Texas A&M University-San Antonio has hired William “Bill” Griffenberg as the associate vice president of information technology services and chief information officer.
Griffenberg, who took the post in January, was previously the Florence County CIO in South Carolina, a position he held since 2014.
At A&M-San Antonio, Griffenberg will make policies and decisions for Information Technology Services to meet the university’s goals and objectives.
“Everything is impacted by technology,” Griffenberg said. “I have to make sure my team knows we’re here because of our customer: students, faculty and staff.”
Griffenberg replaced former CIO Curtis Spears said Patti Morgan, manager of compensation and recruitment.
Griffenberg said he has many plans for the campus. The main goal is to improve the university’s network and server.
“We want to stay ahead with technology for the students,” Griffenberg said.
Cybersecurity has always been a concern on campus; Griffenberg wants students to know their privacy and information are safe with the school’s network.
Griffenberg has ideas for workshops in the future and suggested having an information technology day on campus. Griffenberg and ITS additionally participate in workshops, clubs, organizations and events on campus, providing assistance with JagSync and similar websites used by students.
Griffenberg’s goal is to have a “network in place that is resilient, scalable, secure and reliable,” by the end of the year.
He said having such a network may not be an easy task, but with the right people it’s most definitely possible. Griffenberg is the person in charge of supervising all the networks and servers in addition to the help desk, tech support and distance learning institutional design. He collaborates with web developers, the information security officer (ISO) and project management office.
Morgan, who works with Griffenberg’s department, described Griffenberg as “wonderful to work with.”
“He’s a good listener and he understands the process because he’s got so many years of experience in his field,” she said.
But his original goal was actually not ITS, and one might say he traded touchdowns and teaching for technology.
Griffenberg’s initial plan was to attend college and play football. He played quarterback for Graceland University in Iowa on a football scholarship in hopes of becoming a teacher. Later, he discovered teaching was not for him.
Griffenberg joined the Air Force in 1980 and discovered electronics and technology. He was placed in telecommunications and began to learn more about new technology.
“The things you can learn, technology is always changing and that’s what makes life worth living,” he said.
“The Air Force really got me started with technology,” Griffenberg said. He soon found himself in electronics school with the Air Force, where he had to learn the basic components of technology and served in the Air Force until 1989.
He later attended Jefferson Davis Community College in Mississippi to continue his general education, receiving his bachelor’s in 2006 and master’s degree in 2008 from the University of Phoenix.
Griffenberg also served as assistant vice president for information technology and CIO at Florence-Darlington Technical College in South Carolina 2011-2014, and he was IT division administrator/CIO with the Montana Department of Justice 2003-2010.
