Eric Zematis named Lehigh's new chief information security officer

Eric Zematis, the chief information security officer (CISO) at Charter Oak State College in New Britain, Connecticut, has been named CISO at Lehigh University, effective Dec. 17.

Zematis will report to Bruce M. Taggart, Vice Provost for Library and Technology Services. “We are delighted that Eric Zematis has agreed to become CISO at Lehigh,” Taggart said. “Eric is a highly capable and well-respected IT security professional and will provide critical leadership in our efforts to protect Lehigh’s digital assets, increase campus-wide cybersecurity awareness, and develop more secure university business practices.”

Zematis has 20 years of experience in higher education information technology, most recently holding the position of Information Security Officer at Charter Oak State College before becoming its CISO in 2017. He also recently served as Senior Director of Infrastructure at Western Connecticut State University.

As a member of the Library and Technology Services leadership team, Zematis will work with university leadership and with staff throughout Lehigh, playing a vital role in addressing the larger institutional issues of security policy and practice, data governance, risk assessment and business continuity, as well as the compliance requirements that span the university.

Zematis will also take the lead role in the creation or expansion of proactive threat reduction and security response measures, including vulnerability assessment and remediation, malware detection, desktop patch management and full disk encryption across campus.

“Protecting our data and systems is an integral part of how we serve our community, accomplished through a partnership between technology, administration, and academics,” said Zematis. “I am excited to join Lehigh as the Chief Information Security Officer and look forward to the opportunity to collaborate across such a vibrant community to create safer digital pathways for everyone to work, live, and learn.”

Zematis has taught courses in information systems and technology and computer science at various colleges and universities since 2001. He earned a bachelor’s degree in organizational psychology from the University of Connecticut and a master’s in finance from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.

Colin Foley has been serving as interim CISO since April 2018 and will return to his role as manager of identity and access management.