think that the planets have aligned reality often has different plans (and I know the weight of saying that right now.) Thankfully, with some executive coaching and some leadership development experiences, I was able to establish that I was highly qualified for a CIO position, and sure enough as I applied for positions I got a lot of interest.
I have previously posted about the job search process, and I may update that post with some of what has changed and what I have learned since then. Notably I feel like I had nearly every possible experience with potential positions–enthusiastic initial contacts from recruiters that actually went nowhere, searches being canceled, getting ghosted, getting first round interviews, getting finalist interviews, turning down finalist interviews, not getting selected after finalist interviews.
“Roller coaster” is the right metaphor but only incompletely describes the surreality of the whole experience. I took to my technique of looking at my life as an external observer, and often just laughing at the strange things; but ultimately seeing that I would eventually get a CIO position commensurate with my needs and experience. (Also, my advice on videoconferencing and online interviews is certainly now outdated since COVID and the new mores we’d developed as a result.)
I’m also at a different place in my life than I was nine years ago–namely the kids are older, so it’s a little easier to relocate and do the remote thing which is what I’ll be doing for at least a bit. It’s only a few hours between locations and I’ll probably be able to go home most weekends (and in fact my spouse and youngest child came up here just this weekend to visit, which was nice.) It’s part and parcel of advancing your career and balancing home and family life; and I have plenty of colleagues who have done even more extreme living situations to climb the ladder. We made the choice to not move and for me to select jobs within commuting distance while our children were growing up–a decision I stand behind, but I can compare with friends who moved every few years and know I could have been more aggressive with career opportunities. Again, the only correct decisions on your career are the ones that are right for you and your family, which is why this time thinking of moving to a new location was in the cards for me.
Now I have the opportunity to take everything I have learned and apply it to a new institution, one that I believe I can make a large impact on, and one that I feel is on a strong upward trajectory. I am looking forward to helping the organization grow and transform, and as I learn about the opportunities I’m enthusiastic about the possibilities. I’ve only been here two weeks and I’ve absolutely been blown away by the dedication and care of the community–this is an organization that prides itself on the personal touch for its students and it’s clear that also extends to the support of the staff here; and so I will hold that close while I seek to improve IT processes and procedures here.
And yet, leaving Baruch was not easy. My colleagues at Baruch became friends; the mission of the institution is significant, and while I’m not egotistical enough to think they won’t be able to carry on without me, I will miss the possibilities we could have had together. I will miss working with the team I built and strengthened there, and I had certainly learned to negotiate a complex system well. I was once given the advice that it’s okay to mourn what you’re losing even as you’re excited about what you’re gaining; and that is a significant part of what I feel during this transition.
I don’t know what the future holds–and surely this is a tumultuous time for higher education and our world–but I remain defiant in my hope that higher education can continue to make the world a better place and that we who serve in it are doing important work. I look forward to what I can accomplish at Western New England University and hope for the future.
Onward!
(P. S. I let AI generate the header image.)