Stephen Gallagher appointed Stanford University chief information officer

Stephen Gallagher, chief information officer at Harvard Business School, has been appointed chief information officer (CIO) of Stanford University, a new role that includes leadership of the University IT organization.

Stephen Gallagher (Image credit: Courtesy Stephen Gallagher)

Gallagher joins Stanford March 12 and will report to Randy Livingston, vice president for business affairs, chief financial officer and university liaison for Stanford Medicine. Gallagher was selected after a national search and by a search committee made up of faculty, staff and members of the university and hospital boards.

Gallagher will oversee University IT, an organization with approximately 550 staff and an annual budget of $150 million. University IT manages Stanford’s enterprise business applications, email and calendar systems; data warehouse and reporting environments; networking and telecommunications; research computing; data centers; help desk and distributed client support; and web design and development services. Information security reports to both the CIO and chief risk officer. Gallagher will also co-lead the CIO Council, consisting of CIOs from each of Stanford’s schools and departments, and collaborate closely with the CIOs of the Stanford Medicine entities.

“Steve brings an outstanding combination of strategic technology vision, technical depth and experience in both higher education and industry. He is also a terrific leader and developer of talent, which are critical skills given the scope of University IT,” Livingston said. “As CIO, Steve will be expected to provide a vision for how technology can drive better delivery of Stanford’s mission, while balancing the need to keep current technology operations at this scale running efficiently.”

Gallagher will work with University IT senior staff to continue to identify opportunities to improve the efficiency of university IT operations, improve user experience and satisfaction, and improve compliance and reduce risk. He will lead a review of what technology, systems and data can be efficiently and securely moved to the cloud (and the related changes in business processes, workflow and staff requirements) and what computing should remain managed within the university.

Gallagher has served as the chief information officer of Harvard Business School since 2013, overseeing a team of 275 information technology staff and contractors with responsibility for the administrative systems, academic technology and research platforms for the school. In addition, he co-chairs the Harvard University Enterprise Architecture Committee and co-chairs the University Data Management Common API Initiative.

Gallagher previously worked at the University of San Francisco from 2004 to 2013, where he became CIO and vice president for information technology services. He chaired the Board of Trustees Committee on IT Strategy and was responsible for the provision of IT services to 11,000 students, 2,000 faculty and staff, and 100,000 alumni. He led all aspects of strategic planning, client support, classroom technology, media services, research technology, IT governance, IT budget, instructional design, faculty training, lab management, networking, security, project management, business analysis and system administration.

Before joining USF, Gallagher served in senior leadership roles in the venture capital and financial technology sectors in the Bay Area and Boston, including roles as chief technology officer at Fidelity Investments Capital Technology and vice president of internet development at State Street Corporation. He holds a BS in architecture/building technology from MIT and an MBA from Harvard Business School.

“I am incredibly excited and honored to have the opportunity to lead University IT in support of Stanford’s unparalleled research, teaching, learning and health care mission,” Gallagher said. “This is a transformative time within higher education, and I am committed to ensuring every person within UIT feels connected to our collective purpose to advance the best technology and support services across higher education and beyond.”