Biography

David Burns is the director of Computer Services for the McCombs School of Business at the University of Texas at Austin, where he oversees IT operations and services for the college's seven thousand students, faculty, and staff. David joined the McCombs school in 2001 as a member of the technology training team and was hired as the IT director in the fall of 2004. His presentation at the 2007 Educause Southwest Regional Conference, on leadership during a crisis, was prompted by the lessons learned from a critical data theft incident the college experienced in 2006. Prior to joining the University, David spent five years serving in the U.S. Coast Guard, performing search and rescue and law enforcement missions. Those experiences, including enduring winter patrols aboard a cutter in the North Atlantic and rescuing people from sinking boats as a motor lifeboat coxswain around Cape Hatteras, have translated surprisingly well to the perilous world of University IT.