The chief information officer is supported by deputy CIOs and Office of the CIO staff.
Vice Provost for IT and Chief Information Officer
Mairéad joined the University of Illinois and Technology Services in July 2022 after serving three years as the CIO of EDUCAUSE, a nonprofit association whose mission is to advance higher education through the use of information technology. Prior to that, she held IT leadership positions at Tufts University in Massachusetts, Pennsylvania State University, the University of Wisconsin and the University of Tennessee, serving more than 20 years in IT in higher education.
Seeing students, faculty and staff benefit from the results of IT efforts is something Mairéad considers one of the most rewarding factors of working in Higher Education. The professional and personal development of staff is fundamental to Mairéad’s approach, and she considers herself a proponent of creating a leadership culture.
She is engaged at the national level in organizations such as Internet2, EDUCAUSE, the Common Solutions Group and the Coalition for Networked Information and finds passion in this aspect of her work.
Chief Administrative Officer
After graduating from Uni High and the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Jim started his professional career at the University of Illinois in 2003 working for the Operations Center at CITES, now Technology Services. Jim then spent 21 years at the Grainger College of Engineering, moving from desktop support to manager and advancing his role, eventually serving as the head of IT for the college from 2013-2025. He joined the Office of the CIO as the new Chief Administrative Officer in June of 2025.
Jim currently oversees the groups involved with IT strategy and planning, business and financial operations, human resources, communications and marketing and facilities operations. He works closely with the CIO in enabling the CIO’s vision and strategy for campus IT. Jim is also one of the founding facilitators of the Manager Development Program where he teaches performance management and coaches developing managers from various universities.
Outside of work, Jim spends his time still staring at computer screens for recreational reasons, and enjoys working on extensive home improvement and woodworking projects.
Deputy CIO, Chief Privacy Officer & Chief Information Security Officer
In April 2023, Kim Milford accepted the role of Deputy CIO and Chief Information Security Officer at Illinois. In this role, Kim draws on her experience in research and education to lead strategy, direction, and innovation related to cybersecurity, identity protection and privacy.
Prior to this role, Kim was the Executive Director and CISO at the REN-ISAC, working with research and education institutions and partners to provide member institutions with the information and tools to better defend their environments from threats. Her service in higher education began in 1998 having held leadership positions at Indiana University, the University of Rochester and University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Kim provides cybersecurity expertise and presentations at national and regional conferences and seminars. She guest lectures and teaches cybersecurity courses and training, and has authored/co-authored many articles on the subject. Kim has a B.S. in Accounting from Saint Louis University in St. Louis, Missouri and a J.D. from John Marshall Law School in Chicago, Illinois.
Deputy CIO, Infrastructure Services
Brad became the associate CIO of Enterprise Infrastructure in January 2025 after serving as the director for enterprise infrastructure for Technology Services since 2020. He is active in campus IT leadership, Office of the CIO leadership and the Big Ten Academic Alliance. Prior to his current role, Brad spent 12 years working for The Grainger College of Engineering in various roles which included research IT support, managing user support, directing instructional technologies and eventually directing overall IT operations. Before Grainger Engineering, Brad worked in the System Offices for AITS supporting Banner and doing desktop support for those units for five years. Brad began his career at the University of Illinois in 2002 as an hourly employee at the Central Stores Computer Center (later Tech Zone), first in sales and then as an equipment repair technician.
Brad served in the U.S. Army and Illinois Army National Guard as an infantryman from 1998 – 2004. He graduated from Illinois State University in 2002, and received his Masters of Human Resources and Industrial Relations from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign in 2019. Brad is motivated by finding transparent, common-sense solutions to problems, building partnerships across campus, mentoring and coaching.
Outside of work, Brad spends most of his time with his spouse, their two children, and a house full of pets. His hobbies include archery, wood working, and family travel as much as possible.
Deputy CIO, IT Operations
Since 1998, Drew has worked at all levels of IT across multiple units at the University of Illinois, including the Department of Computer Science and Engineering IT. He joined Technology Services in 2012 as a manager, then director, service owner, and eventually as interim Deputy CIO in 2021, then permanently beginning in May 2023.
Drew‘s areas of expertise include multimedia, educational technologies and classroom support. As Deputy CIO, his responsibilities include enterprise applications, software development, web hosting, campus network infrastructure, classrooms, internet communications tools, endpoint management, instructional labs and customer service teams. He represents the Office of the CIO on campus task forces and committees, contributing the perspectives of higher education IT services as well as representing the customer experience.
To Drew, meeting with staff, campus leaders and customers is one of the most rewarding parts about his role. Outside of work, Drew enjoys not attending meetings or reading emails. Instead, he can be found reading, camping or spending time with his wife and children.
Interim Deputy CIO, Innovation and Technology Strategy
Mary Stevens leads the Innovation and Technology Strategy team and spearheads enterprise architecture efforts for Technology Services. She is working on several initiatives for Boldly IT.
With 28 years of experience at Illinois, Mary has held a wide range of roles—from UNIX and desktop support to leading networking and infrastructure teams. She was instrumental in deploying the university’s first campus firewalls and led firewall and VPN services for several years. Prior to her current role, she focused on advancing technology and enterprise architecture across campus.
Mary holds a B.S. in Physics and an MBA, both from the University of Illinois. She is passionate about collaborative problem-solving and enjoys working with teams to design thoughtful, effective solutions. She serves on the steering team of Itana, an EDUCAUSE community for enterprise, business and technical architects in higher education.
Outside of work, Mary is a second-degree black belt in Tae Kwon Do and an avid hiker and camper—often joined by her dog Zuri, a spirited basenji. Her family shares a strong Illinois connection, with both her sons and husband also holding degrees from the university.