Ian Hyatt, currently Purdue’s chief information officer and vice president for information technology, is appointed chief of staff to President Mung Chiang, starting July 1. Christian Theumer has been named interim CIO and interim vice president for information technology, reporting to Chris Ruhl, treasurer and chief financial officer. Theumer has served as deputy CIO since 2022 under Hyatt’s leadership.

As CIO, Theumer will oversee IT services across the Purdue system, which includes cybersecurity, end user experience, IT enterprise reporting, IT infrastructure services, academic IT services and distributed campus services, as well as research services and support for Purdue’s campuses in West Lafayette, Indianapolis, Purdue Northwest and Purdue Fort Wayne.

Prior to joining Purdue, Theumer was director of technology operations at International Game Technology (IGT) where he directed projects and teams in a variety of enterprise-wide IT projects and initiatives. He was also accountable for the planning, development and maintenance of network infrastructure, operations and security, cloud & virtualization platforms, business continuity and disaster recovery, regulated casino gaming hardware and software, and global data centers. Other professional experience includes supervisor, incident management at IGT, project manager at the University of Nevada/Desert Research Institute and aviation maintenance manager for the United States Navy.

Theumer earned a bachelor’s degree in history from the University of Washington. He also has an MBA from the University of Nevada, Reno, and a Master of Information Systems with a certificate in information systems management from the University of Phoenix.