On Aug. 18, President Saúl Jiménez-Sandoval, announced Robert Guinn will serve as interim chief information officer, effective Sept. 1, while the University conducts the search for a new vice president and CIO. This follows Orlando Leon stepping down from the role of vice president for Information Technology and chief information officer at the end of this month.

As interim CIO, Guinn will manage 85 team members across 10 departments, ranging from Academic Technology Services to Information Security, in service to the University mission to boldly educate and empower students for success. Championing student success in all areas will remain an overarching priority.

Among top areas of responsibility he will oversee as CIO are the continuing evolution and refinement of technology and organizational strategies and structures that support University needs, especially during the pandemic, and fostering deep partnerships campuswide that support innovation and the implementation of strategic technology initiatives.

Guinn has served the University for 13 years, joining as a manager overseeing the Information Services team, then as director of Enterprise Applications before becoming deputy CIO in 2017. As deputy CIO, he has grown professionally through the President’s Leadership program and through executive coaching. In his four years as deputy CIO, Guinn has established a formal project management office and implemented a project intake process to support project management and prioritization best practices. Guinn also helped refine processes related to complex technology-related budgets. Perhaps most importantly, he helped co-lead a critically important effort to implement Amazon Web Services cloud services to support agility, operational efficiencies and innovation.

Prior to joining Fresno State, Guinn spent 18 years in the private sector managing and overseeing financial systems, human resources and payroll systems, fixed asset and intranet solutions for Gottschalks department stores. During that time, he helped build IT strategic plans and worked with vendors to bring in new technology to the organization. A Bulldog at heart, Guinn earned a Bachelor of Science in business administration (accountancy) from Fresno State.