As CIO and vice president of information technology services at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Lev S. Gonick, 46, works with 191 IT employees and provides stewardship of a $38 million IT budget.
This past year, Gonick and his staff launched the OneCleveland network, which has a fiber-optic backbone. They used Gigabit Ethernet optical gear to create an intranet for Case and more than 100 educational institutions, research organizations, health care facilities, libraries, government agencies and cultural organizations in northeast Ohio. The award-winning project increased bandwidth by a factor of up to 1,000, cut Internet connectivity costs by more than half and enabled a collaborative environment that includes joint application development among Case, the Cleveland School District, the Cleveland Museum of Art and other local institutions. Gonick took time out recently to talk with Computerworld's Marc L. Songini about leadership and the changing role of IT.
Where do you see the IT leader's role heading? As our industry has matured over the past 20 years, the successful IT leadership style has evolved from autocratic to hands-off to what I call the "open-source" leadership style.
Today's style is much more focused on contributing to the top line of the organization through a deliberate sharing of power with key business owners. But with an emphasis on participatory leadership and leading through example, I think open-source leaders live with considerably more ambiguity and a focus on the short term.
How do you determine which metrics indicate real success? Generally, in the higher-education segment, the most important goal is to support the core mission of instruction and research. In addition to a robust infrastructure, other critical components include the provisioning of collaborative tools, applications and services that enable students and faculty to be successful in the learning, teaching and research space. There are measurable outcomes: One is student success. We also measure success around research dollars raised, student applicants, student grades and other factors.
How do you lead within your own department? In a large and decentralized organization such as Case, I see my leadership responsibilities largely framed in terms of coordinating the autonomy of each of the key business units. Understanding customer needs and mobilizing my team to deliver value is also a key part of my mission.
What's the next year look like? Over the next 12 to 18 months, Case and OneCleveland, along with our strategic partners, will roll out application services in areas like community [utility] computing, grid technologies for economic development, networked electronic medical records, health care education for middle and high schools, and e-government services.
2006 Premier 100 IT Leaders
Stories in this report:
- 2006 Premier 100 IT Leaders
- How They Were Chosen
- Premier 100 IT Leaders Honor Roll
- Defining Leadership
- IT Heroes
- People First
- Quiz: Are YOU A Top-Tier Leader?
- Words of Wisdom
- Agile By Design
- Cohesive Compliance
- Security Imperative
- Managing Megaprojects
- Foreign Challenge
- Succeeding at Storage
- Speed of Business
- Rebecca A. Blalock: IT Convert
- Terry P. Brooks: Multitask Manager
- Julie F. Butcher: Master Organizer
- Barbara D. Carlini: Agent of Change
- Lev S. Gonick: Community Liason
- John Sullivan: IT Adventurer
- George C. Rimnac: Disciplined Leader
- Mark Popolano: Master of Details
- William Westrate: Tech Strategist
- Elizabeth Hackenson: Business Booster
- In Memoriam: Gerard Higgins
- Protege Profile: Steve Yon
- Ask A Premier 100 IT Leader: Wendell Fox
- The Next Generation of IT
- Protege Profile: Allison Young
- Protege Profile: Michael R. Dean
- Protege Profile: Jairo Orea
- Protege Profile: Bill McCorey
- Protege Profile: Martin Schneider
- Work That Makes Them Cringe
- Leader Do-Overs
- Shark tank: Some Lead, Some Don't
- Data Points: Premier 100 IT Leaders 2006
- Executive Brief: IT Management Best Practices
- Webcast: Secrets of Superspies
- Webcast: The Passionate Pursuit of IT and Business Alignment
- Webcast: Evolving Through Abstraction: On the Way to Utility Computing