April 5, 2024
University of Missouri President Mun Choi has named Ben Canlas as UM System vice president for information technology and MU chief information officer, effective April 1. Canlas has served as interim in the role since October 2022 and brings more than 20 years of experience within the university to this executive IT role.
Prior to the interim role, Canlas served as director of enterprise application services and oversaw the university’s enterprise systems and associated business solutions.
During his time as interim, Canlas led efforts to improve customer service and transparency of information technology services; increased engagement with campus stakeholders to improve the experience of faculty, staff and students; and implemented solutions to support teaching and research across the University. Some examples of these efforts include launching a project to improve the connectivity and reliability of MU’s wired and wireless networks, implementing the Hellbender high performance computing cluster and research data ecosystem, and deploying the mobile ID for MU students. Under his leadership, the Division of IT also instituted multi-factor authentication for more than 500 university applications and completed a robust assessment of information technology services.
