UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Ken Forstmeier, interim senior director for Enterprise Infrastructure and Operations (EI&O), has been named interim vice provost for information technology, beginning Sept. 1. The search for Penn State’s permanent vice president for information technology and chief information officer is currently underway. Until that search is complete, Forstmeier will serve as both interim vice provost for IT and interim senior director for EI&O.
For the past eight months, Matt Decker has served as interim vice provost for information technology. However, on Sept. 1, Decker will transition back to the Applied Research Laboratory as full-time CIO and director of Information Technology Services.
“The work Matt has done to position the IT enterprise to transform how it accomplishes its work and to drive the new Plan-Build-Run concept of IT operations will be instrumental to Penn State IT supporting the University’s mission today and in the future,” said Nick Jones, Penn State executive vice president and provost. “I am confident in Ken’s ability to ensure the forward momentum we have developed to better position Penn State in the IT space.”
“With new student and administrative systems such as Canvas, LionPATH and WorkLion being integrated University-wide, aligning Penn State IT around a shared operational model will be an essential component of making those transitions as seamless as possible,” said David Gray, senior vice president for finance and business.
Forstmeier brings more than 20 years of experience in IT at Penn State. While in the Office of the Vice President for Research, he established and was director of the Office of Research Information Systems. As part of Information Technology Services, Forstmeier served as senior director for both Consulting and Support Services and, most recently, Administrative Information Services. Currently, Forstmeier oversees multiple operational aspects of the University’s IT organization, ranging from service management and infrastructure to systems and applications integration. He is also a member of the steering committee and business decision body for Project LionPATH and Project WorkLion, respectively.