With decades of experience navigating the fast-moving technology landscape, WVU will welcome Kimberly Clark as its next chief information officer in October. (WVU Photo/Becky Particka)
With decades of experience navigating the fast-moving technology landscape, West Virginia University will welcome Kimberly Clark as its next chief information officer. Clark will officially begin her role Oct. 12.
Most recently, Clark served as deputy chief information officer and chief digital transformation officer at Arizona State University. She previously held senior technology leadership roles at Twitter and Charles Schwab.
“Like all industries, higher education is undergoing a digital transformation as AI and emerging technologies continue to advance our academic, research, student, and administrative priorities,” President Michael T. Benson said. “Kim joins our Mountaineer family at a pivotal moment in our technological evolution to prepare for the future.”
Reporting to Vice President and Chief Financial Officer Chris Kabourek, Clark will be charged with driving digital innovation, strengthening enterprise cybersecurity, building scalable and efficient technology operations, enriching the student digital experience, and leading the responsible and productive adoption of AI across the WVU System.
Kabourek, who chaired the search committee, drew on his personal and professional networks to recruit a number of accomplished leaders to consider joining WVU.
Following a rigorous national search, Clark emerged as the leading candidate.
“Kim brings exceptional experience and a track record of transformative impact, but what stands out most is her strategic clarity, common sense, kind candor, and proven ability to create and lead great teams,” Kabourek said. “She is exactly the kind of person and leader people want to work with — someone who turns strategy into execution, brings people together, and makes everyone around her better. The opportunity to work alongside Kim is tremendously exciting to me, and the WVU community will quickly understand why. Oct. 12 cannot come soon enough.
“I also want to personally thank the search committee for the tremendous time and effort they invested in evaluating candidates and showcasing WVU throughout the process,” Kabourek continued. “Their work helped us attract an exceptionally strong pool, which made this a difficult decision. It also demonstrated that talented leaders across the country see the momentum building at WVU and want to be part of our future.”
With several major University-wide ITS initiatives underway, including the Modernization Program with Workday, and ongoing investments in cybersecurity, AI, enrollment systems, research support, Health Sciences, and other IT service developments,
Clark will serve as a top advisor to technology advancement and strategic planning systemwide.
Clark will also oversee the Office of the CIO, Infrastructure and Operations, Product Management, Information Security, Research Services, and Information Technology Services.
“At its core, technology should serve humanity by empowering our students to thrive, our faculty to innovate, our researchers to discover, our teams to excel, and our broader communities to flourish,” Clark said.
“We are living in a pivotal era in higher education where the deliberate and ethical adoption of emerging technologies is reshaping how institutions deliver value. West Virginia University is leaning courageously into that future. I am honored to join President Benson, Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs Beverly Wendland, Chris Kabourek, and the Mountaineer community in reimagining and building a digital landscape that serves WVU and the state with distinction.”
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