Jeremy Lovato has been selected as Willamette University’s next Chief Information Officer. Lovato will succeed Jackie Barretta who is retiring from Willamette after serving in the role since 2016.
Lovato is currently the Senior Program Manager for the Collaborative for Higher Education Shared Services where he is leading a team on a first-of-its-kind initiative of converting six independent Higher Education institutions to a common and single instance Student Information System and Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP).
Lovato previously served as the CIO for the New Mexico Department of Transportation where he led a team of 80 staff and was responsible for delivering technology solutions designed to enhance and support all aspects of state transportation operations in New Mexico. Lovato was recognized for establishing New Mexico's first public sector broadband infrastructure strategic collaborative in which he joined forces with leaders in public safety, tribal communities, higher education, K-12, and economic development to leverage existing right-of-way infrastructure in the design of a statewide fiber network, and was ultimately appointed as a member of New Mexico's first Connect New Mexico Council.
Lovato has also served as CIO for Santa Fe Community College, where he oversaw all aspects of the Information Technology operations including ERP and student information systems, applications and web, database administration, end-user engagement and support, infrastructure and data center, information security, voice and data communications, project management office, audio/visual and media, learning management and instructional technologies, business intelligence, and reporting. In addition to his CIO role, Lovato served as President of the New Mexico Consortium of Higher Education Computing Services.
“I am incredibly honored and humbled by the opportunity to join the Willamette University family and to support student success through collaborative and transparent leadership,” said Lovato. “I love collaborating with teams and organizations that realize the value of technology and its ability to enhance operational effectiveness and efficiency.”
As CIO, Lovato will lead the development and execution of Willamette’s IT strategy, ensuring the security and reliability of our systems, and driving digital innovation across the organization in support of its teaching, learning, research and administrative operations.
Lovato will start in the role on Aug. 1.
