Enterprise Web Executive Director / Organizational Transformation Leader / Problem Solver
Professional Summary
Executive director with more than 20 years of experience spanning web, marketing, information technology, and cybersecurity. Currently leading web strategy, governance, and operations within one of the largest universities in the world.
Strategic leader and trusted advisor to senior executives, junior developers, and everyone in between. Known for transforming websites into powerful brand assets that deliver results, bridging organizational silos, solving hard problems, getting big things done, and building resilient, high-performing teams.
Experience
Texas A&M University Division of Marketing and Communications
Executive Director for Web Operations—February 2023 to Present
Drove Enterprise Web Strategy & Digital Transformation
Directed web operations across the University. Advised, coached, and set direction for dozens of professionals outside of our chain of command, including professionals in web, marketing, and IT, along with vendors, college, and division leaders.
Led the web operations team supporting enterprise web infrastructure, content management systems, cloud web hosting, content delivery network for A&M’s shared static assets, disaster recovery, enterprise web search, analytics, accessibility, security, quality assurance, web calendaring, API integrations, and back-end development for university web platforms and the university’s most critical websites.
Developed and executed a strategy to standardize websites and web operations across Texas A&M University in collaboration with my boss, my peer Executive Director, and our team. We built relationships with all units, positioned our team as thought leaders and trusted advisors, and developed shared resources that included a comprehensive design system, training, standardized web infrastructure, master contracts, standardized processes, and policies.
Led centralization initiative for web operations across Texas A&M University. Standardized enterprise web hosting for WordPress and websites published to static cloud hosting from Cascade CMS.
Led content management system implementations for Aggie UX, the Texas A&M Design System. Over 100 websites have been migrated to the Aggie UX, including the main University website, www.tamu.edu. Most major units are migrated or in the process of being migrated.
Developed the AI Answer Engine (AEO) / Search Engine Optimization (SEO) strategy for University Marketing.
Developed strategy and led effort to standardize and document all web operations, development, and support processes.
Stabilized and Strengthened Web Talent Through Institutional Change
Successfully lobbied the Texas A&M President and Senior Vice President to save all staff on our web team from being moved to other units or laid off during a reorganization.
Secured funding for new senior web developer positions. Recruited and hired two excellent team members, bringing both back from private sector jobs. On track to secure funding for a new university-level web support team.
Achieved a 100% retention rate for our staff through three very tumultuous years filled with difficult institutional change, including a university centralization effort followed by decentralization, three university president transitions, a reduction in force, and a Chief Marketing Officer transition.
Co-led effort to develop a career ladder, standardize titles and job descriptions for web professionals at Texas A&M.
Authored the University’s policies for websites. Developing a marketing and communications controls catalog.
Led initiative to bring university websites into compliance with several new and updated laws, including the June 2024 update to Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act, Texas Education Code §51.3525, and Texas House Bill 5195.
Built strategic relationships, served as the primary liaison, business relationship manager, and diplomat between Central Marketing, college marketing directors, IT, Cyber Security, Risk and Compliance, the Texas A&M University System, the State of Texas Department of Information Resources, and web vendors.
Led, co-led, or served as an advisor for all large web migration and redesign projects at the University since February 2023. Significant projects included a complete redesign of the new Texas A&M University website, the Texas A&M News and Stories website, redesigns and new college websites for the Mays Business School, the College of Arts and Sciences, the College of Performance, Visualization and Fine Arts, and many others.
Secured master contracts for web hosting providers and web development vendors for the Texas A&M University System and all 21 member universities and state agencies. Wrote the RFP for the System web hosting master contract, led the effort resulting in three master contracts for web hosting platforms. Assisted with the web development master contracts.
Texas A&M University System
Assistant Director, Information Technology and Information Security Officer—May 2020 to January 2023
Increased organizational maturity in information security
Authored the System Office’s Information Security Control Standards Catalog. The 163 controls are based on NIST SP 800-53. They were developed to improve the organization’s security posture and bring the System Offices into compliance with legal requirements, including Texas Administrative Code, §202, and Texas Government Code, Chapter 2054.
Led the department’s responses for IT and information security audits by Texas A&M University System Internal Audit, Deloitte, and Palo Alto Unit 42.
Led projects following processes and standards from the Project Management Institute, Prosci organizational change management, and TAC § 216 requirements
Led an initiative to provide a shared services authentication system for all A&M System Members. Worked with each A&M System Member IT group to configure and federate Okta tenants and synchronize employee Active Directory accounts.
Managed project to migrate System Offices Shared Services groups from Service Now, the ITSM platform shared with Texas A&M University, to a self-managed instance of TeamDynamix.
Managed project to develop ITIL 4-based service, incident, problem, and change management processes for three IT support groups.
Implemented an IT project portfolio management system for the IT Project Management Office and a TAC § 216-compliant project management process for the System Offices IT department.
Led a project to migrate the System Offices from Syncplicity to Microsoft OneDrive and Teams.
Drove an effort to purchase an enterprise email marketing system for the System Offices. Led the implementation, migrating departments from five mass email systems to one.
Improved websites and web operations for the Office of Information Technology
Rewrote the System Office’s IT WordPress theme, including most PHP, SASS, and JavaScript. The new code increased the Siteimprove accessibility score from the low 70s to 99.5 out of 100, eliminated numerous security vulnerabilities, added developer documentation to every file and function, eliminated the need for multiple plugins, and replaced four themes with a single codebase.
Implemented a documented process for conducting manual web accessibility testing using the WCAG Evaluation Methodology.
Texas A&M University Health Science Center
Associate Director, Web Services—August 2013 to April 2020
Lead Webmaster—July 2011 to August 2013
Directed web operations
Directed web operations and managed a full-stack web team responsible for web design, user experience, development, security, accessibility, content strategy, analytics, SEO, on-site search, and infrastructure for more than 160 websites.
Successfully advocated for more positions and invested in continuing education for staff allowing us to leverage specialization of labor. This resulted in the ability to meet the demand of supporting Texas A&M Health, its 5 colleges, 29 centers and institutes, and clinical operations. Specialization and training resulted in much higher quality of work, efficiency, and staff job satisfaction.
Campaigned to increase salaries and worked to improve culture and work-life for staff, ending a revolving door of web developers.
Served on the IT senior staff team responsible for technology operations for the institution. As a team, we led the organization through significant changes, including IT audits and a merger from a separate university into Texas A&M University. We developed IT policy, and business continuity plans, acted as a change review board, and provided project management and strategic planning.
Established an accessibility program for web and other electronic information resources. Created a dedicated Accessibility Coordinator staff position. Provided accessibility training and procured new accessibility resources, including Siteimprove.
Researched and recommended enterprise products and negotiated purchases resulting in discounted rates from vendors including F5, Hannon Hill, Cludo, and Flywheel. Responsible for vendor management for projects with RedHat, Microsoft Azure, and Amazon Web Services.
Developed a strategy to significantly improve the quality, consistency, and impact of college websites
Developed buy-in from college Deans and other executive leaders, found ways to use websites better to support their KPIs; presented executive reports including user research and analytics; developed strategy, project plans, and then executed to rebuild each site.
Coached developers and served as the lead developer. Led the team in developing standardized, shared components in Cascade CMS.
Improved efficiency, relationships, and culture, resulting in more effective websites, more effective operations, and better service
Led extensive website redesign projects in 2011 and again in 2018 for the institution and all of its colleges, centers, and institutes.
Built the news site for Texas A&M Health that saw traffic grow from about 6,000 monthly page views in 2012 to over 230,000 monthly page views in the fall of 2019.
Implemented new enterprise systems for custom web search, project management, email marketing, instant messaging, marketing analytics, search engine optimization, web accessibility and quality assurance, and continuing education platforms.
Developed a comprehensive web application security initiative
Implemented monitoring, penetration testing, and internal information security auditing. This work enabled timely identification and remediation of vulnerabilities, prevented at least one major HIPAA violation, and stopped active attacks. As a result, there were no successful security breaches of the websites, web applications, or web servers managed by our team.
Standardized procedures for securing Linux web servers; added application and server monitoring, standardized patching, backups, and web application hardening; replaced multiple authentication systems for web applications with a single service.
Procured and implemented F5 web application firewalls, replacing ineffective legacy systems, resulting in greatly improved application security, uptime, and six-figure cost savings.
Documented web team processes and infrastructure, enabling staff to resolve problems faster and configure systems more consistently.
Served Texas A&M through leadership teams and campus communities
GoWeb leadership team: campus community established to elevate web disciplines at Texas A&M. Our team coordinated special interest groups, workshops, retreats, and conferences, including a Web Security Special Interest Group.
Texas A&M System EIR Accessibility Coordinators: worked to improve accessibility compliance for member universities by providing training, tools, and shared services.
Texas A&M University Libraries
Web and Information Designer—May 2007 to July 2011
Rewrote the front-end for the library’s websites in HTML5 and standards-compliant CSS; replaced table-based layout with accessible, semantic markup. Assisted with web redesign and CMS migration. Designed and developed the first mobile website for the library.
Implemented digital signage hardware and software for campus libraries.
Liles & Tarpley Web Development, LLC
Co-Owner, Web Designer & Developer—February 2006 to July 2011
Designed and developed websites and touch-screen kiosks for small businesses, university departments, researchers, and charitable organizations.
Texas A&M University Department of Computer Science
Systems Administrator, Help Desk Manager & Building Proctor—May 2004 to May 2007, Network Technician—November 2003 to May 2004, Windows Technician—July 2002 to November 2003
Managed a team of more than a dozen student IT technicians. Promoted to Systems Administrator in September 2006. Two-time recipient of the Computer Science Department Staff Award.
Education
Texas A&M University
Mays Business School—August 2000 to May 2004
Bachelor of Business Administration, Information and Operations Management, MIS track.
Certifications and Continuing Education
Certified Information Security Professional (CISSP).
More than 100 hours of continuing education in PMP project management, Prosci organizational change management, information security, ITIL-4, and programming.
Eagle Scout.
Core Competencies
Strategy • Cross-Functional Business Relationship Management, Bridgebuilding & Diplomacy • Thought Leadership • Digital Transformation • Team Building & Culture Development • Regulatory Compliance, Policy, Governance and Risk Management for IT Security and Accessibility (NIST SP 800-53, Texas Administrative Code, ADA Title II, WCAG) • Web Application Security • Organizational Change Management • Project Management • Vendor Management
Technical Foundation
Web Design & Development • User Experience Design • Enterprise Web Infrastructure • AI Answer Engine Optimization, Search Engine Optimization • Web Performance Optimization • JavaScript • HTML • CSS/SASS • PHP • Apache Velocity • Jekyll • WordPress • Hannon Hill Cascade CMS • Git • Amazon Web Services • Linux Administration • NGINX • Apache Web Server