Joseph Sawasky is currently President and CEO of Merit Network, Inc. Merit is a non-profit corporation owned and governed by Michigan's public universities. Merit owns and operates America's longest-running regional research and education network. In 1966, Michigan's public universities created Merit as a shared resource to help meet their common need for networking assistance. Since its formation, Merit Network has remained on the forefront of research and education networking expertise and services. Merit provides high-performance networking, above-the-net IT solutions, and professional development services to Michigan's public universities, colleges, K-12 organizations, libraries, state government, healthcare, and other non-profit organizations. For more information, please visit www.merit.edu.
Prior to joining Merit, Mr. Sawasky was the Chief Information Officer at Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan. Mr. Sawasky and his IT organization transformed technology services for the campus – consolidating and modernizing IT, improving the customer experience, and developing noted innovations. They also received national recognition for innovative software solutions, including Academica-ESP, a new enterprise social portal service designed to facilitate and encourage real-time collaboration between students, faculty and staff.
Mr. Sawasky also worked at the University of Toledo for 22 years, and in his last position there, served as CIO for the merged University of Toledo, Medical University of Ohio and its academic medical centers and clinics.
