SHANNON THOMAS
CIO for Dynamic Campus
Can you please provide a little introduction about yourself
I am a collaborative and service-oriented leader with over 16 years of experience in leading people and projects. I am currently the Chief Information Officer at Bethel University in Minnesota through Bethel’s partnership with Dynamic Campus. Prior to my current role, I spent five years at Hennepin Technical College (HTC) as their Chief Information Officer where I was responsible for the vision, strategy, and day-to-day functions around the entire college’s use of technology.
At HTC, I harnessed the power of digital technology to build a better educational experience for all. By implementing CRM, ERP, and cloud services, I used technology and automation to reduce the administrative burden on staff and faculty and create a more connected learner experience.
I have a passion for staff development and organizational effectiveness. I also have experience teaching in a classroom and presenting at conferences. Over the course of my career, I've led diverse and growing teams in several different industries to drive digital transformation for organizations by implementing technology solutions. I hold an MBA and am pursuing my doctorate in educational leadership.
What path have you taken to your current position?
My journey to where I am was anything but linear. There were a few false starts, dead ends, and re-envisioning how my life might look and feel. I'm a first-generation college graduate, and I actually dropped out before my last semester and picked it back up five years later - graduating long after my peers. Eventually, I found myself in project management and then leading a PMO, and it felt like the most natural fit. A while back, I was laid off while pregnant with my son, and finding a job while visibly pregnant was a challenge.
Eventually, I landed a project manager contractor job at Hennepin Technical College, and a few months after I started, I went on maternity leave. When I came back, they asked me to be the interim Director of Institutional Research (reporting to the CIO) - to which I said yes. A couple of months after that, the former CIO left and they asked me to step in and once again I said yes. The learning curve was steep, but I had some really amazing mentors and friends who taught me and supported me along the journey.
Has it always been your vision to reach the position you’re at? Was your current role part of your vision to become a tech leader?
Honestly, no. I didn't expect to find myself in technology. I spent a lot of time project managing marketing technology or technology projects, but I assumed I'd work my way into a COO role.
While I could figure out how to manage the projects and understood enough about how they all worked together to know the levers to pull when I didn't have deep experience in networks or cyber security. I counted myself out before I even got the chance.
Have you had a role model or mentor that has helped you on your journey? (If you feel comfortable, please share their name and how they helped you)
I've had MANY role models and mentors. There is a CIO community in the MinnState system that was absolutely pivotal in my success in my first CIO role. A few of the most notable among them are Joseph Collins from North Hennepin Community College who met with me monthly and not only helped teach me the ways of technology in higher education but also checked on me as a person.
Dr. Jackie Bailey has been mentoring me as well, and she reminds me often that some of the most successful attributes of a good CIO are good leadership qualities and not configs on network devices.
I am constantly honored and humbled to brush shoulders with some of the smartest, funniest, genuine people within the technology networks here in Minnesota.
How do you see the role of the technology leader evolving over the next 5 years?
We're already seeing a shift in the backgrounds of technology leaders. It used to be the guys working on the mainframe, and now we're seeing that technology leaders need to be visionaries, good communicators and excellent partners in their organizations. As we see more things move to SaaS, this will be exponentially more important.
What skills do you think leaders of the future will need in order to thrive?
Humble but visionary leadership skills are going to be foundational. As we see technology evolve and change, as leaders, we need to be teachable and comfortable with change. I never want to be the smartest person on my team, instead, I want to be able to put the smartest people I know into positions where they can use their expertise and we can partner together to move our organization into the future.
Is there anything in particular that you would still like to achieve in your career or what is the next step on your journey?
I have a long career ahead of me, but I didn't expect to be here, so I'm not sure what to expect next. I am absolutely passionate about helping other people become inclusive leaders. The technology field still needs more diversity, and I hope to contribute to that solution in some way.
What advice would you give to aspiring technology leaders who are just starting their careers?
Technology can always be learned and taught. What you can't teach is how to be a good human or a good leader - that seems to be somewhat innate and internally driven.
This means if you have to choose between working on yourself or doing a deep dive into a technology solution, work on yourself and your leadership skills.
"work on yourself."
What has been the biggest challenge you've faced in your career so far, and how did you overcome it?
To be totally blunt, being a woman in a male-dominated field has been the biggest challenge. It's not exactly something you can overcome in the way traditional challenges can be overcome, but I've managed it by having really good mentors who will be straight with me about my blindspots, and encourage me when I feel frustrated.
Diversity is something that's celebrated and discussed on my team often beginning during interviews because being different from one another helps us innovate. This also means, that when my team witnesses micro-aggressions or discrimination, they are comfortable confronting it in their own way.
What has been your most significant achievement or proudest moment as a technology leader?
My team often makes me feel like a proud parent - when they win, we all win. A few weeks into my tenure at Hennepin Technical College (HTC), we were in a meeting about enrollment declines and not knowing how to track prospects and students.
I asked what CRM they were using, and they asked, "What's a CRM?" It was a great opportunity to cast a vision of what a good technology solution could do. We worked across the business segments to find solutions for attracting and retaining students. Through the implementation of our CRM solution, increasing automation, and predictive analytics, we saw our declining enrollment dramatically turn around, and we saw student success rates rise.
I'm so proud of all the passion, effort and expertise my team put into those projects. It is absolutely amazing to see how a technology solution can remove the administrative burden from employees while actually helping to change the lives of students.
A big thank you to Shannon Thomas from Dynamic Campus for sharing her journey to date.
If you would like to gain more perspective from Tech Leaders and CIOs you can read some of our other interviews here.
