Alex Henson began his tenure as Chief information Officer at Virginia Commonwealth University in April, 2013. As CIO, he is charged with supporting innovation in teaching, learning, research, and scholarship and leveraging IT services and data to drive student success and positive learning outcomes. Alex is also responsible for IT strategic planning and alignment with VCU’s Strategic Plan, Quest 2025. He is also responsible for IT service delivery, maintenance of a secure and robust infrastructure and achievement of the highest level of customer satisfaction.
Alex currently serves and Chair of the Board of the Mid-Atlantic Research infrastructure Alliance and has served as Chair of the Virginia Higher Education CIO group. He was previously COO of IT Services at the University of Chicago. In this role, Alex was responsible for University-wide IT support operations as well as the administrative and financial operations of the central IT organization at the University. In previous roles at Chicago from 1990-97 and after 2001, he led several system implementations; managed student and alumni/development systems; and managed computer retailing operations. Alex has also worked for a Fortune 500 medical device manufacturer and a dotcom.
He holds a BA in Political Science and an MBA in Marketing and Human Resources Management, both from the University of Chicago