May 19, 2006
To the CSUN Campus Community:
I am pleased to announce that Ms. Hilary J. Baker has accepted the appointment as the university’s new Chief Information Officer (CIO). The CIO will continue to report directly to me and serve as a member of the President’s Cabinet. She begins her appointment July 31.
Ms. Baker has been associate vice president and chief information officer at Pepperdine University since 2004. Her prior positions include senior director of Common Management Systems in Information Technology Services at the CSU Chancellor’s Office, and successive appointments at the J. Paul Getty Trust, including manager of information systems. She has been active within her profession and as a consultant, and has more than 20 years of information technology experience in the higher education and nonprofit environments. She holds a joint honors bachelor of science in mathematics and geography from the University of Birmingham, England, and a master’s in architecture and urban planning from UCLA.
Information technology (IT) increasingly has become an essential and pervasive part of our core endeavors on campus. It has become an integral part of the way teaching and learning occurs here, it is central to the way we communicate, and it has enabled us to streamline many of our administrative and business processes. Given the essential role that it has in support of our mission and goals, information technology is a resource that demands careful, effective management and leadership. For these reasons, I am pleased to welcome to the university someone of Ms. Baker’s experience and reputation. I look forward to her contributions and leadership in heading our Information Technology Resources (ITR) division, and in her working as part of the university’s senior leadership team.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank the members of the search committee for their fine work. The committee members were Provost Harry Hellenbrand, who served as chair, University Library Dean Susan Curzon, Assistant Vice President for Human Resources Bob Foldesi, Professor of Health Sciences Brian Malec, and Professor of Computer Science Gloria Melara.
Finally, I also wish to express my deep gratitude to Mr. Bob Moulton for his service as interim chief information officer since October 2005. When he arrived on campus, he immediately faced challenges with the dependability and stability of the university’s IT systems. He also was charged with reviewing and implementing the recommendations submitted by consultants who assessed Cal State Northridge’s IT operations. Though he came from off campus, Mr. Moulton quickly assimilated into the campus community, gained the trust of the ITR staff and senior campus leaders, and made much progress in a relatively short time. Because of his commitment and initiative, Mr. Moulton leaves behind an IT operation that is higher performing and more dependable and customer-service oriented.
Jolene Koester
President
California State University, Northridge