Dear campus community:
It is with mixed emotions that we announce the retirement of Larry Conrad, Associate Vice Chancellor of Information Technology and Chief Information Officer, at the end of June. Larry joined UC Berkeley as CIO in 2013 after a distinguished career as CIO at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, and, previously, as the CIO at Florida State University. A nationally recognized leader in higher education IT, Larry held several leadership roles in EDUCAUSE and Internet2.
Larry’s goal has always been one of stewardship, to leave things better than when he arrived. We can both say without hesitation that at Berkeley Larry has done exactly that. Through his steady, collaborative and inclusive leadership style, Larry has shown innovative approaches to ensuring support for the most important campus goals through some difficult budget years. Larry oversaw the design and completion of the Student Information Systems project, and built campus support for a Phase 2 of the project, which is currently nearing completion. He supported Berkeley’s research mission by advocating for the development of new services for researchers including establishing the Berkeley Research Computing program, which involved implementation of the campus Savio High Performance Computing Cluster, among other initiatives. He also championed efforts towards improving research data management and, most recently, successfully advocated for the creation of a Secure Research Data and Computation program.
Larry’s support for greater collaboration between IT professionals campuswide resulted in the creation of the One IT Community initiative, which has significantly increased partnerships and collaboration across the campus IT community and led to the ‘ground-up’ strategic planning effort that produced the Reimagining IT Strategic Plan. During his time at Berkeley, Larry also continued his active involvement on the systemwide and national stages, including as Chair of the UC IT Leadership Council and a UC member of the CENIC board.
UC Berkeley has been fortunate to benefit from Larry’s experience, expertise, and commitment to teaching, research, and public service. Larry will be retiring to the central coast of California and we wish him a long retirement of good health and happiness. A campus committee searching for a new CIO is expected to make an announcement shortly.
Please join us in thanking Larry for his many contributions to UC Berkeley and wishing him all the best in his well-deserved retirement.
In appreciation.
Paul Alivisatos
Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost
Marc Fisher
Vice Chancellor, Administration