Kari Branjord

Biography

As Vice President of Strategy & Product Management, Ms. Branjord is responsible for Ellucian’s student systems, which include Banner, PowerCampus, Colleague, fsaAtlas, and Degree Works. Since joining the company in January 2011, Ms. Branjord has actively worked on the evolution of the Banner Student system, successfully shepherding the initiatives around the four modules released so far: Course Catalog, Class Schedule, Faculty Grade Entry, and Event Management. She is also working to unify the PowerCampus codebase so all customers, regardless of location, can benefit from the innovation that each unique country demands. Before coming to Ellucian, Ms. Branjord had thirteen years of experience in higher education. At the University of Colorado system, she served as the executive director for the $55 Million student system replacement project and led a successful system-wide implementation of the PeopleSoft suite of products. During that time she also served as the President of the Higher Education User Group for Oracle applications, representing 700 schools world-wide and advocating for advances in those systems. As President, Kari organized communities in the United Kingdom, Europe, Southeast Asia, South Africa, and Australia and New Zealand. She also began similar projects in Brazil and Latin America. As IT Director at the University of Minnesota, Ms. Branjord was responsible for enterprise application functions in a complex, multi-institution organization. While there, beginning in 1999, she also set the vision for and led the implementation of customized self-services applications, which generated a $2 million annual cost savings for the university. Under her direction, the university’s usability vision was fully realized, with the creation of a full usability lab that included state-of-the-art eye-tracking capability. Ms. Branjord also has ten years of experience in the health care sector.

EDUCAUSE Publications

  • Deferred Modernization: Penny-Wise and Pound-Foolish
    • Blog
    • Author

    When colleges and universities delay systems modernization, they create an environment in which users see “different” as “better.” Too often, this results in a far larger investment that delivers less than the technology they already own through their maintenance dollars.

  • 5 Reasons Why CIO Is a Cabinet-Level Position
    • Blog
    • Author

    With the proliferation of technology on college campuses, the role of the CIO has evolved. Learn how institutions that include their CIOs in the cabinet are benefiting from better outcomes, including increased innovation and the ability to achieve their most pressing objectives.

EDUCAUSE Presentations