ASU's Gordon Wishon inducted into CIO Hall of Fame

Arizona State University Chief Information Officer Gordon Wishon has been inducted into the prestigious IDG CIO Hall of Fame this year along with executives from Harvard, Duke and insurance giant AIG. The awards ceremony took place in Colorado Springs, Colorado and featured presentations, workshops and panel discussions with representatives from leading information technology organizations. 

Wishon has been with ASU since 2010, where he has overseen technology innovations, developments, and improvements, including wireless upgrades, cloud-based strategies, and infrastructure design for the Sun Devil Stadium renovation.

Besides delivering day-to-day technology support for more than 574 classrooms and student computing labs and delivering services relied upon daily by students, faculty, and staff (e.g., MyASU, Blackboard, and PeopleSoft), Wishon and the University Technology Office have been involved in initiatives to improve student success by providing a robust infrastructure and network to support high-performance computing for “big data” research and “Internet of Things” efforts. Wishon also led the re-engineering of the university’s help center and implemented a new technology support strategy that is utilized by more than 80 percent of the university’s schools and colleges. These initiatives have provided reliable and scalable online services cost-effectively across enterprise applications to the ASU community.

Some of Wishon’s accomplishments at ASU include the implementation and further development of the technology underlying a variety of student success initiatives including the Starbucks Achievement Program, e-Advisor, “smart campus" technologies for classroom and athletic facilities (as seen in the newly remodeled Sun Devil Stadium), and an improved mobile experience for students where information is readily accessible. Wishon managed comprehensive upgrade and modernization efforts to the ASU network and is responsible for information security and policy on all ASU sites. During his tenure, ASU has received numerous distinctions and awards for their technology efforts highlighted in publications such as CIO magazine, Information Week, Forbes and the Wall Street Journal.

Related article: ASU announces international tech leader as new chief information officer

He previously led the information technology organizations at the University of Notre Dame and the Georgia Institute of Technology following more than 20 years of military service with the Air Force.

In addition to his induction to the CIO Hall of Fame, the CIO magazine ceremony included the presentation of a CIO 100 award to ASU for the Sun Devil Stadium renovation project, recognized as one of the magazine’s winning development innovations for 2017. The CIO 100 is a spotlight by the publication for companies and organizations that use innovative information technology to drive business improvement. Recognized for this work was Chris Richardson, assistant vice president of IT Development, and his team for their Smart Stadium project and its intricate and impressive network that utilized the Internet of Things to increase audience engagement and convenience.

For more information on these awards, visit CIO 100’s website.

Written by Corinna Busciglio Kamilli, University Technology Office