Q&A with CIO, Robert Devries: Reflections on One Year as U of G CIO

In August 2023, Rob Devries joined the University of Guelph (U of G) as the Associate Vice-President (AVP) and Chief Information Officer (CIO). Rob brings with him more than 20 years of leadership experience in various IT industries. 

Prior to his role at U of G, Rob was the Assistant Deputy Minister, Digital Platforms with the Ontario Digital Service. In his tenure with the Ontario government, he championed a product-led approach, prioritizing the delivery of value to people and businesses in Ontario. In his current position as AVP and CIO at U of G, his priorities remain the same: he aims to empower his stakeholders – academics, students, staff and researchers – to reach their goals through the modernization of technology. 

Below, he reflects on his first year with U of G and his vision for the future.

Q&A

What comes to mind when you reflect on your first year as CIO at U of G?

Wow. So many thoughts! After a year here, I can safely confirm that taking this role at U of G was the right decision for me.  Change can often feel uncomfortable or risky, but personally, after talking to people and doing my own research, I knew higher ed was the right opportunity for me. I didn’t know it would land me here at U of G, but I’m very glad it did. Here are a few things that make me feel like I made the right decision:

• The People: It’s always the people. We come to work to get things done, but we don’t get there alone, so the people we work with, in our case our IT colleagues, but also the staff, students and faculty we empower through the technology we enable, have an enormous role in shaping how we feel about our work. I am lucky to have landed in a place where I get to work with people from all parts of the University who have such a desire to advance our mission and are passionate about their work and about the University. That doesn’t always lead to easy conversations, but in the end when we are aligned to a common goal and working together as one team, that passion leads to a better outcome which in turn creates a sense of accomplishment and pride. We have it and we can build on it. 
   
• The Opportunity: With a renewed strategy and some obstacles thrown our way, we have a real opportunity to change the way we work. Some areas of immediate focus are to build capacity, support innovation and re-think how we deliver not only technology services but how we build the human and technological capacity to support new and innovative capabilities.
   
• The Need: The University has diverse pockets of real technological leadership, yet some of the basic IT services seem to be of another era. Advancing our capabilities is critical. This includes leveraging cloud services, enabling new and emerging technologies, modernizing our systems of record and enterprise resource planning tools to help modernize the University’s operations and improve the user experience.

What have your biggest learning curves been?

The diversity of support we provide. Universities are complex organizations; there are so many different functions, all necessary and interconnected to support our core mission. We are a city within a city, a housing provider, a library, a sports and entertainment organization, a food services business, a community safety operation, an investment bank, a hospital and a lab services business to name a few.  All of the things necessary to create an environment where we can excel at teaching, learning and research while also playing an important role in serving the broader community around us. And it ALL needs technology to ensure that our staff, researchers, faculty and students can achieve their greatest potential. It is a lot, but where else can you get that opportunity to make a difference?

What are your biggest challenges as CIO?

Focusing on what is important and having the capacity to build a roadmap for IT that delivers on that. It is easy to get lost in all the unmet needs across our University. Our job is to work with our community to discover what those needs are, relentlessly focus on them, doing things the right way by building our digital capacity. 

What are you most excited about?

I am always excited about the future. I don’t like to get bogged down in the past. I want the University to truly embrace the digital age and see where it leads in terms of re-thinking what we do and how we do it. To do that, we all need to learn new skills and new ways of working and try to lead by example. It is an evolution that will take time. It takes a willingness to experiment (we are a university after all!). I am excited to find those champions who will work with us and demonstrate what is possible.

What is your vision for IT at U of G? 

My job is not so much to have a vision for IT.  It’s easier if we simply stick to the vision of the University and use that to guide us. After all, we would not exist except for all the things that are central to the mission of the University – students, researchers, faculty and the programs they create, the research they undertake and learning they enable. So, our mission is quite simple. For me it boils down to something like this: “Empower others to use technology and digital innovation to achieve their goals.”

Is there anything else you’d like to share but didn’t get the opportunity?

I hope everybody had a chance to take some time off this summer and had a chance to relax and spend time with the people you love. One of the highlights of my summer was an opportunity to tour Oxford University and enjoy a leisurely punt (or "row" - which means something entirely different in the UK) with my lovely bride down the Cherwell River through the botanical gardens and Oxford Campus (see photo above). It is truly one of the most beautiful places I have ever visited and a must do for anyone visiting the area.

Aside from that, I just want to express my gratitude to everyone who has made me feel welcome. I am grateful for the talented, caring and committed people I get to work with every day. I am grateful to work in an organization that has a higher purpose, that contributes meaningfully to the global community. I hope you all share that feeling of gratitude. To me, it’s the most important thing I can think about everyday to renew my sense of purpose.