Senior Leadership
Nimish joined CUIT in August 2016, and is responsible for the University’s business critical Enterprise Applications Platform, leading a team of 60+ technology professionals.
Michael Weisner, Research Systems Engineer for the Columbia University Population Research Center (CPRC), joined RCS in 2014. Michael supports the research activities of CPRC faculty and researchers on the Morningside and the Medical Center campuses, promotes the use of existing computer resources, and manages the Secure Data Enclave pilot service for sensitive data analysis. He also leads in the strategic technical planning activities for the CPRC, coordinates secure data management activities, oversees desktop/laptop support for CPRC associates, and acts as liason with IT groups across Columbia. He has a B.A. from New York University's College of Arts and Science in Sociology & Environmental Studies.
Medha is the Chief Information Security Officer of Columbia University and has served as the University's first CISO since 2006
Maneesha has worked at CUIT since 2001 and was appointed to AVP of Academic IT Solutions in June 2016.
Jose has worked at Columbia for over 30 years and his current appointment as AVP of Client Support Services underscores CUIT’s commitment to moving toward a more customer service focused organization providing expanded services.
John has experience in systems administration, performance monitoring and technical engineering. Most recently he worked as a UNIX Systems Administrator for WebAir Inc. where he performed operating system maintenance and system configuration changes. Previously, John served in the United States Army as an Infantry Fire Team Leader for four years. John received his BSc. in Computer Science from Pace University and is a certified Linux professional.
Jim has worked at CUIT since 2014 and was appointed to the role of AVP, Infrastructure Services in April 2015.
George Garrett, Manager, has been working at Columbia since 1998. Prior to joining RCS in April 2014, he collaborated closely with RCS to assist in the pilot, planning, and launch of the Hotfoot and Yeti HPC clusters. In his current role he is working on provisioning and expanding the HPC clusters and assisting in the introduction of new research computing initiatives. George has 15 years of experience in Linux system administration and has a keen interest in graphics programming, artificial intelligence, and decentralized technologies. He has a Bachelor of Arts degree in Music from Columbia University.
Gaspare LoDuca is Vice President and CIO at Columbia University Information Technology (CUIT). He leads a team of over 300 employees responsible for providing students, faculty and staff with central computing and communications services.
Elvira has worked at CUIT since 2005 and previously held the role of AVP, Enterprise Systems.
Dali Plavsic, Senior Research Systems Engineer, joined RCS in 2015. Dali plays a key role in the support and maintenance of RCS’s services, as well as assisting in their future planning and implementation. He also provides HPC support to the research computing community. Dali has been working at CUIT since 2006 and has a M.S. in Technology Management from Columbia University.
Alex Bergier, Senior Research Systems Analyst, joined RCS in October, 2011. He has been at Columbia since 2001 performing research in astronomy at Columbia Astrophysics Laboratories, specifically projects related to dark matter search, supernova studies, and transient phenomena on the moon. Alex has had a long professional career that typically involved large scale data processing for diverse applications and institutions, including particle research (e.g. CERN), finance (e.g. Goldman Sachs), and others. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Stockholm in physics.
Alan Eiland is CUIT's Assistant Vice President of Portfolio Management. In this role, Alan ensures alignment between strategic objectives and implementation and is responsible for Service Management, Program Management and Project Management practices.
Prior to joining the Columbia University in 2012, Alan’s professional experience spanned media, entertainment and educational service industries with a focus on solution delivery, process transformation and technology operations. Alan holds a degree in Economics from Bowdoin College and is certified in multiple IT frameworks.