George Mason hires CIA’s Charmaine Madison as Vice President of Information Services and Chief Information Officer

Charmaine Madison, deputy chief of the IT Enterprise Group at the Central Intelligence Agency, has been named Vice President of Information Services and Chief Information Officer at George Mason University, Deb Dickenson, executive vice president for finance and administration, announced Monday. Madison will report to Jackie Ferree, senior vice president of operations and business services.

“Charmaine joins George Mason at a critical moment in the evolution of our institution,” Dickenson said. “Her experience implementing transformational change through strategic roadmaps is well-suited for the opportunities and challenges our university faces as we modernize and streamline our infrastructure to serve the diverse needs of our community.”

In more than a decade with the CIA, Madison has executed the strategic design of modernization roadmaps, managed  daily operations, and served as the senior IT leader covering the intelligence community’s most extensive research and development directorate.

Madison is a retired cyber operations officer with the Air Force. She holds a doctorate in strategic leadership from Regent University and master’s degrees in business administration, information technology and national security studies. She is currently pursuing a master’s in clinical mental health counseling.

Dickenson also thanked Charlie Spann for his interim leadership for the past 18 months, during which he ensured the continuity of ITS services and systems, delivered significant progress on major university initiatives and built a robust ITS leadership team. Spann will resume his role as deputy CIO and assistant vice president of enterprise service delivery. “His leadership and experience will be instrumental to this transition and to George Mason’s future,” Dickenson said.

Madison begins her new role on Aug. 1.