Happy Retirement, John!
To read John’s thoughts as our Chair included in our Information and Impact Report, see this blog post from last month.
Our current Council Chair, John Bax, the CIO of Lincoln University, officially retires today. He first started partnering with MOREnet when he joined the University of Missouri System, helping them make the transition from UMR to S&T. Once he retired from that position, he was intrigued by the opportunity to help turn around Lincoln’s challenge of a failing infrastructure that needed an overhaul.
His first steps in that network upgrade included working with MOREnet’s Network Service team to evaluate the platform and assist with public procurement and bid evaluation. More recently, he worked with MOREnet for redundant Internet.
When asking John what he would want people to know about capturing the full value of the MOREnet Consortium, he said, “Utilize their expertise.” He went on to say that even though he’s a CISSP, he still takes advantage of the MOREnet Cybersecurity Operations Team to do an assessment annually. “I use them as a learning tool. I don’t see it as an audit; this team helps me identify improvements I may not have the resources or time to do myself.”
Over the years, John has had quite a bit of experience as a peer with our experts. He has served with various MOREnet staff on coalitions and boards to develop best practices in IT, cybersecurity and business continuity for other CIOs of education institutions.
John notes that coming from a higher education perspective, recruitment and retention is a huge challenge. He appreciates MOREnet providing efficient and effective connectivity, while constantly researching new services to improve the IT landscape.
So, what’s next for John? He plans to share some of his professional knowledge as an adjunct instructor at St. Louis University. But on a personal level, he loves to spend time at the grill. Smoked jerky is his most requested recipe; he plans to keep up with the barbecue orders from his wife and kids. Once they sell an antique home they have remodeled outside of Jefferson City, they plan to relocate to the St. Louis area to be closer to family.
We are so grateful for his leadership and the knowledge John has shared with so many over the last few years!