Dan O'Brien

ITS Division: Office of the CIO

Service Area: Vendor Management

What services do you and your teammates provide to campus?

We offer contract management, vendor performance management, risk management, and vendor relationship management of ITS vendors.  We also manage and operate the Service Center Warehouse and Inventory.  Some of the vendors we work with include Dell, Cisco, Microsoft, Amazon Web Services, and Google.

What campus units do you collaborate with?

We primarily work with UK’s Central Purchasing Division and the Office of Legal Counsel. I lead the Computer Standards Committee, which collaborates with all colleges to select computer standards for the campus and its related departments.

What are your workplace values?

We are pretty black and white, and take pride in ensuring strict alignment to UK and State of Kentucky procurement regulations. It is my job to ensure that vendors deliver at least what they’ve promised, with the hope and expectation of generating value above and beyond. I value honesty, consistency, problem solvers, and drivers of continuous improvement.  

What is your favorite part of working in ITS and UK?

I’m a UK alum: first for opera performance, then for my MBA. It’s rewarding work for me and I enjoy the people I work with. I feel like I’m on a strong team and that I have a team that is great at what they do. This is a fun and productive environment.  The vendors keep me young!