Biography

Patti Smith, a leader of Information Technology in Higher Education for 25 years is the Chief Information Officer at Valencia College in Orlando.  In the 90’s while at Houghton College it was named a Pioneer in Ubiquitous Computing, one of the first institutions to deliver laptops to incoming freshman. Patti’s experience leading technology innovation, collaboration, strategic planning, and operations has enabled her to present at events like IBM’s Think Tank, the League of Innovation, and the Educause Annual Conference along with many regional conferences.

In her current role Patti leads the IT organization for Valencia College located in Orlando, Florida and has 8 campuses and 74,000 students.  The college has an economic impact on the region of more than $1billion a year.  Valencia College was named the best community college in the nation as the inaugural winner of the Aspen Prize for Community College Excellence. 

Patti obtained her Bachelor of Science in Management from Houghton College and her Master of Science in Information Technology Management from Western Governors University.  She is an MCSE from Microsoft and her CAPM certification from the Project Management Institute.

Patti is Co-Chair of the Florida College System CIO Council, and serves on the Advisory Board for the Florida CIO Executive Leadership Summit and on the founding board of the Jordan Smelski Foundation for Amoeba Awareness where she serves as secretary.  She is also a member of the Central Florida Society for Information Management and Women in Technology International.