Vantage Technology Consulting Group is excited to announce that Cathy Bates is joining our firm as a Senior Consultant. Cathy has 30 years of experience in higher education with a strong focus on strategic planning, information security and initiatives that transform academic, administrative and research capabilities. Cathy expands Vantage’s suite of strategic consulting services in higher education, information technology and security through her leadership experience as both a CIO (most recently at Appalachian State) and CISO (previously at the University of Arizona). She is an advocate for client collaboration to ensure the proper policies, processes, and designs align with the client’s needs and culture.
Cathy’s insights into faculty and student needs, the changing landscape of technology and trends in higher education have led to innovative projects and programs, such as:
- a technology research services program, sponsored by an industry partner, that supported graduate student assistantships and faculty needs for stable, dependable and secure coding and database services for funded research
- the creation of a highly successful information security program at a research university to implement education, risk, compliance and outreach services to protect student, faculty and staff information and advance research opportunities
- the development and implementation of a collaborative and inclusive technology governance framework with service management committees, service catalog, project management and annual technology roadmap
- external IT assessments and strategic plans for institutions and university systems
Cathy is an active member and contributor to EDUCAUSE, the leading technology organization of IT leaders and professional committed to advancing higher education. She has spoken at numerous conferences on topics such as IT Governance, Risk and Compliance in Higher Education, and Information Security Benchmarking Using the Core Date Service. She has also contributed to published articles and research reports including Thinking About IT Risk Strategically, and Technology in Higher Education: Information Security Leadership.
Her experience is uniquely rounded out with her B.S. in Applied Computer Science, M.Ed. in Secondary Education and attendance at Women’s Management Institute of Higher Education Resource Center (HERS). Cathy is recognized in the industry for her capabilities in strategic analysis, meeting mission requirements with transparency and agility, and ability to explain technology roadmaps relative to the needs of higher education.