Westmont Magazine Westmont CIO Receives Recognition

Westmont CIO Reed Sheard accepted a Computerworld Premier 100 IT Leader award for 2015 in March with top IT professionals from the business, education, government, service, technology and non-profit sectors. Other recipients include CIOs from MasterCard, Intel, NBC, PayPal, Harvard Graduate School of Education, the American Cancer Association, Verizon, GE Energy, t he White House, Microsoft and UPS.

Sheard has employed innovative and resourceful technology to advance the college’s mission, stabilize the technology infrastructure and end frequent IT outages. An early adopter and risk-taker, he over-came limited resources with innovation. Westmont is one of the first U.S. schools to build an 802.11 n wireless network over the entire campus. InfoWorld subsequently recognized Westmont as one of the top 100 U.S. IT organizations. Sheard moved email, the website and digital assets to the cloud, completing more than 20 projects without adding budget or staff, using services such as Gmail and Egnyte.

Recognizing the importance of smart phones and tablets, he guided the development of a free native iPhone application, which includes a GPS tracking program for college shuttles, and an iPad app for the magazine. Students traveling with Europe Semester receive an iPad mini loaded with academic coursework, reducing the weight of luggage and lowering the cost of textbooks.

Sheard also modernized technology in the library, creating collaborative learning environments and adding more than 200 new power-outlet tracks. He has pioneered the use of Salesforce for fundraising and helped admissions adopt the software.

Sheard also serves as vice president for college advancement.