Agenda Item
g. PERSONNEL RECOMMENDATION FROM EXECUTIVE SESSION
Summary: Presented by: Dr. Tekshia Ward-Smith, Administrator, Division of Human Resources 678.676.1200.
Request: It is requested that the Board of Education approve the hiring recommendation of Mr. Glen Melendez to the position of Executive Director of Enterprise Application and Data Services, in the Division of Information and Instructional Technology.
Details: Dr. Tekshia Ward-Smith, Administrator, Division of Human Resources 678.676.1200.
Contact: Dr. Tekshia Ward-Smith, Administrator, Division of Human Resources 678.676.1200.
Glenn R. Melendez,
CIO MAGAZINE – CIO 100 AWARD WINNING TECHNOLOGY LEADER
K-12 ED-TECH BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE AND DATA ANALYTICS
A seasoned strategic technology partner with 20+ years of experience in education,
technology, and project management. Excels in conceptualizing, analyzing, and
delivering solutions that drive student achievement. Led IT strategic planning for the
largest, most diverse K-12 school system in the State of Georgia driving key priorities
including innovation, expanded access, and student well-being. Led the creation of an
Operational Data Store (ODS) adhering to Ed-Fi data standards. Experienced with
GADOE state reporting including FTE, CPI and Student Record. Big four (4) IT consulting
background working for professional services firm Ernst and Young (EY) developing a
21st century professional development platform across mobile, digital, and social media
platforms. Superior communication skills with a talent for presenting highly technical
project plans in an easy-to-consume manner. A Baccalaureate degree from Rutgers
University and a Master’s degree from Seton Hall University coupled with several
recognized certifications which include PMP certification; Certified Scrum Master (CSM);
ITIL V3 foundations certification; and a Lean Six Sigma Black Belt.
HIGHLIGHTS WORK EXPERIENCE
• Responsible for the enterprise Gwinnett County Public Schools August, 2022 – Present
applications roadmap for the Atlanta Chief Technology and Innovation Officer
Public Schools including ownership of Led IT strategic planning for the largest, most diverse school system in Georgia driving
Infinite Campus (Student Information key priorities including innovation, expanded access, and student well-being.
System); Lawson (Enterprise Resource Established a Project Management Office (PMO) resulting in a 28% improvement in on-
Planning); and the district’s Enterprise time/on-budget project delivery. Awarded the White House Infrastructure Investment
Data Warehouse Act, cybersecurity grant, to enhanced resiliency of the district’s mission critical systems
by establishing an active Cloud presence using AWS. Upgraded wireless connectivity
• CIO 100 Award for K-12 Ed-Tech to Wi-Fi 6, the latest generation of wireless technology providing significant
Business Intelligence and Analytics improvements in speed, capacity, and efficiency particularly in areas with multiple
[August, 2014, CIO Magazine] connected devices advancing student achievement. Led the creation of an Operational
Data Store (ODS) adhering to Ed-Fi data standards. Delivered a video surveillance
• Strategic advisor for Student platform leveraging artificial intelligence (AI) and geospatial coordinates to advance the
Information System (SIS) consolidation district’s “safe and secure schools” initiative. Improved budget transparency while
during the merger of Kennesaw State reducing operating expenditures by $7.5M and re-investing savings into initiatives that
University and Southern Polytechnic advanced our strategic blueprint.
University, creating Georgia's 3rd
largest university in Georgia Fulton County – Chief Information Officer October, 2015 – August, 2022
Led the IT Covid response strategy for the Fulton County Board of Health. Improved
• Big four (4) IT consulting background system performance and service level agreements by upgrading and modernizing
with professional services firm Ernst legacy technology infrastructure. The upgrades improved the customer experience by
and Young (EY) to develop a 21st transforming a “burning platform” with latency issues into a highly resilient hybrid Cloud
century learning and development (AWS) platform. Reduced recuring telecom expenditures by $2.5M annually by
platform across mobile, digital, and modernizing the County’s telecommunications infrastructure. Developed a STEM
social media platforms internship program with Georgia State University, recognized by Georgia Trend
Magazine and resulting in a $3.9M cybersecurity grant, the largest ever received by the
• Awarded the White House Robinson School of Business.
Infrastructure Investment Act
Kennesaw State University – Assoc. Executive Director January, 2015 – June, 2015
cybersecurity grant to bolster resilient
Served as Associate Executive Director and IT Executive Advisor in support of the merger
learning platforms by establishing an
between Kennesaw State University and Southern Polytechnic University. Responsible
active Cloud presence using AWS
for providing a strategic roadmap for the consolidation of mission critical enterprise
applications for the 3rd largest University in the State of Georgia. The consolidation
• 2024 IDC Smart Cities award finalist for
included Banner, Peoplesoft, and the StarRez residential housing platform resulting in
the innovative use of technology within
recurring savings of $750K annually.
an educational institution
Glenn R. Melendez – Continued
HIGHLIGHTS – CONTINUED Ernst and Young (EY) – Assistant Director, IT April, 2014 – January, 2015
Led the migration of SharePoint 2010 to SharePoint 2013 leveraging a cloud hosted
• Recognized by Georgia Trend solution for enterprise content management aimed at improving collaboration on a
Magazine for innovations in global scale. Leveraged features to deploy social communities and business intelligence
cybersecurity through partnerships with capabilities to publish various dashboards used by the EY project management
local Atlanta Colleges and Universities community. Delivered a service desk strategy for Atlanta-based CNN for the roll-out of
[June, 2020] ServiceNow, a leading enterprise ITSM platform built on the ITIL framework that
supports end-to-end IT Service Operations. The strategy reduced annual operating
• Recipient of the State of Georgia, expenses by $1.8 million by retiring multiple legacy service desk solutions being
“Technology Innovative Showcase” managed globally by individual business units.
award [2017]
Atlanta Public Schools – Director Enterprise Apps. April, 2008 – April, 2014
• Finalist Atlanta Technology Recipient of the 2014 CIO 100 Award for strategic and operational excellence. This
Professionals greatest impact award prestigious honor is reserved for the top 100 technology leaders in the Country. As a
[2017] member of the senior IT management team, responsible for owning and executing the
enterprise roadmap for IT applications including ownership of Infinite Campus – Student
• Acknowledged by the National Information System; Lawson – Enterprise Resource Planning; and the district’s Enterprise
Association of Counties for the digital Data Warehouse. Led strategic planning and prioritization of IT initiatives, including full
transformation of Fulton County, life-cycle system implementations, and leveraging cross-functional teams of in-house /
Georgia [2018] outsourced delivery models to optimize delivery capabilities. Dramatically improved
internal audit posture by delivering a robust Role Based Access Control (RBAC)
• Recipient of the National Association of framework leveraging Active Directory to auto-provision/terminate access-rights. The
Counties award for development of a solution resulted in a 52% improvement in managing access rights for terminated
Technology Center of Excellence in employees while automatically provisioning rights for new hires.
partnership with local Atlanta Colleges
and Universities [2020] EARLY CAREER
Anthem (Elevance Health) – Director IT August, 2005 – April, 2008
• Honored by the Fulton County Board of
United Healthcare (UHC) – Senior IT Manager October, 2003 – August, 2005
Commissioners on August 15, 2018 –
Blue Cross Blue Shield, NJ – Prg. Mgmt. Consultant October, 2001 – October, 2003
officially declared “Digital
Transformation Day”
EDUCATION
PUBLICATIONS Rutgers University Seton Hall
New Brunswick, NJ University
Bachelor of Arts South Orange, NJ
• CIO Magazine [August, 2014]: CIO School of Master of Arts
100 Winners Turn Analytics into Communication & Corporate
Money-Making New Products Information Communication
Sciences
• Georgia Trend Magazine [June, 2020]:
Innovations in Cybersecurity CERTIFICATIONS
• How Connected Communities Unite Project PeopleCert, Inc.
Management ITIL v3 Foundations
Data, Systems, and People, Tyler
Institute (PMI) Certified
Technologies
PMP Certified
CONTACT
Georgia State Georgia Institute of
University Technology
J. Mack Robinson Certified Scrum
College of Business Master
- Lean Six Sigma (Scrum Alliance)
Green Belt
- Lean Six Sigma
Black Belt
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