Despite being appointed as the University’s interim Chief Information Officer Sept. 1, John Ellinger prefers personal interaction to technological exchange.

“To me, technology makes things impersonal,” Ellinger said. “You lose the value of who you are, what brought you here, your goals and your aspirations. I always ask those questions of each of my staff members as I get involved in my assessment period of technology here at BGSU.”

Ellinger comes to the University from Ohio State University, where he served as the senior director of the Office of Information Technology. His expertise includes implementation of the country’s largest PeopleSoft software administrative system at OSU, leadership of the first statewide Disaster Recovery Program for all public state universities and co-leadership in the implementation of the wireless domain at OSU, the second-largest wireless system in the United States.

While bringing these credentials to the University, Ellinger said he hopes to add a personal touch to his expanded role with Information Technology Services and better communicate with students, faculty and staff.

“I provide leadership and direction for technology to best educate University students,” Ellinger said. “That leadership takes the form of enhancing experiences, coordinating projects and delivering services and support, all which I hope to communicate in open forums and monthly newsletters.”

In the process of transitioning from OSU to the University, Ellinger said he made a point to visit deans, department chairs and staff members for 30-minute “meet and greets” to hear concerns and become acquainted with the University’s personnel.

He also said he hopes to promote his main goals as CIO, a collaborative “road map” he hopes to have implemented before his departure.

Those goals include building a team of ITS professionals, providing ITS leadership in classrooms, offices, labs and residence halls, being a transparent, collaborative organization and establishing effective support and services across campus.

“Every organization has its own history and most assuredly its own aspirations for the future,” he said. “What originally attracted me here was this University’s concise, two-page strategic plan. Like that plan, I want to say ‘this is where I think we need to go, these are the projects that need to be done, and this is how we can get there.'”

Ellinger’s appointment followed former CIO Bruce Petryshak’s Aug. 1 departure from the University and will end Aug. 31, 2012, said Sheri Stoll, chief financial officer for the division of finance and administration.

“I evaluated a short list of candidates, as well as in-person interviews, once we brought candidates to campus,” she said. “I feel extremely thankful and fortunate that we were able to find and attract someone of John’s caliber for a two-year appointment.”

Each candidate spent a full day on campus interviewing with cross-function groups and participating in open forums with students, faculty and staff, Stoll said.

“In my opinion, and based on the evaluations submitted to Human Resources by those who participated in the interview sessions, he was the best overall candidate for the position,” she said. “John is energetic and enthusiastic, which I find contagious, and he has more than 30 years of prior experience at the Ohio State University in a variety of positions and functions that include extensive experience in IT-related areas.”

Gale Swanka, senior associate director of the Student Union, said she met Ellinger at an Association of College Unions International conference while he worked at OSU.

“I saw he had high energy and was very creative and willing to think outside the box,” she said. “Based on my experience working with him on the conference committee, I suspect he will do quite well here.”

Since Ellinger’s appointment at the University, Swanka said she has met up with him a few times to discuss ITS-related topics. However, she also acknowledged that she doesn’t see Ellinger too often, mostly because his schedule is very demanding and Union employees work with his assigned ITS staff.

“We actually just had a conversation about the 24-hour computer lab in the Union this morning,” she said Friday. “In the ITS world, there are a lot of details involved and a lot to learn about, so he’s keeping busy, but I think he’s doing just fine.”