George Mason University’s new CIO comes from CIA
George Mason University on Monday announced that Charmaine Madison, deputy chief of the CIA’s IT enterprise group, will become its vice president of information services and chief information officer.
In a university press release, Deb Dickenson, the university’s executive vice president for finance and administration, said the new CIO is being named at a “critical moment in the evolution of our institution.”
“Her experience implementing transformational change through strategic roadmaps is well-suited for the opportunities and challenges our university faces as we modernize and streamline our infrastructure to serve the diverse needs of our community,” Dickenson said.
According to her LinkedIn profile, Madison served the Air Force for two decades, retiring as a cyber operations officer. She spent the last decade working for the federal government, including in CIO roles and as a national security scholar at the Department of Defense’s National War College. According to George Mason’s press materials, Madison spent a decade working for the CIA, where she’s credited with having planned IT upgrades, managing daily operations and leading an extensive research and development directorate.
The university said she holds a doctorate in strategic leadership from Regent University and master’s degrees in business administration, information technology and national security studies — and she is currently pursuing a master’s degree in clinical mental health counseling.
She’s scheduled to begin the new role August 1.
George Mason University — based in Fairfax County, Virginia, near Washington, D.C. — enrolls more than 40,000 students. In 2022, the university partnered with Amazon Web Services to develop a college transfer platform that provides users with a more streamlined experience.
