Ginger Breon

Biography

I am the Interim Vice President and Chief Information Officer for the Office of Technology and Digital Innovation (OTDI) at The Ohio State University. I lead the vision, budgeting design, implementation, and operation of information systems in support of the university’s strategies and objectives. In this role, I champion the IT strategy, policy, standards, and direction in support of the research, teaching, learning and outreach missions of the university. I serve as the fiscal agent for OH-TECH, a consortium of Ohio's technology-focused organizations, including OhioLINK, OARnet and the Ohio Supercomputer Center.

 Previously, I was Deputy CIO and Executive Director of Research Computing, overseeing enterprise-wide technology services and leading the Teaching, Research, and Infrastructure Technology Services team. In that capacity, I oversaw enterprise-wide technology services, including infrastructure, architecture and end user support, solution engineering, classroom technologies, unified communications, network services, and cloud solutions. I served as the fiscal agent for OH-TECH, a consortium of Ohio's technology-focused organizations, including OhioLINK, OARnet and the Ohio Supercomputer Center.

I have over 30 years of experience in higher education at two Big Ten, Research One, land-grant universities, with a focus on strategic alignment of technology resources and innovations to advance and enable higher education’s academic missions.

Before becoming the Deputy CIO and Executive Director of Research Computing, I served as the Interim Deputy CIO for OTDI and as the Chief Information Officer of the College of Engineering at The Ohio State University. I developed and implemented the strategy for investing in technology innovations that enable and support the research, teaching and learning, and outreach missions of the college.

Prior to joining Ohio State, I was the assistant dean for administration and CIO for the Smeal College of Business at Penn State, where I led the Research, Instruction, and Information Technology Group, managed the facilities, including overseeing the $68 million business building project, directed the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) Continuous Improvement Accreditation Renewal process, chaired the college’s Faculty/Staff Campaign, and oversaw the Board of Visitors. I was a founding member and former chair of the Technology in Business Schools Roundtable (TBSr), a professional network of technology leaders in business schools. At Penn State, I was also a founding member and first chair of the IT Leadership Council, a group of senior IT executives from across the university.

While at Penn State, I led the business building project, the largest academic building on campus and the third biggest classroom building on campus. The construction was completed under budget and one-month earlier than planned timeline. In addition, I led the implementation of Office 365, reducing eighty plus email solutions to one cloud platform with integrated applications.

I graduated from Penn State with a Master of Business Administration degree and earned Bachelor of Science dual degrees in Accounting and Agriculture Business Management. I am also joint owner of the Weaver Family Farm, a large, family-owned, dairy operation where I direct the capital investments and oversees the fiscal management. I currently am a Board member (Vice-Chair) for the USDA Farm Service Agency for the Clinton-Centre Counties and the Centre County Conservation District Board of Directors.

EDUCAUSE Presentations