Paige Francis has accepted the role of associate chief information officer for academic technologies and shared services for the University of Arkansas.

"I'm thrilled that Paige has accepted the challenge of this crucial role. This is an important position for the future of campus IT as we take the progress we've made so far with the Achieve IT: Excellence in Technology initiative and grow a mature and vibrant IT community," Chris McCoy, CIO and associate vice chancellor for information technology, said. "Paige was the obvious choice as a current, dynamic leader in collaborative IT project development and operations. I'm confident in her ability to leverage established and emerging technologies to support the academic, research and outreach mission of the university."

In this new position, Francis will be responsible for developing and communicating a shared service and user support vision for the university. Reporting directly to the CIO and serving on the CIO leadership team, the associate CIO will work with stakeholders and IT directors across the university to support campuswide shared services.

Francis, a University of Arkansas alumna with a bachelor's in communication, is currently serving as CIO at Fairfield University where she oversees all computing, communications, networking, instructional technology and media services. With over 15 years of information technology leadership in hospitality, tax software, finance and higher education, she also served as CIO at NorthWest Arkansas Community College, manager of web systems for Thomas-Reuters, and web team developer at Dave and Buster's Inc. She holds a master's in computer information systems from the University of Phoenix. Recent accomplishments include awards such as 2014 Computerworld Premier 100 IT Leader and Huffington Post Top 50 Most Social CIOs for leveraging social media as a learning network and collaborative tool.

"Collaborating, building relationships and strategic technology execution are my strong suits," said Francis. "I'm poised and ready to start bridging gaps across academic technology and cross-departmental IT teams while focusing on a consistently dynamic and innovative user experience. I am thrilled to return to my native Northwest Arkansas to help raise the technology bar alongside my alma mater's CIO leadership and the entire IT Services team." 

"Paige has expertise in defining and implementing strategic priorities for applying technology in any environment, rallying consensus, fostering teamwork and collaboration, and creating a constant learning environment at the pace of technology," McCoy said. "It is important that we remain agile in order to build the necessary capacity that supports the institution in becoming a top 50 public research institution. Paige's skills will be vital to that process."

Francis will begin her new role on Monday, July 25. Her office will be located in the Office of the CIO in the Administrative Services Building.