Meet Bernard Gulachek
Bernard Gulachek is the vice president and chief information officer (VPCIO) for the University of Minnesota. In his role, he ensures the strategic and operational excellence of both academic and administrative information technology to support and advance all aspects of the mission. Bernard collaborates across the five-campus University of Minnesota system with senior leaders, chancellors, deans, faculty, staff, students, and other key campus stakeholders to identify opportunities to leverage technology in ways that support the goals of teaching and learning, research and discovery, and outreach.
Bernard has served the University of Minnesota since 1986 in a variety of operational and strategic technology leadership roles, most recently as the associate vice-president for information technologies. He is credited with leading the establishment of many of the information technology services in use at the University today.
Bernard obtained his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University of Minnesota.
Q & A with Bernard
To learn more from the VPCIO for the University of Minnesota, we talked with Bernard and asked how information technology fits in with the PEAK Initiative.
Q: What do you envision for the new operations centers and common goods services teams?
A: Teams of specific technology expertise comprised of technologists from units within the University working together on projects and/or in the delivery of enterprise services.
Q: What opportunities will staff that they don’t have now?
A: Exposure to - and inclusion in - projects, service teams, and serving a broader customer/user base that staff would not otherwise have as part of their smaller team’s day-to-day work in a local unit or system campus.
Q: What’s your leadership style?
A: Highly collaborative
Q: How did your career lead you where you are today?
A: My length of service to the University has paralleled the growth of technologies and their importance at the University. I’ve witnessed the digital transformation of the University during those ~37 years.
Q: What is the biggest challenge you are trying to solve currently in your new role?
A: Leading the assembly of several smaller teams that are performing similar functions separately - to a larger team that can have greater institutional impact.
Q: How do you envision the culture will work to help keep staff connected to both their campus or college and with their new team in the operations centers and on common goods services teams?
A: The creation of a virtual team, by virtue of several smaller teams of individuals working together, will create an additional culture that is additive to the IT management function - not subtractive. This is exciting to me.
Q: What is your favorite sport, best game you ever saw, and what was the score?
A: 1987 Game 7 of the World Series with a Minnesota Twins victory over the St. Louis Cardinals, 4 - 2.