Donna Kidwell

Background

Dr. Donna K. Kidwell is the Acting Chief Information Officer at The University of Toronto. Donna’s spent over 30 years in IT, with over half in higher ed. She is passionate about empowering people through technology, and deeply committed to digital trust.

Prior to UofT, she was the inaugural Chief Digital Trust Officer and Chief Information Security Officer at Arizona State University. Prior to that, she was the CTO for EdPlus @ ASU, which runs ASU Online. Before moving to Arizona, she served as the Interim Executive Director for the Institute for Transformational Learning at the University of Texas System, where she spearheaded efforts to transform learning technologies on 14 campuses and health science centers across Texas. She was the cofounder of WebStudent, based in Norway, where she worked with universities to help them create online educational programs. She also worked as a Director at the IC2 Institute, a think and do tank at The University of Texas at Austin where she helped innovators throughout the world.

Before moving into higher-ed, she crafted technology innovation strategies for Keller Williams Realty International, where she developed online educational offerings to help over 100k agents develop their own businesses. She started her career as a software consultant, and has worked with clients such as Exxon, Motorola and Agilent Technologies.

She was the recipient of Governor Kim Moon Soo’s award for outstanding efforts in economic development on behalf of small businesses in Gyeonggi Province, Korea. In 2013, she won the “Cadenhead Coin”, a distinguished alumni award for entrepreneurship and innovation from The McCombs Business School, The University of Texas at Austin.

She holds a Bachelor of Arts in History and a Master of Science, Technology Commercialization, both from The University of Texas at Austin. She has a Doctorate in Business Administration through the Ecole de Management in Grenoble, France.

Role

Chief Information Officer

University of Toronto