Jeff Whitaker was named Eastern Kentucky University’s Chief Information Officer, the University announced. 

Whitaker had been Deputy Chief Information Officer at Eastern Kentucky since 2014. In that role, he managed vendor contracts and negotiations with vendors such as Oracle, Cisco, Ellucian, and Microsoft. Whitaker also oversaw an $8 million budget and was responsible for strategic planning/forecasting in leading EKU technology decisions for future student learning.

Before Whitaker began his services as Deputy Chief Information Officer, he was the EKU’s Director of Information Services from 2006 to 2014. During that time, he managed as many as 22 employees and worked with the day-to-day functions of Ellucian Banner. Whitaker has served as an EKU employee since 1997, serving as a senior programmer/analyst until 2006.

“As an EKU alum, this opportunity is very exciting. It is my goal that each student has the best possible experience using our IT services,” Whitaker said. “I am fortunate that we have many highly talented individuals in IT and I look forward to seeing what we can accomplish together.”

Before his time at EKU, Whitaker worked at Computrex Inc. as a computer programmer and at Toyota Motor Manufacturing. Whitaker earned a bachelor’s of business administration in computer informational systems from Eastern Kentucky in 1994. He earned a certificate in leadership excellence from the EKU College of Business in 2007.