Who We Are

J. Michael Barker, Ph.D.

Vice Chancellor for Information Technology and Chief Information Officer

Phone: 919-962-4314
Email:
michael_barker@unc.edu

Michael was appointed Vice Chancellor for Information Technology and Chief Information Officer, effective February 1, 2020. He served as Interim Vice Chancellor for Information Technology and CIO from January 31, 2019 to January 31, 2020.

As Vice Chancellor and CIO, Mike has responsibility for Carolina’s central IT portfolio. He has proven his ability to recognize evolving challenges and provide long-term direction for the development and implementation of information technology initiatives at Carolina. As Vice Chancellor and a member of the Chancellor and Provost’s leadership cabinets, he has a central role in implementing ITS initiatives and objectives in Carolina Next: Innovations for Public Good, the University’s strategic plan.

Prior to his current role, Mike served as Associate Vice Chancellor and Chief Technology Officer in ITS. In his role as Associate Vice Chancellor, Mike had oversight over Learning Technologies, including Sakai, CCI Printing and Classroom Hotline, as well as Research Computing, encompassing high-performance and high-throughput scientific computing services. Under Mike’s leadership, the impact of the Research Computing group multiplied, giving researchers access to innovative and emerging technologies required to power their work. As Chief Technology Officer, he identified and advanced strategic information technology initiatives that position Carolina to have enabling technologies both for current and emerging needs.

In his decade at Carolina, Mike has had responsibility for a broad array of the central IT portfolio, giving him excellent insight into the needs of the organization for his tenure as Interim. Mike served as Assistant Vice Chancellor for Research Computing and Learning Technologies from 2013 to 2017, and as Assistant Vice Chancellor for Infrastructure & Operations and Communication Technologies from 2009 to 2013. Before coming to Carolina, Mike served in a variety of IT leadership roles at Florida State University.

Mike earned his doctoral degree in philosophy at Florida State University in 1998. He continues to stay active in his discipline. He is also appointed as Clinical Professor in the School of Information and Library Sciences at UNC-Chapel Hill.

Suzanne Cadwell

Educational Technologies
Director

Phone: 919-962-7088
Email: scadwell@email.unc.edu

Suzanne directs ITS’ Educational Technologies teams: Classroom Hotline, Systems and Services, and the Liaison for the Center for Faculty Excellence. The services provided by these groups include exam scanning, CCI printing, Virtual Lab, Sakai’s learning management system, Zoom video conferencing, Panopto video management, and technical design and support for general purpose classrooms.

Suzanne began her career in instructional technology in 2000, as a learning management system administrator. She later became a member of the former ITS Teaching & Learning’s campus outreach team and later served as a liaison for the Center for Faculty Excellence. Her graduate training in UNC’s Writing Program focused on written and multimedia literacies.

Brenda Carpen

Project Portfolio & Change Management
Director

Phone: 919-537-3986
Email: brenda_carpen@unc.edu

Brenda directs ITS’ Project Portfolio & Change Management group. The group oversees the ITS Project Portfolio and provides project and change management services on a wide range of IT-related projects, focusing on those with a divisional or institutional scope.

Brenda began her career in IT as a software developer in London in the financial sector. She moved to Bloomberg as a Product Manager, working in Europe and Asia, and then as a Program Manager in Los Angeles, working for Farmers Insurance and Kaiser Permanente. In 2010, Brenda joined UNC-Chapel Hill as the IT Project Manager for the School of Medicine. In 2016, Brenda moved to ITS as the IT Project Manager for Infrastructure & Operations, where she oversaw the implementation of several campus-wide initiatives, including Office 365, 2-Step Verification and ServiceNow.

Brenda earned her bachelor’s degree in geography at the London School of Economics and is a proud alum of UNC, earning her MBA from Kenan-Flagler Business School in 2014.

Mechelle Clayton

Enterprise Applications
Assistant Vice Chancellor

Phone: 919-962-5008
Email: mechelle_clayton@unc.edu

Mechelle is responsible for ITS management of the University’s administrative systems: the ConnectCarolina Student Administration; Finance, Human Resources and Payroll system and related applications such as ImageNow and Web Travel; and a portfolio of University Services applications, including those serving Finance and Operations; ITS; The Friday Center for Continuing Education, and TouchNet (electronic payments).

Mechelle began her career with ITS the fall after graduating from UNC-Chapel Hill with a degree in math and a concentration in computer science. During her three decades of serving ITS and the University, she has supported, developed and managed the applications and the teams that manage the applications that support Carolina’s operations.

 

Steve Haring

Finance & Administration
Assistant Vice Chancellor

Phone: 919-962-0999
Email: steve_haring@unc.edu

Steve is responsible for all ITS’ financial, human resource management and other administrative activities as well as Software Distribution. He has extensive experience in operating and capital budget preparation, financial reporting, automated financial systems and business software, accounting policies and procedures, human resource management and staff training and development.

Steve previously served as Director of Budget Control for information technology at the University of Miami in Coral Gables, Fla., Operations Budget Director for the Pan Am International Flight Academy and Director of Finance and Administration for the Airbus Service Co. and Training Center in Miami, Fla., and Chief Financial Officer for Florida LambdaRail Inc. Steve holds license as a Certified Public Accountant.

Kate Hash

Customer Experience & Engagement
Assistant Vice Chancellor

Phone: 919-962-0982
Email: kate_hash@unc.edu

As Assistant Vice Chancellor for Customer Experience & Engagement, Kate oversees the ITS Service Desk, Voice Services, ResNET and Managed Desktop Services, among many other groups and services.

Kate also oversees Communications, Digital Accessibility and Digital Services for ITS. In this role, she is responsible for internal and external relations, including communications strategy and planning for large IT projects for our campus of more than 45,000 students, faculty and staff. Kate has oversight over the 17,000+ site WordPress service operated by Digital Services, as well as the ITS partnership with students for the University’s mobile app, CarolinaGO.

Before taking the helm of Customer Experience & Engagement on a permanent basis in March 2020, Kate served for a year as interim AVC for ITS User Support & Engagement while also serving in her permanent role of overseeing Communications, Digital Accessibility, Digital Services and Policy. Upon Kate’s hiring, ITS joined US&E and Communications into the new division of Customer Experience & Engagement.

Before joining ITS in 2014, Kate owned and operated a digital communications and technology consulting company for five years, three of which were spent living and working in Florence, Italy. She has a passion for translating complicated IT and business needs into consumable information for end users and customers. Kate also previously worked for the University of Louisville and Hanley Wood LLC in marketing.

Kate holds a bachelor’s degree in journalism from The George Washington University and a master’s degree in higher education administration from the University of Louisville.

Ethan Kromhout

Infrastructure & Operations
Interim Assistant Vice Chancellor for Infrastructure and Operations

Phone: 919-445-0056
Email: kromhout@unc.edu

Ethan manages the Infrastructure & Operations division. The IT enterprise infrastructure and operations group includes Enterprise Operations, Enterprise Storage, Open Systems, Business Process Automation, Network and Wireless Deployment and Operations, Engineering, and Transport Operations.

Ethan joined UNC-Chapel Hill in 2009 as Director of Applications Infrastructure and has since held a role as an architect focused on identity management and cloud; as well as serving as the Infrastructure and Operations lead for an interim. Ethan serves as the Incommon executive contact for the University, and is an active participant in Incommon and Internet2’s programs for trust and identity.

Ethan earned a bachelor’s degree in computer science from Florida State University.

John McGee

Research Computing
Assistant Vice Chancellor for Research Computing

Phone: 919-962-0123
Email: mcgee@unc.edu

John was named Assistant Vice Chancellor for ITS Research Computing in June 2022. He began leading Research Computing as interim Director in March 2019.

As AVC for Research Computing, John is responsible for directing the division’s foundational cyberinfrastructure services while also planning for and adapting to pressing needs and emerging opportunities. He is also responsible for positioning Research Computing as a leader among institutionally oriented university research cyberinfrastructure computing centers.

Prior to leading Research Computing, John led the design and implementation of software, services and infrastructure to manage research and operations of UNC-Chapel Hill’s High Throughput Sequencing Facility. This came after nine years at the Renaissance Computing Institute (RENCI), ending as Director of Cyberinfrastructure.

His career extends to Senior Project manager and Co-Executive Director of the GRIDS Center at the University of Southern California and includes time in industry at Fetch Technologies, Microsoft and Nissan Motor Corp.

He holds a bachelor’s degree in mathematics from University of Maryland, College Park.

Paul Rivers

Security & Identity Management
Chief Information Security Officer

Phone: 919-445-8080
Email: paul_rivers@unc.edu

Paul oversees the Information Security Office which offers services ranging from network security, incident response, security architecture, risk assessments, vulnerability management to PCI (credit card processing) support.

He also oversees and supports the Identity & Access Management (IAM) team. The IdM group manages services related to identity, including Onyen accounts and the UNC-Chapel Hill Enterprise Directory.

Paul has had a long career in cybersecurity and held many leadership roles, including as CISO and HIPAA Security Officer at both Yale University and the University of California, Berkeley and as cybersecurity adviser to the audit committee of Brookhaven National Laboratory. He has also held significant positions outside of higher education, most recently as Director of Security and Compliance at Amazon Web Services. Prior to his time at Yale, he was a cybersecurity executive consultant to Fortune 500 clients.

He earned his bachelor’s degree from Indiana University Bloomington. He holds many security certifications, including CISSP, CGEIT, CIPP/US, CISA, and CISM.

Rachel St. Clair

Data & Reporting Environments & Application Middleware
Director

Phone: 919-843-9068
Email: serranor@email.unc.edu

Rachel oversees the Data & Reporting Environments & Application Middleware group. This includes the Database & PeopleSoft Administration, Middleware, and Enterprise Reporting platforms. If you use data or develop applications at Carolina, there is a good chance you have encountered a service provided by her group.

Rachel began her career as an applications analyst in Institutional Research at the University of Arizona. When Arizona undertook an enterprise system replacement, Rachel led the corresponding legacy data warehouse replacement, going live with the new warehouse and reporting only one day after the new system. Enjoying the bustle of an implementation, Rachel then moved to Appalachian State University as Director of Information Analytics, where she implemented a new reporting system and supported the installation of the UNC System Office Student Data Mart.

In 2017, Rachel came to UNC-Chapel Hill to apply her experience to improve the enterprise data environment and support the campus in data utilization. Contributions in this area include participating as a topic lead in the Data Science @ Carolina Steering Committee and serving as a Strategic Objective Lead in Carolina Next: Innovations for the Public Good. Her guiding principle, having started her career as a consumer of the IT services she now provides, is a strong focus on bridging ITS and campus user needs, and she believes there is always fun to be found in doing so.

Rachel holds a bachelor’s degree in history from the University of Arizona, a master’s degree in higher education administration from Northern Arizona University, and a master’s degree in information technology management from UNC-Greensboro.

Interested in interviewing one of our experts?

Please contact Kate Hash, Assistant Vice Chancellor for Customer Experience & Engagement, who is responsible for internal and external relations, by calling 919-962-0982.