BHARATH PRABHAKARAN
UNIVERSITY OF CINCINNATI
BHARATH PRABHAKARAN
VP AND CHIEF DIGITAL OFFICER
Bharath serves as Vice President and Chief Digital Officer at the University of Cincinnati, reporting to the President. He is responsible for driving digital transformation at UC and excellence in IT operations.
Bharath has around 30 years of experience in information technology in driving transformations. He has also won industry awards and recognition including the ORBIE 2025 CIO of the year, Infotech CIO award, CDO Magazine Top 25 Ohio leaders in Data and AI and others. Bharath has a MS in Computer Science from the University of Maryland and a Bachelors in Engineering from Birla Institute of Technology and Science.
Driven by a desire to give back to the system that empowered him, Bharath traded the bottom-line pressure of Silicon Valley for the mission-driven world of academia. He realised that, if education transformed his life, he could use technology to transform education for the next generation.
Modernising the Bearcat experience The Bearcat serves as the iconic symbol and primary identity for UC, which its digital transformation efforts are focused on enhancing.
At UC, Bharath oversees the Digital Technology Solutions organisation, a team of 500 people, comprising 350 staff and up to 150 students. His mandate is dual-sided: he manages the traditional IT operations while simultaneously driving a cutting-edge Digital Transformation initiative.
“ The president views digital transformation as foundational to our strategic direction,” Bharath explains.
From high-performance computing and cybersecurity to data, AI and augmented reality, his team is creating a“ seamless environment” for 54,000 students and 15,000 faculty and staff across three campuses.
The holy trinity of people, processes and technology In the world of digital transformation, there is often an over-emphasis on the shiny new toy.
Bharath, however, is a staunch advocate for a more balanced approach. For him, success is found at the intersection of people, processes and technology.
“ Technology is only as good as the people who use it and the processes it supports,” he notes.“ For our work to be successful, we must ensure our people are empowered with the right skills and our processes are streamlined before we apply a technological solution.
“ If you automate a broken process, you simply get a faster-broken process. We spend a significant amount of time on change management and organisational design to ensure our digital investments yield a high return on mission.”
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