In her position as the Assistant Vice President and Chief Technology Officer at McMaster University, Gayleen leads the institution’s enterprise IT strategy and works closely with the university’s leadership and other key personnel, including the McMaster IT community, to ensure that McMaster’s research, teaching, and learning initiatives are supported and enabled by campus systems and infrastructure.
With over two decades of higher education IT experience, Gayleen has been an active leader in Canada through her involvement in CUCCIO (Canadian University Council of Chief Information Officers), including being a founder and ongoing leader for the organization’s Canadian Higher Ed IT Leader Professional Development program, and Chair of the CUCCIO Cybersecurity Standing Committee.
Gayleen has been equally active in her service to EDUCAUSE, where she currently serves on the Board of Directors and has been on the Faculty for the EDUCAUSE Senior Director Institute (2022), Management Institute (2020), and New IT Managers Institute (2018, 2019). In addition, she is a Fellow of the 2016 Leading Change Institute, a graduate of the EDUCAUSE Institute Management Program, and has been a frequent presenter at national and regional professional conferences in both Canada and the United States.
Gayleen serves on the CANARIE Board of Directors and CANARIE’s Cybersecurity Advisory Committee, the ORION (Ontario) Board, the Hospice-Wellington Board, she is a founding member of CanSSOC, serving on its Steering Committee and Sponsorship Committee.
Gayleen was a Recipient of the 2013 Guelph Women of Distinction Award for Information Technology, and the 2019 CUCCIO Community Award.
Gayleen has an Honours Degree in English Literature from Carleton University in Ottawa, and a Masters of Business Administration (MBA) from the University of Guelph.
