Dr. Donna K. Kidwell is the Chief Information Security and Digital Trust Officer and Deputy Chief Information Officer at Arizona State University. She leads teams that work to protect over 140K students and 17K faculty from cybersecurity threats and to create technologies to reshape the world of digital trust.
She currently serves on the advisory board of the T-Howard Foundation, working to foster opportunities in technology and promote equity for students in media, and has served on the Board of IMS Global, who stewards international standards for learning technology. She is a frequent speaker on innovation, entrepreneurship, commercialization, digital transformation, and future models for education.
Prior to her current role, she was the Chief Technology Officer of EdPlus at ASU, where she led technology strategy and development to help shape the future of learning. She led the technology team for ASU Online, creating a platform that serves 70k online students.
Prior to ASU, 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 Web Student, based in Norway, where she worked with universities to help them create online educational programs. She also worked as the Director of Online Programs 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 is co-Chair of the World Learning Summit and often teaches at the University of Agder in Kristiansand, Norway. She held appointments as an Adjunct Professor at the Western Technical University in Bergen, Norway and a Visiting Fellow at Teesside University in the UK.
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.